19th Oct2022

‘Tooth Fairy: Queen of Pain’ VOD Review (Amazon Prime)

by Phil Wheat

Stars: Paula Coiz, Samantha Cull, Genna Loskunikov, Giedre Jackyte, Marcus Massey, Julia Quayle, Jo Barker | Written by Ben Daly | Directed by Louisa Warren

The killer tooth fairy is back! Yes after seemingly being killed three times in the previous three movies, the titular fairy-tale turned monster is back on the screen in Tooth Fairy: Queen of Pain, or Tooth Fairy 4: Reborn – to give the film its on-screen title. Quick question though… Why do I keep subjecting myself to this franchise?!

I’ll tell you why. Because, remarkably, this franchise has played out in the opposite way to most horror franchises. Whereas we typically quote the “law of diminishing returns” when it comes to horror sequels, Louisa Warren’s Tooth Fairy series is the opposite – each film has got progressively better than the last, with part three really embracing the gore and grue and delivering the best film in the franchise so far. And now comes part four… with part five already in the can!

Tooth Fairy: Queen of Pain opens with a prologue featuring an actress we’ve seen before, Jo Barker, who’s credited as both Dianne in part three and Diane in this film – though given that she’s already had experience with the total Tooth Fairy is the previous film, she’s far too calm when it comes to this one! And I say this tooth fairy because this is clearly an all-new iteration of the character, from her look to her behaviour; this time around sporting a visage that looks more like the smooth skin and wide mouth of Slenderman, mixed with the white dress/dark long hair of the killer from The Ring. Though to be fair, the appearance of the tooth fairy never really was consistent in the previous three films. The cover art painting of the tooth fairy yes, but not in the films themselves!

Let’s get this out of the way first, Tooth Fairy: Queen of Pain feels like a reboot and NOT a sequel. Why? Because this film jettisons pretty much everything we’ve come to expect from a Tooth Fairy film, with not a single character, bar the aforementioned brief appearance of Jo Barker – who may or may not be playing the same person – returning for this new film. Even the lore around the tooth fairy, so consistent for three movies, has been dropped from this one. In fact the characters in this one don’t even talk about our killer as a tooth fairy; and it’s not until 70 minutes into the film that, outside the prologue, teeth are even mentioned – THAT’S how detached from the original films this fourth movie is!

Instead of a follow-up to the last film, we get something of a new origin story for our killer tooth collector. Gone is the supernatural explanation and in comes a more human one… An escaped lunatic who was once known for murdering and collecting teeth has escaped from a mental asylum (which we’re told over and over and over in radio bulletins that play in the background of the film’s soundtrack). That’s it. So what is an escaped mental patient to do? Well terrorise a group of teachers on a trip – all of whom find themselves in grave danger as they are stalked one by one by the creepy-faced killer… And by stalked I mean the tooth fairy turns up, knocks on the door of the teacher’s holiday home and babbles on for half the film whilst the rest of the cast get drunk in a pub! Before they all come home and she offs them one by one. Yes, you guessed it, there’s not much to the plot of Tooth Fairy 4. Though even with a simple plot director Louisa Warren and writer Ben Daly manage to make this film, feel like it goes on forever, feeling much longer than even its short(ish) 86-minute runtime would suggest.

Speaking of writer Ben Daly, he also penned the script for Jagged Edge Productions’ Krampus: The Return – a film whose plot, honestly, is interchangeable with this one. Both feature familiar tropes and cliches and a simple “stalk and slash” formula. And unlike the previous entry in the series, there’s not even any over-the-top kills in this one to detract from the overall dull nature of the film! Which means that yes, after each franchise entry in the Tooth Fairy series being better than the last for three films across three years, we get our first dud. In fact, this feels like a return to the drudgery of the original film – only with either a bigger budget… or at least a better-utilised one!

Even without knowing a fifth film was in the can, the fact this film finishes with an open-ended conclusion, unlike previous films would’ve meant another film was inevitable. As it stands now, the only reason I’ll be watching it is to find out what the hell is actually going on… because this film explains nothing!

*½  1.5/5

Tooth Fairy: Queen of Pain is available to rent or buy now on Amazon Prime Video.

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