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Overall Rating : 5.5/10
Directed By : Mark Young
Rachel Miner (Penny Dreadful)
Rider Strong (Borderland)
Michael Madsen (Sin City)
Vinnie Jones (X-Men: The Last Stand)
Supplied By : Lionsgate Films
Film Reviewed By : Rick L. Blalock
Date Reviewed : March. 25, 2008
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| PLOT A small group of survivors in a post-apocalyptic world take refuge in an empty hospital with plans on re-building society. They rescue a young girl who is the victim of a brutal attack, but soon discover that they were followed by a savage band of cannibals known as Rovers. The Rovers begin to kill them one by one, and the trapped survivors must find a way to outwit their stalkers. |
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| THE REVIEW In TOOTH AND NAIL, the year is about 2012. The world's gas supply has ended and so have the lives for many of the world's population, leaving very few survivors. The film focuses on a group of survivors who have taken refuge in an abandoned hospital, and have come together in order to formulate a plan for survival. but their plans become halted after they rescue a young woman named Neon, from being attacked by a barbaric cannibal savage. Unfortunately, the said rescue has brought unwanted attention to the group of survivors, as the woman's attacker and his cannibalistic followers, who are collectively called "The Rovers", begin to watch and follow them from close behind. The survivors find that their fight for survival would soon turn worse as they come under the attack whom are brandishing various forms of weaponry. With the population dying down, The Rovers are a group that have conformed to the act of cannibalism for food and what they see in this group of survivors is just another meal ticket. When thinking about it, i'd say that Writer/Director Mark Young's pseudo post-apocalyptical thriller TOOTH AND NAIL is like a cross between the HILLS HAVE EYES(remake), DAWN OF THE DEAD(more so remake), with only a slight pinch of films like MAD MAX. Supposedly set only a few years into the near future, the setting hear is not a drastically changed one, much like the ones shown in futuristic films. The setting is rather normal, with a deserted, abandoned look. Coupled with this is a good plot, but at the same time, it seemed a little too less thought about. The story presents itself with the setup that the world has run out of it's gas supply, which has cause most of the population to struggle and fail to survive. To me, this is kind of silly, as gas really isn't EXACTLY the most valuable natural resource the world has - I mean it's valuable and all, but lets face it, there are ways to live without it, To further diminish the plot's plausibility, the film goes on to imply that the gas scarcity, has also caused the availability of electricity to go down, unfortunately it never goes on to mention that there has always been other means of getting electricity, such as solar power. But despite these obviously big plot holes, TOOTH AND NAIL in other areas, does succeed, so much so that you seem to forget about the less than believable gas problem that the ficticious world in this film is facing. Even if the plot may have not been very realistic to me, I did find the action and character interaction to be on a realistic level, and on that end, I was entertained through out. With this type of setting, and with characters such as "The Rovers" , The Rovers, particularly could've been portrayed unrealistically cheesy and over-the-top with their actions, and while I admit, their viking outfits were a little silly, the menacing presence they do have, is quite convincing Shot in a limited amount of time, and with very few locations, TOOTH AND NAIL still manages to be a highly effective and enjoyable film, mostly due to the performances by it's cast. Veterans Michael Madsen and Vinnie Jones are 2 of the top billed stars along with PENNY DREADFUL (a film from last year's Horrorfest) Rachel Miner, and CABIN FEVER's Rider Strong. While the former stars have lesser roles here it is the latter of them Rachel Miner who is the real stand out, as she shows diversity in her being both good and evil over the course of the film, and it is rather seamless in her transition. Last year when I reviewed PENNY DREADFUL, although I thought it was an ok film, I thought it had the potential to be better, and from seeing her in films such as BULLY I knew that Miner was capable of a much better performance if given better material. TOOTH AND NAIL may not be better plot-wise by much, but it did make way for a better performance. TOOTH AND NAIL may not be the best film technically, as the plot, as I said seemed rushed and thrown together, but as a whole, I found myself to be rather entertained for the most part. |
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| GORE
METER 4.5/10 A slit throat, multiple bloody beatings with various sharp weapons, and a spiked club lodged in one's skull, and an arrow to the eye. |
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| MUSICAL
SCORE 5/10 The score was fast paced and sometimes suspenseful, I really liked the main theme used in the film. |
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| OVERALL
IMPRESSION OF THE FILM I know this review was simple, but I didn't want to spoil anything as I think to enjoy this one, you should go into it with a clear mind. Overall, TOOTH AND NAIL is another film with many flaws, but something about it makes it entertaining. When it comes down to it, this film is nothing more than a "stalk, chase and run" flick, but it is executed quiet nicely in my opinion. |
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