The premise of Nothing But Blackened Teeth is simple: Five friends, each with a fondness for the macabre, reunite in a haunted Japanese mansion for a wedding. But as the night of fun and celebration wears on, the history of the house begins to come alive around them. Of course, that history involves a bride having been buried alive in the foundation and a centuries worth of sacrificed women entombed in the walls. Throughout this short story, Japanese folklore comes alive to offer a spooky vignette of a night to remember.
I can’t go into much more detail without heading deeply into spoiler territory as this story was short and quick paced, but I definitely think it is worth checking out. I really appreciated that Khaw managed to weave together a story that felt both age-old and modern, using both traditional horror story elements and modern breaking of the fourth wall and meta-type commentary on common horror tropes. The end result ended up feeling like the kind of story you might tell around a campfire, as the clock approaches witching hour, and everyone’s phones are dead.
Throughout the short story, Khaw weaves vivid details together into a tale that feels like you’re watching a movie — the imagery comes alive in a fun way — and keeps you turning the page. (Though I should note there is an abundance of simile used throughout, which isn’t everyone’s cup of tea.) Not only does Nothing But Blackened Teeth bring to light the legend of Ohaguro-Bettari — the bride with no facial features save for a wide, grinning smile of blackened teeth — but I thought it modernized it in a compelling way. And as someone who was not familiar with the folklore prior to this, I didn’t feel out of my depth as a reader.
I also really appreciated how real the characters felt. While a lot of major interpersonal development was outside of the scope of this story, the character’s felt like people you know. The frenemy relationship between Cat and Talia felt as cringey as viewing that type of relationship as an outsider usually does. Lin was comical and felt like that friend you’ve known forever. I didn’t feel like not seeing the development between them took away from the plot as Khaw did a great job alluding to the bigger context involved. (I know some of the lower reviews on sites like Goodreads complained about that.) Keeping in mind that this is a novella, not a novel, I thought it gave enough information to know what was necessary, without bogging the action of the story down with less relevant details.
A lot of other lower rated reviews also called out the crude language throughout the dialogue. I felt the level of profanity felt appropriate for a horror novel, which I know sounds like an odd comment. Some might think it was a bit much in this story, but I’m relatively positive that if I were in the same situation, I’d be talking the same way. To me, it continued to carry the reality of the characters though. Adults in high tension scenarios probably aren’t using the prettiest of language. But, if you are more sensitive to vulgar language, take this as your warning.
At the end of the day though, horror is subjective and that makes it hard to review. Did this story scare me to the point of keeping me up at night? Nope, not even close. Did the terror of the novel live up to it’s gorgeously creepy cover? I’m not entirely sure that it did. But this story was well crafted, thoughtfully written, and I found it hard to put down. Plain and simply, I enjoyed it quite a bit. (And I look forward to reading other works by this author.)
