In more uncertain hands, Teeth could have become merely the latest entry in the now-omnipresent slasher-horror arena: its subject matter, vagina dentata, is certainly open to a sexploitative interpretation for the screen. Credit's due to first-time director Mitchell Lichtenstein, who delivers a film that is at once gory and scary but also reflective about the symbolism of the 'toothed vagina' in modern human relationships, especially how women fend for themselves in an oppressive, patriarchical universe.

Unlike in traditional mythology - in which sinister monsters usually aim to maim men through castration - Lichtenstein bestows the abnormal organ on a young idealist. Dawn (Jess Weixler, above) is an angelic high-school student who styles herself as the leading light of her school's pro-celibacy movement. Being an ordinary teenager, however, she feels the urge for physical intimacy - a feeling initiated by the appearance of Tobey (Hale Appleman), a hunk who appears to share Dawn's passion for chastity.

There's a sheen that's bound to be debunked, with Tobey admitting to having tasted the forbidden fruit, with a lust for Dawn's body more than obvious. Tragedy happens when the pair head out on a date at a riverside cavern, with Tobey attempting to force himself on Dawn after some fumbling in their bathing suits. And it's after Dawn's first bite that she discovers the unique defensive mechanism she has inside her body. She slowly discovers sexuality and how to wrestle control of her own physicality from the menacing men around her, including her malevolent step-brother Brad (John Hensley), whose foulness stems from his stifled desire for her.

Lichtenstein - the son of the Pop Art master Roy - offers an inquisitive vehicle by using Dawn's story to deflate the conservative, hypocritical nature of modern suburban communities, whose green lawns and friendly faces belie the physical and mental violence within these places.

The film's first half is the most effective when the introduction of Dawn's milieu reveals a bizarrely misogynist world where the female genitalia in biology textbooks are covered with stickers - while at the same time respectable-looking doctors and smiling students conceal vile masculinity within.

Unfortunately, the film's standing as a revelator of sexual inequality wavers as it proceeds.

Lichtenstein's decision to leave unchallenged the notion of Dawn overcoming her dentata by discovering a man who could 'conquer' her is a misstep, undermining his subversion of conventional morals about gender relationships. It's a lost opportunity, but Teeth remains a provocative piece with shocks that are far from hollow.

Teeth opens on May 15