Tooth
2023 · 5m · USA
Directed by Jillian Corsie
Genres: animation, dark comedy, horror
Tones: absurdist, darkly comic, surreal
Fed up with decades of flossing, whitening, and forced perfection, a woman's teeth rebel — leaping out of her mouth and waging an all-out war on their longtime oppressor.
Picked by Zoe
The scouts
Finally, a film that takes the absurdist premise seriously enough to not wink at you — teeth as a genuine uprising, not a gimmick. Corsie's willingness to mix practical baby teeth with 3D feels like she's genuinely asking what medium serves the anarchic moment, which is exactly the kind of subversive restraint most filmmakers don't have the patience for.
The hybrid approach to the puppet design — practical teeth alongside VFX — sits in an interesting lineage of body horror that treats the grotesque as formal problem rather than shock value; Corsie's restraint in the editing keeps the absurdism grounded in a kind of deadpan rigor.
The decision to anchor the surreal premise with actual baby teeth as practical puppets is what sells the whole thing — it grounds the absurdity in something tactile and real, and that texture choice elevates what could've been a one-note concept into something that genuinely unsettles.
Reviews
A small but impactful slice of body horror, showing how our body parts can turn on us, even if we do try to take care of them.
Festivals
- Slamdance Film Festival 2023
- Cordillera Film Festival 2023, Best Horror Short
- Cordillera Film Festival 2023, Wes Craven Excellence Award