The Dentist is a 1996 American horror film directed by Brian Yuzna (Amphibious) and written by Dennis Paoli.
Corbin Bernsen stars as Doctor Alan Feinstone, Linda Hoffman as Brooke Feinstone and Ken Foree as Detective Gibbs. It also features Mark Ruffalo in one of his early roles.
The film was inspired by the story of real-life dentist/serial killer Nick Rex.
It was followed by The Dentist 2 in 1998, again starring Corbin Bernsen as the titular tooth doctor.
Plot:
Doctor Alan Feinstone (Corbin Bernsen) is a dentist, an obsessive perfectionist, and a man who is slowly losing his grip on reality.
One day he wakes up and everything suddenly seems to be not quite right; he sees dirt everywhere, thinks that his wife is having an affair with the pool guy and gets frustrated by annoying patients. Then, as his dementia increases, the doctor decides to vent some of his neurotic spleen on his unfortunate clients…
Reviews [click links to read more]:
“Yuzna has had a mixed career, but his good movies are generally not only just good — but great. And The Dentist is arguably his best. The film throws in plenty of Hitchcockian elements and sick humor to make this the best medical psycho film of all time, superior even to Doctor Giggles.” eSplatter
“If the opening 50 minutes is rather slow (although it does build up Feinstone’s madness in detail rarely seen in such films) the final half-hour packs in many gory and sadistic goings-on and those first 50 minutes are made entertaining by the wonderful performance of barely restrained mania by Bernsen.” Beardy Freak
Buy DVD: Amazon.com
Cast and characters:
Corbin Bernsen … Doctor Alan Feinstone
Linda Hoffman … Brooke Feinstone
Michael Stadvec … Matt
Ken Foree … Detective Gibbs
Tony Noakes … Detective Sunshine
Molly Hagan … Jessica
Patty Toy … Karen
Jan Hoag … Candy
Virginya Keehne … Sarah
Earl Boen … Marvin Goldblum
Christa Sauls … April Reign
Mark Ruffalo … Steve Landers
Lise Simms … Paula Roberts
Joanne Baron … Mrs Saunders
Brian McLaughlin … Jody
Technical details:
1 hour 32 minutes
Audio: Ultra Stereo
Aspect ratio: 1.85: 1
MOVIES and MANIA rating:
