Dogtooth | -2009-

The horror of Dogtooth is not found in jump scares or gore (though there is a shocking moment involving a pair of clippers), but in the perversion of innocence. The children are not abused in the traditional sense; they are coddled, fed, and housed. The parents insist they do everything out of love.

The plot of Dogtooth is deceptively simple, unfolding within the high walls of a wealthy family’s estate. A father (Christos Stergioglou), a mother (Michele Valley), and their three children—two daughters and a son, who remain unnamed throughout the film—live in isolation. The children are adults, or nearly so, but they possess the naivety of toddlers. They have never left the compound. They believe the outside world is a dangerous, toxic wasteland, and that they can only leave the safety of their home once their "dogtooth" (a canine tooth) falls out. Dogtooth -2009-

The tragedy lies in the fact that the children are willing participants in their own imprisonment. They police each other. When the father brings in a security guard, Christina (Anna Kalaitzidou), to satisfy the son’s sexual urges, the precarious balance of the family’s ecosystem begins to fracture. Christina, an outsider, introduces elements of the real world—specifically, Hollywood films like Rocky and Jaws —which act as a virus in the sterile environment of the home. The horror of Dogtooth is not found in