Dental visits are never fun. With the possible exception of Jack Nicholson in The Little Shop Of Horrors, nobody enjoys seeing their dentist. Theres something about metal objects and a strangers fingers in our mouth which makes us feel vulnerable perhaps even a bit violated. Most dental offices do their best to put us at ease with soothing muzak, relaxed voices, Novocain and the always-enjoyable nitrous oxide. But the fact remains they are digging into our most-important orifice with sharp picks, steely blades and whirring drills. And somehow, whether its a simple cleaning or root canal, the fact we can't see what theyre doing (though we definitely feel and hear it) makes things worse. Marathon Man confirms what dentophobics have suspected all along those we entrust with maintaining our beautiful smiles are actually former Nazi war criminals, supremely skilled in the art of inflicting pain, and enjoy doing so. Even to this day, the now-classic scene in which Dr. Szell (Laurence Olivier) uses his sadistic skills to get information from Babe (Dustin Hoffman) is extremely hard to watch. It isnt overly graphic, but just like any time weve ever sat in a dentists chair, we cant actually see the mayhem going on in the mouth. So we imagine the worst.
D.M. Anderson works and lives in Portland Oregon. He is the author of two young adult novels (Killer Cows & Shaken) and a collection of dark tales (With the Wicked). He has also published several short stories which have appeared (or will appear) in various anthologies and magazines such as 69 Flavors of Paranoia, Night Terrors, Trembles, Encounters, Implosion, Strange Fucking Stories, Perpetual Motion Machine. He documents his adventures in the dark on on his movie site, Free Kittens Movie Guide
