Courtesy of Kat Marcinowski/Netflix
This article was published on The Daily Aztec website on October 21, 2021.
“NIGHT TEETH” (2021). Jorge Lengeborg Jr. as Benny ans Deborah Ryan Papp as Blaire.
Campy thriller teen movie? Vampires, again? Bella, where the hell have you been, loca? The new movie “Night Teeth” was released on Netflix on Oct. 20.
“Night Teeth,” starring Debby Ryan, Lucy Fry and Jorge Lendeborg Jr. is set in modern-day Los Angeles where the worlds of vampires and humans are intertwined in a corporate manner.
If you’re looking for an escape from the strain of the real world, Lendeborg said this movie is for you.
“It is catered to 20-to-25-year-olds,” Lendeborg said in a college roundtable interview, hosted by Netflix.
The movie offers a unique perspective on the power struggle and city takeover plot. Rather than closely following the two big leaders—Jay of the humans and Victor of the vampires—the watcher follows the “hench-women” Blaire and Zoe and their driver, Benny.
“I think that is a really interesting point, that Victor’s and Jay’s perspective is what we are more accustomed to seeing in film and that was the thing that was really attractive about the script was these two women who may have been supporting characters in the 90s or whatever,” Fry said. “And now it is our story and our friendship that we have.”
“It’s dope because we get to see the most normal everydayness from the sidekicks, you know the affableness that comes from all of us in the driver seat, no pun intended,” Lendeborg said.
Like many vampire movies, the plot is rather underdeveloped since the viewer is thrown into the storyline with little context as to the rules of vampires in this reality and the backgrounds of all the main characters.
It is a surface-level story, which makes it a decent choice for casual viewing. The plot is not prolonged or dragged on for too long, however, this does leave the audience with many questions by the end of the movie.
Of course, like all vampire movies, cringey lines make a debut such as “You wouldn’t know a party if it fucked you in the face.”
At the very least, the movie is worth a watch for its iconically amusing vampire genre.
But would it be a true vampire movie without a little human-to-vampire romance? Blaire faces a great amount of conflict when she is confronted with her attraction to Benny’s humanity and her history with her monstrous best friend Zoe.
“I sort of like how complicated that is because it is a bit of a mirror of the world we live in,” Ryan said.
Benny is also faced with the tough decision of protecting his brother Jay or helping the vampires he grows fond of. A little help from “liquid courage” does the trick according to Lendeborg.
Ryan spoke about how the film’s director Adam Randall allowed her to have a lot of creative freedom throughout the filming process. Ryan and Fry were allowed to alter a lot of their lines based on how they developed their characters and their relationship.
“Most of my dialogue if not every single word was rewritten,” Ryan said. “Like ‘finish your drink’ was a line that we wrote and we pitched. It was so collaborative, so trusting and because of that it allowed us to bring our A-game.”
Both Ryan and Fry described his directing as collaborative and trusting.
“Adam directs with a very light touch,” Ryan said. “His process was very different than anyone I had worked with.”
Ryan also offered an inside look at the challenges of filming a movie where the timeline is all just one night.
“On the first day of shooting you shoot a scene of you walking through a door. And then a month later you shoot a scene walking up to that door so you have to remember energetically where you are at,” Ryan said.
Ryan said Randall would put together playlists and provide visual aids to help remind them of the energy and headspace their characters were in during particular scenes they were filming.
Fry and Ryan said they found comfort in each other’s company as actresses and as they prepared to build their sisterly bond through their characters.
“As an artist, Debby is such an inspiring person to work with,” Fry said.
Ryan said she felt very safe expressing emotion in front of Fry.
“In the industry, I think it is quenching when you interact with humanity and I think a lot of people don’t give it away, you know, they hold it close to the chest. And I think to be able to see someone and been seen I think is what every human being at the core really wants,” Ryan said.
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