Teen Thrillers Have Run Their Course

by Jason R. Hewlett

Kevin Williamson knows teens and teen thrillers. He's responsible for single handedly reviving the teen slasher films with his "Scream" series and "I Know What You Did Last Summer." He's created T.V. phenomenon "Dawson's Creek" and the upcoming "Wasteland." It's too bad that the man, who is a talented writer to be sure, may soon be out of a job.

The problem with his directorial debut isn't that the film is a sluggish bore, not solely anyway. The problem is that the genre he is the guru of is getting very, very stale. The fact that the film has tanked at the box office shows that even his teen audience isn't interested in seeing films of this nature anymore. Time to find a new market to target, Kev!

"Teaching Mrs. Tingle" is about three students who hold their teacher, the mean-spirited Mrs. Tingle (played with much zest by Helen Mirren) hostage in hope that she will hear the pleas of wrongly accused cheater Leigh Anne ("Dawson's Creek" star Katie Holmes) What ensues is a psychological battle between teacher and students that ends in a boring horror film style confrontation that feels totally out of place with the rest of the movie. Mind you, by that point we've stopped caring about Leigh Anne or Mrs. Tingle and just want to go home.

As I said before, Helen Mirren is excellent as Mrs. Tingle. She's nasty yet cool in the best witch woman kind of way. Holmes and her fellow teen actors do good work too and Williamson is a fine actor's director.

It's just that the script feels old. It was Williamson's first screenplay and it shows. It's also a boring idea that never gets going. Throw in some crappy (and poorly placed) pop music and you've got an 80's movie that should have stayed in the 80's.

Maybe next time they'll let that happen.

2 out of 10!