Queen of Teeth

DEBUT After the provocative opening, with Yaya finding teeth in her vagina, Piper takes what could have been a gimmick and crafts a brilliant, alternate-history dystopia. Yaya is one of many in her generation born as mutant chimeras because of a virus that’s property of AlphaBeta Pharmaceuticals (ABP); the company requires her to submit to monthly “check-ups.” Doc, one of ABP’s scientists, has been privy to the worst of the firm’s experiments. As Yaya and Doc fall in love, Piper effortlessly builds a fascinating world only slightly askew from our own. The horror rises as the teeth inside of Yaya begin to grow into an independent, sentient being (at once part of Yaya and separate from her); this monster is well-meaning within its worldview but has Godzilla-esque aspirations. Visceral, scary, and sensual, tackling issues of gender identity and marginalization head on, this fast-paced body horror creature-feature also follows romance genre rules, resulting in a thought-provoking tale that is both terrifying and sweet, even if the end of the world may be imminent.