Teaching Mrs. Tingle

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Teaching Mrs. Tingle
File:Teaching Mrs Tingle.jpg
Theatrical film poster
Directed by Kevin Williamson
Produced by Cathy Konrad
Julie Plec
Bob Weinstein
Harvey Weinstein
Written by Kevin Williamson
Starring Helen Mirren
Katie Holmes
Jeffrey Tambor
Barry Watson
Marisa Coughlan
Liz Stauber
Molly Ringwald
Vivica A. Fox
Music by John Frizzell
Cinematography Jerzy Zielinski
Edited by Debra Neil-Fisher
Production
company
Distributed by Miramax Films
Release dates
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  • August 20, 1999 (1999-08-20)
Running time
 96 minutes[1]
Language English
Budget $13,000,000
Box office $8,951,935

Teaching Mrs. Tingle is an American 1999 dark comedy-thriller film and the directing debut of screenwriter Kevin Williamson, who wrote Scream and Scream 2 also from Dimension Films. The film stars Helen Mirren, Katie Holmes, Marisa Coughlan, Barry Watson, and Jeffrey Tambor and was released on August 20, 1999. It was originally titled Killing Mrs. Tingle, but was delayed and retitled due to the uproar over teen violence in films after the Columbine High School massacre. The film follows a trio of seniors who must prove their innocence to their vindictive history teacher. But this proves difficult, especially when they have her tied to a bed in her own house. The film received mainly negative reviews from critics and was a box office failure. It has since gained a small cult following.

Plot

Leigh Ann (Katie Holmes) is a high school student living in a small sleepy town of Grandsboro in Northern California with her single mother Faye (Lesley Ann Warren) who works as a waitress. Leigh Ann's aim is to achieve top grades to become valedictorian and leave the rather dead end town. However, her grade in history class is threatened by her sadistic and thoroughly vindictive teacher, Mrs. Tingle (Helen Mirren). Mrs. Tingle has a special dislike for Leigh Ann and down-grades Leigh Ann's well-designed project. Fellow student Luke (Barry Watson) takes the final exam papers from Mrs. Tingle and makes a copy. He offers Leigh Ann the papers but she insistently refuses to cheat. Ultimately, Luke stashes the papers in Leigh Ann's backpack without her consent. Out of nowhere Mrs. Tingle happens by, discovers the papers in Leigh Ann's backpack, and threatens to expel her for cheating. Mrs. Tingle heads to Mr. Potter (Michael McKean)'s office, however he is unavailable and decides to tell him tomorrow morning. This gives Leigh-Ann, her best friend, Jo Lynn (Marisa Coughlan), an aspiring actress, and Luke time to think of a plan to stop Mrs. Tingle.

Leigh Ann, Jo Lynn, and Luke head to Mrs. Tingle's house that night and try to convince Mrs. Tingle that Leigh Ann is innocent. Mrs. Tingle, however, does not listen. Luke picks up a loaded crossbow and aims it at Mrs. Tingle, threatening her. A physical struggle ensues, the crossbow goes off, and in the ensuing mêlée Mrs. Tingle is accidentally knocked unconscious. The students panic and tie Mrs. Tingle to her bed. Leigh Ann returns to her house and promises to return in the morning, while Luke and Jo Lynn are left to watch Mrs. Tingle in the bedroom. While under Jo Lynn's watch, Mrs. Tingle regains consciousness and playing on her guilt, Mrs. Tingle feigns dizziness and understanding for the prank and asks to be untied. Jo Lynn proceeds to untie her from the bed, and Mrs. Tingle immediately attacks Jo Lynn and tries to throttle her on the bed. Luke, with loaded crossbow aimed at Mrs. Tingle, convinces her otherwise, and she is retied to her bed.

The trio gathers together at Mrs. Tingles's house the next morning. Jo Lynn then calls the school and impersonates Mrs. Tingle calling in sick in order to buy the trio some time, but all are unsure of what they should do next. Leigh Ann and Luke go to school, leaving Jo Lynn to watch Mrs. Tingle. When they return home, the trio devise a plan to blackmail Mrs. Tingle by using fake photos of Luke and Mrs. Tingle in bed together, suggesting they were having an affair. Meanwhile, Mrs. Tingle plays mind-games with Jo Lynn, planting seeds of jealousy about Leigh Ann's supposed relationship with Luke. Later that day, the plan goes awry when the school's gym teacher, Richard Wenchell (Jeffrey Tambor), called 'Spanky' by Mrs. Tingle, arrives and is revealed to be having an affair with her. Jo Lynn, again, impersonates Mrs. Tingle and blindfolds Mr. Wenchell to hide her identity. When Mr. Wenchell passes out after a high intake of alcohol, Leigh Ann, Luke, and Jo Lynn decide to blackmail Mrs. Tingle by producing photographic evidence of her love affair with Mr. Wenchell.

While Leigh Ann and Luke leave to have the pictures printed and take an unconscious Mr. Wenchell home undetected, Mrs Tingle manipulates Jo Lynn into turning against Leigh Ann by revealing to her that Leigh Ann and Luke spent the night together at a party. Distraught, Jo Lynn leaves. Leigh Ann and Luke arrive back and cannot find Jo Lynn, thinking Mrs. Tingle had something to do with it. Mrs. Tingle eventually reveals that she hates Leigh Ann because Leigh Ann has, unlike herself, the potential to leave their small town and experience life. Mrs. Tingle's romantic self-revelations are incredible, furthering her captors' disdain of her. Later, she also opines that Leigh Ann does not have the guts to do anything risky that might get her in trouble; in response, an angry and infuriated Leigh Ann kisses Luke and has sex downstairs with him on Mrs. Tingle's couch. Luke and Leigh Ann find Mrs. Tingle's history grade book, and with little persuasion from Luke, decides to cheat by changing Mrs. Tingle's grade book. Leigh Ann marks down her rival, Trudie Tucker's (Liz Stauber) top A grade down to a B, and upgrades her own C to an A+.

The next day at school, Jo Lynn ignores Leigh Ann, still hurt over her betrayal. A regretful Leigh Ann tries to make amends with Jo Lynn, but an admission that she'd had sex with Luke further infuriates Jo Lynn and accuses her of being just like Mrs. Tingle.

Mrs. Tingle escapes from her bonds and, using the loaded crossbow, once again threatens Leigh Ann. Jo Lynn also appears to be on Mrs. Tingle's side now, but turns out to be only faking it so she could help her friends. After a violent fight, Mrs. Tingle appears to tumble to her death down the staircase, but quickly recovers, scrambles to her feet, and picks up a crossbow. She fires it wildly, trying to hit Leigh Ann. Trudie Tucker walks through the door, gets hit in the chest by the bolt, and appears to be dead just as Principal Potter arrives to check up on Mrs. Tingle. Furious, Potter confronts Mrs. Tingle and compels her to confess. Tingle states that she wanted to kill Leigh Ann, not Trudie, compounding her guilt. However, Trudie was protected by a thick textbook she was holding to her chest and is completely unharmed. Mrs. Tingle is fired by Potter, who was about to call the police, presumably in relation to the attempted murder of Trudie and/or Leigh Ann. The final scene of the film shows Leigh Ann being named valedictorian at graduation.

Cast

Production

Casting

Meryl Streep, Glenn Close, Sigourney Weaver and Sally Field were considered for the role of Mrs. Eve Tingle, the antagonist. Gillian Anderson was offered the role of Mrs. Tingle, but turned it down. Alicia Silverstone was considered for the role of Leigh Ann Watson, the protagonist.

Kevin Williamson chose Helen Mirren, in part because she seemed so unlikely for the role. "This is not the sort of film that I'm usually associated with so I was thrilled that Kevin would think of me for this role.", said Mirren. Impressed with Williamson's mix of comedy, thrills and psychological savvy in the script, Mirren saw the story of Mrs. Tingle as being about the most frightening and very real adolescent rite of passage: facing the future. "For me "Teaching Mrs. Tingle" addresses teenagers' insecurities, ambitions and fears about the future," she explains. "Remembering back to the ages of Leigh Ann, Luke and Jo Lynn, fear of the future is the most powerful thing driving you on. You don't know what's going to happen to you and it's terrifying. I think adults forget how scary that is. But Mrs. Tingle hasn't forgotten how scary it is; on the contrary, she uses that fear to her own slick advantage when the stakes become higher, manipulating Leigh Ann, Luke and Jo Lynn with savage aplomb." "I think Helen Mirren is one of the greatest living actresses that we have," says Williamson, "and the fact that she wanted to play this role was amazing. She elevated Mrs. Tingle to a new level."

Filming

Filming of Teaching Mrs. Tingle began on May 10, 1998 and ended on July 14, 1998, lasting 65 days. The film was entirely filmed in California. Outside school footage was filmed at El Segundo High School, El Segundo. Other scenes were filmed at Culver Studios, Culver City. Other locations include Pasadena, Culver City High School, John Burroughs Middle School and Los Angeles.

Controversy

The film was originally to be called "Killing Mrs. Tingle" and receive an earlier release date. However due to the Columbine High School massacre that occurred on April 20, 1999, there was a huge uproar over violence in media. Because of this, many films and TV shows were affected and were rescheduled or re-edited. The film was pushed back to August 20, 1999 and re-titled "Teaching Mrs. Tingle", which was deemed more acceptable.

Reception

Critical response

The film received mostly negative reviews, with Rotten Tomatoes measuring a 19% approval rating with an average rating of 4 out of 10. The critics' consensus reads: 'As a dark comedy-thriller, this movie lacks humor and thrill.'.[2] On Metacritic, the film scored 35 out of 100 based on 32 critics, indicating 'generally unfavorable reviews'.[3] Roger Ebert compared the film to Election in its concept but said that Teaching Mrs. Tingle fell short of Election in wit, and in that Teaching Mrs. Tingle had no sympathetic characters. Ebert complimented Mirren's acting, however.[4] Beth Pratt Common Sense Media gave the film 1 star of out of 5, calling it a "misguided teen thriller".[5] However there were some positive reviews for the film. Thom Bennett of Film Journal International praised the film, calling it "an entertaining film full of Williamson's familiar movie-reference-laced dialogue."[6] Michael Dequina of The Movie Reporter gave the film 3 out of 4 stars calling the film "admittedly junky but wickedly watchable revenge fantasy."[7]

Box office

The film was a box office failure. The film made US$3.3 million in its opening weekend, debuting at #10 at the North American box office.[8] However by its second week, the film dropped down to #15 and brought in $2,344,298. The film continued to drop and on its final week in the box office, the film was at #44. By the end of its run, the film grossed $8,951,935 at the domestic box office, losing $4,480,065 against an estimated budget of $13 million.[9]

Music

Soundtrack

Teaching Mrs. Tingle: Music from the Dimension Motion Picture
Soundtrack album by various artists
Released August 17, 1999
Genre Post-Grunge
Length 44:37
Label Capitol
EMI

The original motion picture soundtrack was released by Capitol Records on August 17, 1999. The album features music from Eve 6, The Moffatts, Stretch Princess, Tara MacLean, Duncan Sheik, Kendall Payne, Sozzi, Bree Sharp, Radford and Eman.

Teaching Mrs. Tingle: Music from the Dimension Motion Picture
No. Title Writer(s) Artist Length
1. "Sorry"   Elizabeth Cutler, Jo Lloyd, David Magee and James Wright Stretch Princess 3:30
2. "Tongue Tied"   Max Collins, Tony Fagenson and Jonathan Siebels Eve 6 3:12
3. "If I Fall"   Tara MacLean Tara MacLean 4:09
4. "'Til I Cry You out of Me"   Jonnie Most Sozzi 4:09
5. "Wonderland"   Kendall Payne Kendall Payne 3:42
6. "I Shut Down"   Emanuel Kiriakou Eman 4:20
7. "Fall At Your Feet"     Radford 4:27
8. "Show Me"   Simon Austin, Mike Rogers and Bree Sharp Bree Sharp 3:59
9. "Alibi"   Duane Lavold and Duncan Sheik Duncan Sheik 4:10
10. "Misery"   Klaus Major Heuser, Bob Moffatt, Clint Moffatt, Dave Moffatt and Scott Moffatt The Moffatts 4:51
11. "At Seventeen"   Janis Ian Tara MacLean 4:08
Total length:
 44:37

Score

Teaching Mrs. Tingle: Original Score From the Dimension Motion Picture
Soundtrack album by John Frizzell
Released August 24, 1999
Genre Soundtrack
Length 30:21
Label Varése Sarabande

The score was composed by John Frizzell and was released as an album on August 24, 1999 by Varése Sarabande.

Teaching Mrs. Tingle: Original Score From the Dimension Motion Picture
No. Title Length
1. "The Incident At School"   2:02
2. "Untie Me... Please"   2:15
3. "The Crossbow Accident"   2:49
4. "Get a Television, Mrs. Tingle"   1:08
5. "Spanky Shows Up"   3:14
6. "I Know You"   2:20
7. "Caught Cheating"   1:38
8. "My Mom Has Been Very Sick"   1:10
9. "Luke Confides In Tingle"   2:31
10. "Close Your Eyes"   1:21
11. "Leigh Ann Crosses The Line"   1:42
12. "I Don't Think So"   0:49
13. "I'm Your Friend"   1:10
14. "Destiny"   5:13
15. "Triumph"   0:58
Total length:
 30:21

Home media

The film was released on DVD and VHS on December 21, 1999 by Dimension Home Video. As part of a deal with Miramax, Echo Bridge Home Entertainment released the film on Blu-ray on May 3, 2011.[10] Teaching Mrs. Tingle was released in several countries on Blu-ray, including the United Kingdom on June 25, 2012 by StudioCanal UK,[11] Germany on June 7, 2012 by Studio Canal,[12] France on July 3, 2012 by Studio Canal[13] and Spain on November 30, 2011 by Emon Home Entertainment.[14]

Accolades

Year Award Category Work Result
2000 Saturn Award Best Horror Film Teaching Mrs. Tingle Nominated
MTV Movie Award Best Kiss Katie Holmes
Barry Watson		 Nominated
Teen Choice Award Choice Movie: Villain Helen Mirren Nominated
Choice Movie: Chemistry Katie Holmes
Barry Watson		 Nominated

See also

References

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External links

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