''Night Teeth'' is a 2021 American

vampire A vampire is a mythical creature that subsists by feeding on the Vitalism, vital essence (generally in the form of blood) of the living. In European folklore, vampires are undead, undead creatures that often visited loved ones and caused mi ...

thriller film Thriller film, also known as suspense film or suspense thriller, is a broad film genre that evokes excitement and suspense in the audience. The suspense element found in most films' plots is particularly exploited by the filmmaker in this genre ...

directed by Adam Randall from a screenplay by Brent Dillon. The film stars Jorge Lendeborg Jr.,

Debby Ryan Deborah Ann Ryan (born May 13, 1993) is an American actress and singer. She started acting professionally onstage at the age of seven, and was later discovered during Disney Channel's nationwide search for new talent. Ryan's work for Disney Ch ...

Lucy Fry Lucy Elizabeth Fry (born 13 March 1992) is an Australian actress. She is known for portraying Zoey in ''Lightning Point'', Lyla in '' Mako: Island of Secrets'', and Lissa Dragomir in the film ''Vampire Academy''. Fry was also cast in Hulu's eig ...

Raul Castillo Raul Castillo is an American mixed martial artist from Half Moon Bay, California. He last competed in 2015, and made appearances for the Strikeforce promotion. Mixed martial arts record , - , Win , align=center, 7–1 , Mauricio Alonso ...

Sydney Sweeney Sydney Bernice Sweeney (born September 12, 1997) is an American actress. She first gained attention for appearing in the television series ''Everything Sucks!'' (2018), ''The Handmaid's Tale'' (2018), and ''Sharp Objects'' (2018). In 2019, she w ...

Megan Fox Megan Denise Fox (born May 16, 1986) is an American actress. She made her acting debut in the family film '' Holiday in the Sun'' (2001), which was followed by numerous supporting roles in film and television, such as the teen musical comedy ...

, and

Alfie Allen Alfie Evan Allen (born 12 September 1986) is an English actor. He portrayed Theon Greyjoy on all eight seasons of the HBO fantasy series ''Game of Thrones'' (2011–2019), for which he received a nomination for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outs ...

. ''Night Teeth'' was released on October 20, 2021, by

Netflix Netflix, Inc. is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service and production company based in Los Gatos, California. Founded in 1997 by Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph in Scotts Valley, California, it offers a fil ...

. The film received mixed reviews from critics.

Plot

Benny, a freelance chauffeur driving in place of his brother Jay, is hired by friends Blaire and Zoe to drive them to several popular Los Angeles nightclubs. Unbeknownst to him, the girls are both vampires. The movie then reveals that vampires have co-existed peacefully with humans for centuries, feeding only by consent. Victor, a wealthy vampire lord who has grown bored and discontented with his life, is planning to subvert the system by kidnapping Jay's girlfriend, breaking the truce with

Boyle Heights Boyle is an English, Irish and Scottish surname of Gaelic, Anglo-Saxon or Norman origin. In the northwest of Ireland it is one of the most common family names. Notable people with the surname include: Disambiguation *Adam Boyle (disambiguation), ...

; unbeknownst to Benny, Jay is secretly part of the human council charged with maintaining the peace between vampires and humans. As Jay and his allies begin hunting down all of the vampires in LA, Victor executes a plan to wipe out his fellow lords and seize power for himself while tasking Blaire and Zoe with creating as much chaos in the city as they can to distract the vampire hunters and peacekeepers. When Benny drops the girls off at a hotel, he discovers that the hotel is actually a feeding ground for vampires and realizes what Blaire and Zoe are using him for. The girls threaten his life, but spare him so they can get to Jay. During a visit to one of their targets, the girls are trapped by vampire hunters, but Benny decides to help them escape and lets them hide at his home. Benny then learns that Victor has his brother, who lost to the vampire in hand-to-hand combat while trying to slay him. Benny drops the girls off at the last location on their list and discovers that the home belongs to Victor. Blaire urges him to leave, but Benny refuses to abandon his brother. Inside the house, Benny finds several human prisoners being kept by the lord as "blood bags" for him to feed on, including Jay, but is captured by Victor while trying to free him. Victor and Zoe then threaten to kill him, leading Blaire to turn against Victor and Zoe, after realizing that she has feelings for Benny. In the struggle that follows, Zoe stabs Blaire and in retaliation, Benny remotely activates his brother's car, smashing a window and exposing sunlight which kills Zoe. Victor then attacks Benny using Jay as bait, and manages to bite Benny before Jay tackles him into sunlight, killing him. Benny soon transforms into a vampire and the brothers go their separate ways after Jay decides to start training as a professional vampire hunter and tells Benny that he expects him to fight by his side when the city plunges into chaos. Later that night, Benny meets Blaire for an evening out.

Cast

* Jorge Lendeborg Jr. as Benny *

as Blaire *

as Zoe *

as Jay *

as Victor *

Alexander Ludwig Alexander Ludwig (born May 7, 1992) is a Canadian actor and country musician. He first began his career as a child, and then received recognition as a teenager for starring in the films '' The Seeker: The Dark Is Rising'' (2007) and ''Race to Wi ...

as Rocko *

as Eva *

as Grace *

Marlene Forte Ana Marlene Forte Machado, better known as Marlene Forte, is a Cuban actress and producer. She is perhaps best known for her role as Carmen Ramos on the television soap opera ''Dallas'' (2012–2014). Forte also had recurring roles in '' Fear th ...

as Abuela * Ash Santos as Maria *

Bryan Batt Bryan Batt (born March 1, 1963) is an American actor best known for his role in the AMC series ''Mad Men'' as Salvatore Romano, an art director for the Sterling Cooper agency. Primarily a theater actor, he has had a number of starring roles in mo ...

as Gio

Production

In August 2019, it was announced Adam Randall would direct the film from a screenplay by Brent Dillon, with

distributing. In February 2020, Jorge Lendeborg Jr.,

and

Raúl Castillo Raúl Castillo Jr. (born August 30, 1977) is an American actor and playwright. He is known for his acting roles in ''Amexicano'' and ''Cold Weather'' and his role as Richie Donado Ventura in the HBO series ''Looking'' and its subsequent series ...

joined the cast of the film. In July 2020,

and

joined the cast of the film.

Filming

Principal photography Principal photography is the phase of producing a film or television show in which the bulk of shooting takes place, as distinct from the phases of pre-production and post-production. Personnel Besides the main film personnel, such as actor ...

began in February 2020 in

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Merriam-Webster. ; french: La Nouvelle-Orléans , es, Nuev ...

and

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

. Later that year, production was halted due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

Reception

On the

review aggregator A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews of products and services (such as films, books, video games, software, hardware, and cars). This system stores the reviews and uses them for purposes such as supporting a website where users ...

website

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

, the film holds an approval rating of 38% based on 50 reviews, with an average rating of 5.4/10. The website's critics consensus reads, "''Night Teeth'' has a solid cast and some interesting ideas, but they're all lost in a listlessly told, generally predictable vampire story."

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...

gave the film a weighted average score of 44 out of 100 based on nine critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews". Meagan Navarro, writing for horror magazine ''

Bloody Disgusting Bloody Disgusting is an American multi-media company, which began as a horror genre-focused news site/website specializing in information services that covered various horror medias, including: film, television, video games, comics, and music. ...

'', gave the film two out of five stars, and said of the opening sequence that it "never really amount to anything and sets the precedence for the film's anemic world-building", added that "what Night Teeth lacks in substance it makes up for in style", and concluded writing that "despite a likable lead and a constantly moving narrative, ''Night Teeth'' lacks bite" and labeled it as "predictable."

References

External links

* * {{IMDb title, 10763820 2021 thriller films 2020s English-language films American thriller films American vampire films Film productions suspended due to the COVID-19 pandemic Films postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic Films set in Los Angeles Films shot in Los Angeles Films shot in New Orleans English-language Netflix original films 2020s American films English-language thriller films