This is yet another direct-to-video horror opus from producer Stephen J. Cannell, the guy once responsible for 80s shows like "The A-Team," but now seems content to churn out low budget horror dreck like "Demon Hunter" & "The Garden." There's nothing necessarily wrong with low-budget horror dreck, and as such things go,"The Tooth Fairy" is far from the worst of its kind. Sure, it's essentially a slasher flick, kind of dumb, cheesy & imitative, but once it gets going, it's also kind of fun at times.

A former doctor buys an old house in the country with the intention of turning it into a quaint little bed-and-breakfast, unaware that the place was once the home of the Tooth Fairy, but not the Tooth Fairy you and I are familiar with. This one is a deformed, twisted and evil old witch, and promises impressionable kids lots of prizes and goodies in exchange for the last of their baby teeth, only to kill them afterwards, trapping their souls in a netherworld between Heaven and Hell. And, wouldn't you know it, when the doctor's fiancee and her daughter (who loses her last molar in a bicycle accident) show up, the Tooth Fairy is back in business. The little girl also meets the ghost of one of the slain children, who wants her to help defeat the Tooth Fairy by snatching away her music box filled with children's teeth, thus freeing the souls of other wandering victims. In the meantime, the Tooth Fairy is having a grand old time slaughtering most of the adult characters who pop up. One poor sap gets run through a wood chipper, another is impaled by a nail gun before being disemboweled, one unfortunate guy is decapitated (just when he's about to have sex, of course), while yet another gets his pee-pee hacked off in the woods (resulting in the funniest line of dialogue the movie has to offer). For the most part, the death scenes are well-done and pretty graphic, featuring some decent special effects. But, alas, "The Tooth Fairy" is also phenomenally predictable, more gory than scary, and suffers from having too many unnecessarily stupid characters who pretty much exist to be fairy fodder. The acting ranges from adequate to terrible, but you knew that already. Nobody picks up a movie like this to take in any nuanced performances anyway. The film simply uses its goofy premise as a springboard to show people die horribly, and once you get past the first 30 minutes or so, it more-or-less delivers.

The film is presented in 1.78:1 widescreen, and while it isn't the greatest image on Earth, it's a decent picture, with decent black tones; aside from a few grainy night shots, it's pretty clear. The audio is rendered in both 5.1 & 2.0 Dolby Digital. There isn't a lot of creative use of sound, but at least the balance is adequate for a movie like this.

As usual for Anchor Bay, there are more extras than a movie like this probably warrants. "Hatchet Job" is a making-of documentary, featuring interviews with Cannell, director Chuck Bowman and a few cast & crew members. Of course, they all make it sound as though "The Tooth Fairy" is a horror milestone. Another short featurette has cast & crew members talk about their childhood beliefs in a tooth fairy. Also included is an audio commentary by Cannell, Bowman and actor Jesse Hutch (the guy who gets run through the wood chipper), as well as a short trailer.

"The Tooth Fairy" is another dumb piece of exploitative sleaze that exists only for its admittedly amusing death scenes. Anyone looking for actual scares will be disappointed, but once you get past the dull first half hour, it's a fairly fun way to kill 89 minutes. It's probably not worth purchasing for anyone but the most die-hard slasher movie fan, but there a worse movies out there on the rental selves. Similar Movies: "Darkness Falls"