At the screening of Teeth that I attended, female journalists squealed with delight at the sight of scumbag men being castrated by Dawn (Jess Weixler), an abstinence-promoting high school girl saddled with a curious case of vagina dentata, that mythical condition in which a woman's nether regions are lined with sharp teeth. A legend obviously rooted in male fears of female sexuality, director Mitchell Lichtenstein depicts it as a tool for female empowerment, as Dawn's efforts to come to terms with her strange and terrifying gift inevitably lead to a realization that it grants her dominion over all the cretins who want to deflower her. Thus, the glee that greeted the multiple severed penises, while disconcerting on a basic level (my god, are women really this tickled by castration!?), makes some sort of sense as a response to years of horror films in which men have exerted violence (often sexual in nature) against women. Nonetheless, their reaction continues to be puzzling, given that Teeth is generally so crude and schematic that it seems the only proper reaction to these climactic images is unsurprised, eye roll-accompanied groans.

An opening message that "No Men Were Harmed During the Making of This Film" immediately reveals not just Lichtenstein's goal to blend horror with comedy but, specifically, the brand of corny-cute humor he plans to employ. Initial glimpses of a nuclear power plant towering over Dawn's neighborhood (seemingly ripped straight from The Simpsons) cast an amusingly eerie pall over the early going, but any promise of a uniquely bizarre atmosphere quickly dissipates as the director introduces us to Dawn, the leader of a Christian youth movement that counsels kids to keep it in their pants until marriage. Dawn is sunny, cheery and attractive, and it's clear from the outset that one of her male classmates also devoted to abstinence -- a recent transfer to the school named Tobey (Hale Appleman) -- fancies her. Lichtenstein thinks that by making Dawn a doggedly chaste individual, his premise is somehow funnier than if she were just an average, everyday teen. Yet the result is the exact opposite, as her transition from snow-white good girl to blood-red avenger is so broad that she feels like little more than a punchline to some dreary bar room joke.

You can often sell a movie with a shocking or unique approach to an ... unseemly topic, but it takes a good deal of talent to take an outrageous idea and turn it into a effective, entertaining and weirdly powerful experience. Case in point: I just finished seeing a movie called Teeth, which centers on a pretty teenage girl whose vagina has teeth. Yes, you read that right: The old "vagina dentata" myth that's been propagated across dozens of cultures for thousands of years -- most likely because, deep down, men are pretty much terrified of women. (Or at least certain parts of 'em) One might expect a movie with this concept to be broad, stupid, campy "Troma" material all the way. But in the hands of writer/director Mitchell Lichtenstein and a stellar cast, Teeth (against all odds) ends up being one of the most witty, intelligent and darkly insightful looks at young womanhood since Lucky McKee's brilliant May. (And how strange and admirable is it that both of these movies comes from male writer/directors?)

If you get over the rather distasteful subject matter and focus on what's beneath the surface, you'll find a flick that's got a whole lot to say about young women and their fear of burgeoning sexuality, society's general distaste (and, let's face it, fear) of the female sex organ, and the ways in which men do a serious disservice to womankind by treating their "naughty bits" as if they're something to be ashamed of. Teeth covers all this ground (and a whole lot more), and I suspect it's more open-minded and honest than most of what passes for "sex ed" these days. This movie offers enough meaty subtext to fill three semesters and it does so in a shocking, humorous and strangely compassionate fashion.