By Juan Markos
Los Angeles, CA (The Hollywood Times) 6/19/2025
“BabyTeeth” is an unsettling horror short film set to screen at the 28th Annual Dances With Films on June 24, 2025. This film is an adaptation of the classic children’s narrative titled “The Monster Under the Bed,” which draws on themes from folklore related to bogeymen and the fears children experience. The film opens with an installation featuring creepy objects, setting a tense atmosphere.
The storyline follows a child having a sleepover. During the night, Toni’s mother enters to provide water for the children and wishes them goodnight. Before she leaves, Toni requests that she check under the bed for any monsters, and upon finding none, the kids settle down to sleep. However, after the mother returns to her bedroom, she accidentally drops her five-year sobriety chip, hinting at her struggles with addiction. This moment foreshadows the chilling events that unfold when she is pulled under the bed by a monster that appears to haunt her child, symbolizing the grip addiction may have on a family.
A particularly unsettling element of the film is the persistent beeping of a smoke detector, indicating the need for a new battery. This disturbance awakens the children, who attempt to document the monster under the bed with photos. Although one child does not see anything unusual in the picture, Toni becomes horrified by a hidden detail and soon disappears beneath the bed himself.
As the plot progresses, Toni discovers a tooth under the bed and begins searching the house for his mother. He opens her bedroom door only to find it empty. In a surprising twist, another character, Marcus, abruptly appears from the bathroom shower, which was left running at the time of the mother’s disappearance. He begins to vomit a strange white substance, and a mysterious woman emerges from the shower, causing Toni to scream out for his mom.
The film is characterized by its unsettling and chaotic atmosphere, with certain scenes evoking personal memories of my own, such as a childhood trauma during the Northridge earthquake. This narrative explores the fears of a child searching for their mother and conveys themes of loss and terror. “BabyTeeth” is written and directed by Paul X Sanches IV and produced by award-winning filmmaker Jason A. White.
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