Teh Menz will be terrified.

Awesome.

You know what I think of when I think "vagina dentata"? I think of sea monsters, like the Kraken's mouth at the end of Pirates of the Caribbean II, or Charybdis from the Odyssey. There was a made-for-TV miniseries version of the Odyssey that, despite its overall cheesiness, had a great depiction of Charybdis as a gaping fleshy hole lined with sharp teeth.

Ha! As long as this movie doesn't take itself too seriously, it could be great. Bit of trivia: the writer and director Mitchell Lichtenstein is the son of pop artist Roy Lichtenstein.

I remember seeing a ton of vagina dentata designs by Picasso, which might do well for a t-shirt design, although Picasso was kind of a dirty old man, so maybe that doesn't mesh too well with the feminist aspect.

Oh man oh man oh man oh man oh man oh man!! I saw this at Sundance last January and I am SO psyched that it's coming out finally. The movie doesn't take itself too seriously, and is kind of a cross between "Saved" and a grindhouse feminist revenge movie. I do wish they played up the fundamentalist part of it in the trailer more.. not to mention the black humor that's really on point—in the movie her [lack of] sex education and abstinence training play a big part in her having no idea she's abnormal..

Hell, I'm a bloke and *I'd* swap what I currently have for a killer vagina with teeth, please. It would be SO awesome.

Some nutcase on the youtube comments says, "the sequel better be a cock that explodes through women impaling them". Way to miss the entire point, idiot.

I saw a movie called angst with a somewhat similar premise where men get sucked up by the vagina whenever they have sex with the girl, including a couple guys who try to rape her. Unfortunately it ends with her finding out sex with the man she loves cures her...but I wouldn't recommend seeing it because it really sucked, the pacing, the plot, the acting....

But this one looks pretty awesome :D

Yeah, I'm looking forward to this. Finally! A movie to double feature with Gingersnaps!

Okay I have the perfect design.

Take the feministing version of the mudflap women and turn her to face forward, knees still bent and finger still up. Keep her face mostly in silhouette but give her big, innocent eyes just like the actress in this movie and a sly smile. For the vulva use a fairly simple oval shape and maybe 3 or 5 razor teeth on each side. Keep the whole thing in the simple silhouette style so that you’d have the woman’s body in black with her eyes and smile in white and basically a white hole of black teeth in the sweet spot.

Too wicked.

I may not be describing this very well but I’ll draw it up and scan it in and see if I can send it to you somehow.

I thought the movie was sexist. Isnt this a exaggeration of a mans psychological issues with the vagina? Am I supposed to cheer for the fact that she has a inhibited relationship with her vagina? I saw that the story represented a externalized representation of fear that so many women have surrounding their vaginas. Couldnt this story be thought up by some man who became insecure during sex that he felt he could be 'swallowed' by the vagina?

my best friend and i have a an on going joke about my vagina having fangs after an unfortunate condom breaking incident ( thank god for Ec) but anyway she will probably laugh hard enough to give herself a coronary when i tel her about this movie

Gopher: Based on what? Reviews, the trailer, or have you actually seen the movie? I'm sure the idea of the vagina dentata was thought up in the way you describe, but I thought that this looks like it'll be an interesting angle on abstinence-only education.

Gopher,
I haven't seen the movie, but from what I've read about it and about the myth of vagina dentata, the vagina with teeth is supposed to represent women's sexuality, a pathologized and terrifying take on women's sexuality.

In the myth the women and the vagina are the monster. I think this movie is meant to examine how the monster feels about herself. Or in other words, what happens to women when our sexuality is pathologized (rather than being about "omg, the vag sure is terrifying").

I have this one from oh, so long ago, from a message board I used to frequent:

http://picasaweb.google.com/c.jonesbarnes/SillyInternetPics/photo#5030772009968812354

No WAY.

I totally came up with an idea like this two years ago as a joke in a facebook group. I wonder if I could sue them for stealing my idea?

Can somebody fill me in-- I think I am missing something. "The most important cautionary tale for men since Fatal Attraction"-- that strikes me as incredibly sexist. To me the trailer reads as, hey guys, watch out, them weird and scary vaginas will eat up your peen. I'm not seeing it as a story exploring how women feel about their sexuality-- to me it looks like it's meant to play as a horror film with women cast as castrating monsters. Is there something I'm not getting?

Some nutcase on the youtube comments says, "the sequel better be a cock that explodes through women impaling them". Way to miss the entire point, idiot.

Precisely the reason I'm greatful for the presence of Feministing.

I'm thinking of a list of films for a Vagina Dentata-Pohbia-Themed film fest. The list so far:
- Teeth.
- I Spit On Your Grave.
- Dead Ringers.

Any Suggestions?

I say take the MOST suggestive Georgia O'Keefe flower embroider it on a patch and sew shark teeth on it - maybe dangle them from tiny glass beads. Sorry - creative bent or vice versa.

Horror is already full of castrating women and vagina dentata imagery (it's such a fascinating genre where women are concerned). Am glad to hear that this flick seems to be turning that on its head. Like with Ginger Snaps-- menstruation was equated with lycanthropy, but I don't think the message was that 'women become animals once they hit puberty.'

omg, LOVE ginger snaps.

I think this movie only suceeded at one thing:

Managing to be both misogynist and misandrist simultaneously.

I'll try not to be too spoiler-ish here, but the next part might count as spoiling the movie, so if you really want to see it, and go in completely without details, skip my post.

Women are portrayed as people who use sex only for power, or to control/hurt others, and (I kid you not) every single male character (save one) who has more than two speaking lines is a rapist.

It managed to be insulting to both men and women.

They attempted to make a clever horror/black comedy, and really just ended up with a product that left a bad taste in my mouth.

Shame, too, the concept could have made for a really good film in their target genre.

This is my opinion, of course, and you're free to judge it for yourself. I just advise you to wait until you can put it on your Netflix.

Warning: The next part will sound like I'm a commercial.

If you want to see what it looks like when Sundance provides you with a really good film, rent Hard Candy.

"Women are portrayed as people who use sex only for power, or to control/hurt others, and (I kid you not) every single male character (save one) who has more than two speaking lines is a rapist."

I will skip it, thecakeisalie. That sounds like something that plays right into the hands of the men's rights activists. The preview gave no hint of humor, black or otherwise.

Alan Moore's Watchmen comic had a group called GWAR (before the band) whose logo was the traditional mirror-of-Venus female symbol with teeth inside the 'O'.

That'll work. Can't imagine Moore would mind a bit either.

Tim,
how does thecakeisalie play into the hands of mens rights activists? From what I've read it sounds as if she is lamenting the ignorant portrayal of American womens sexuality within the media.

secondhandsally,
'the vagina with teeth is supposed to represent womens sexuality, a pathologized and terrifying take on womens sexuality.'

Exactly. I can see the idea originated from a man who thinks hes 'the boss' when it comes to sex. Then he has it off with a woman whos sexuality is bigger than him, and feels his penis is being eaten. I also dont like how her vagina (twat, cunt, pussy, ect) is objectified. Its made to be a monster. The woman is not portrayed as empowered by her vagina being a monster, but embarrassed, or terrified of it. So the movie does not represent a sexually empowered take on womens sexuality. Wouldnt the fact that her vagina eats men also be construed as a type of rape?

Marnanel,
That was hilarious. I'm not surprised if I see this movie being talked about under the abstinence only curriculum in the future on feministing. James Dobson is probably already gearing it up to be used in some archaic way.

GWAR. Heh. I know in the comic it stands for Gay Women Against Rape, & I'm sure the band are Moore fans.

The preview gave no hint of humor, black or otherwise.

Did we all watch the same trailer?

James Dobson is probably already gearing it up to be used in some archaic way.

Ugh. I'll see your Dobson & raise you a Cathoholic Donahue.

T-shirt: clam + teeth

Subversion is tricky. It necessarily embodies that which it dismantles, at least in part. This leaves it open to criticism, usually that which presumes a potential reader who is not sophisticated to "get" it. I prefer to give both the movie and the audience the benefit of the doubt in this, and in most, cases.

I think this movie only suceeded at one thing:

Managing to be both misogynist and misandrist simultaneously.

So it's misanthropic, then?

Here is my suggestion for a t-shirt: a woman holding a knife and saying: "If you take away my reproductive rights, then I will cut off yours!"

As for Teeth, I have to agree with Gopher in that it is misandrist. Sorry.

Jovan1984,
I thought it was MISOGYNISTIC, not misandrist. I thought the movies origin probably came from a man who gets a laugh off of portraying the vagina as a novelty, and created a 'monster' that eats men.

I dont like how the woman is portrayed as the victim, even when its her OWN vagina. Horror films have a tradition of using women as victims, and objects of torture. It was like a man who subconsciously only thought of himself as a living, breathing penis was having sex with a woman when he transferred this psychological insecurity into literally seeing himself as a 6 inch phallus that was going inside and outside a woman; like it was being eaten.

How about just a single word on the shirt: Gynodont.

Not everyone will get it, but that's OK.

Great -- another movie empowering women through misandry. And look, it's being released in France first. I'm surprised.

*yawn*

I just saw the movie, so this comment is probably chock full of spoilers. I'll try not to be too bad.

It's twisted, but it makes its point well. I took the main point to be about knowledge and education. The kids in it are repressed and denied proper sexual education, which is the root of the problem. If she'd known anything about her own anatomy prior to the time of her experiences in the movie, they might have been able to do something to prevent tragedy. If she were less mindlessly anti-sexual, too, the outcome of her life might have been different.

I don't think it's misogynist. The vagina dentata is not necessarily a monster -- it empowers her. The music that plays when the protagonist finally sees a diagram of the human vulva is beautiful and uplifting. It's also implied that when she experiences consensual contact, her vagina is a beautiful thing for her and her lover. To me, the teeth represent an outward, physical manifestation of the pain, shame, and guilt a lot of women feel about sex, and, unfortunately much too commonly, about being raped. Unlike in other horror movies, the pretty female lead does just that in the end: lead. Keep in mind that this movie is a take on horror films and isn't really a serious probing of the human psyche or something.

As for the misandry, again, it's a take on horror movies, not a character study. The men in the movie represent the male threat to females that is altogether too real. There are plenty of girls out there who have experienced the horror of rape, or of being used, or of incest. The teeth are the horror and terror a girl in such a situation manifested in a physical manner, one that is quite useful.

Interesting commentary on nuclear power, too. It seems like the smokestacks are responsible for her "adaptation" (i.e. mutation) as well as for her mother's unexplained ailment.

Riffing on Gopher's line.

Anybody know a good Gynodontist?

Yikes - that's going to give me nightmares for awhile!