Horror Extreme Movie Catalog

Bersen again delivers in this movie. As I said for the first Dentist movie, he's a man you can trust. He then slowly goes mad and back to his killing ways. I loved the two movies and probably some of the most underrated movies in horror. Bersen does survive at the end but this was the end of the franchise. I guess people didnt want anther movie about Dentist. Who can blame them? The dentist around here are scarier.

My girlfriend and I were sitting around one day recently discussing the weird and wacky world of television. The topic of medical/surgery shows came up, mainly because we stumbled over a particularly gory operation while flipping through the channels. Why, I asked, do we see plenty of gluey open-heart surgeries and other graphic operations yet there isn't a single show dealing with the stuff that goes on at a dentist's office? My girlfriend suggested that such a program might exist, but that we just don't see it where we live. I doubt it, though. There is something so unpleasant about the dentist and the painful atrocities that unfold there on a daily basis that any program based on such nastiness would sink like a stone in the ratings. Who wants to watch someone scraping plaque off of teeth? Or root canals? Or bone cracking extractions? Or see someone open wide to reveal teeth and gums caked in gingivitis? Not me; I spent six years wearing braces, had several teeth pulled over the years, and know intimately the sound that drill makes as it punches holes in enamel. All of this brings me to "The Dentist" films.

The first film in this grotesque duology introduced us to Dr. Feinstone (Corbin Bernsen), a dentist clinging to the last vestiges of sanity. Problems with the IRS, an adulterous wife, and a tendency to extend the idea of tooth decay to society at large led Feinstone to a murderous rampage and eventual incarceration in a mental asylum. "Dentist 2: Brace Yourself" sees the titular tooth doctor escaping from the nuthouse and moving to a small town under the name Laurence Caine in order to once again ply his trade. He's at first reticent to resume his former occupation since he knows that working as a dentist led to major problems in the first place, but circumstances soon emerge that find him once again donning a white coat. The local dentist is a small town doctor who can't seem to do his job as well as Feinstone thinks he should. Next thing we know, this guy topples down the stairs and Caine takes over his practice. A host of issues soon emerge that put extreme stress on Feinstone/Caine's tenuous mental state. First, a nosy local gal named Bev Trotter (Susanne Wright) has suspicions about Caine's background and starts digging around for information. Second, Caine strikes up an association with Jaime Devers (Jillian McWhirter) that resurrects memories of his previously failed relationship. Third, ex-wife Brooke Sullivan (Linda Hoffman) hires a private detective to track down her husband.

Feinstone/Caine soon cracks under the pressure. At first he just barks at people, or gives folks a nasty look that sends chills down their spines. Devers's budding relationship with Caine seems promising, and even seems to have a calming influence on the insane dentist--at least at first. Then Feinstone notices that the guy he hired to refurbish his office has a thing for Jaime. It turns out that the two, Devers and Robbie Mauro (Lee Dawson), are childhood friends who've always played a little game in which he proposes marriage and she refuses to accept his advances. It means nothing, but Caine doesn't know this. He goes ballistic over what he perceives as a repeat of the same situation that sent him over the edge in the first place. And once Feinstone/Caine cracks up, no one is safe. Before you can say "Open wide" the dentist is back to his old tricks again. Patients strapped down in the chair shriek and moan as drills and other shiny metal tools scrape, tear, and punch holes in teeth, tongues, and gums. It's a truly nightmarish experience to watch the close up shots of Feinstone's bloody handiwork. Will anyone emerge to stop this demented doctor's gory rampages? Watch, if you dare, and see.

I quite enjoyed the first film due to the graphic carnage and Bernsen's frenetic performance. "Dentist 2: Brace Yourself" isn't as good as its predecessor. It's still disturbing to watch Feinstone operate on the unfortunate wretches caught in his web, and Bernsen's performance rates high as the actor throws all caution to the wind and goes for high camp, but the second installment drags a bit. I found the pacing of the film ponderous; it takes far too long for the story to unfold and far too long for Feinstone to crack up. The gore isn't as quite over the top in this entry, unfortunately. Remember what the dentist did to that guy from the IRS in the first film? I don't remember seeing anything as remotely disturbing here. The special effects depicting oral pandemonium aren't much better than the stuff we saw in the first film either, but perhaps that's to the good. If any of these scenes looked more realistic these two films would probably be unwatchable. Ultimately, if you enjoyed the first film you will probably want to give this one a spin. Heck, veteran character actor Clint Howard turns up in an enjoyable sequence as one of Caine's first victims. Any film with Clint Howard hamming it up deserves a watch.

Extras on the DVD are sparse: trailers for "The Dentist," this film, Peter Jackson's "Dead Alive," and cast and crew filmographies take only a few minutes to work through. I don't think we're likely to see another "Dentist" film in the near future, sorry to say, but Brian Yuzna or other horror filmmakers ought to make more. Dental torture films are massively disturbing and could very well constitute an effective and profitable subgenre within the larger horror film field.