Teaching Mrs. Tingle
August. 11,1999 PG-13A bright high-school senior has her impending status as valedictorian jeopardized when her bitter history teacher, Mrs. Tingle, gives her a poor grade on a project. When an attempt to get ahead in Mrs. Tingle's class goes awry, mayhem ensues and friendships, loyalties and trust are tested by the teacher's intricate mind-games.
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Reviews
Very very predictable, including the post credit scene !!!
Good story, Not enough for a whole film
Great movie. Not sure what people expected but I found it highly entertaining.
All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.
Teaching Mrs. Tingle (1999): Dir: Kevin Williamson / Cast: Helen Mirren, Katie Holmes, Barry Watson, Marisa Coughlan, Jeffrey Tambor: Dreadful horror film meant to represent dislike for unpleasant teachers. What is really being taught here? That revenge and blackmail are humorous comebacks that pays off? Mrs. Tingle is a cruel minded teacher bent on failing students and how she caught the smartest girl in the class with a cheat paper, which was planted on her. Three students travel to her home in hopes of reasoning but it all ends with tingle being tied to a bed in a lame scene involving a crossbow. It is crude, vile and hopelessly dumb. Lame idea brought down by predictable and juvenile storytelling. The concept worked in Nine to Five where three office secretaries kidnap their boss, but that film had wit and characters to root for. Not so in this junk. Kevin Williamson directs as if spoofing from experience. Helen Mirren is much too talented to be playing a woman as unsympathetic as Mrs. Tingle. The roll is about as broad as most slasher film villains. Katie Holmes, Barry Watson and Marisa Coughlan are despicable as the three students who give viewers no reason to believe that they should have ever left grade school let alone graduate. Jeffrey Tambor is a gifted comedian stranded in this cruddy garbage as Coach Richard. Message misfires thanks to complete idiocy. Score: 1 / 10
Helen Mirren is usually known for roles like Queen Elizabeth, so her appearance as a nasty teacher held hostage by some students in "Teaching Mrs. Tingle" should be at least a little bit of a surprise. But she still pulls it off. My favorite scene was the "Exorcist" impersonation.One of the notable things about the movie is that they were originally going to call it "Killing Mrs. Tingle" but had to change the title after the Columbine shootings. No matter, it still comes out OK, although it's not the movie that I would recommend above all others.Also starring Michael McKean and Lesley Ann Warren. Director Kevin Williamson wrote the first two "Scream" movies.
This is a minor spoiler.I would have thought more highly of the film, but Mr. Williamson's mistake annoyed me. Witches weren't burned at Salem, they were hanged. Because of his ignorance, Leigh Ann wrote as if witches were burned there, which proved she hadn't done her research. Therefore, Mrs. Tingle actually had a genuine reason for downgrading Leigh Ann's history project. (Witch-burning did take place, but it was more a continental European atrocity.) Otherwise, the film was interesting. After all, haven't most of us known a person who abused his or her authority and been unjust?
I don't know how this movie got such bad ratings, because this movie is one of the funniest teen movies ever and its script is nicely written. I mean, sure, this movie isn't a masterpiece. however, you will get a good laugh by the subtle and witty remarks the characters say, and how the situations change throughout the film. there are also come clever twists and surprises that'll make you go "oh s***!!" this movie is a classic horror comedy and it is really worth seeing it. rent it and see it with your friends. you guys will love it! oh and there is this one particular scene that you can't miss out on...im going to call it the "exorcist scene"...you'll know what im talking about if you see the film. it is HILARIOUS.