“Delightfully Subversive” – Why You Should Watch Teaching Mrs. Tingle this Shocktober

You couldn’t pay me all the money in the world to go back to high school, but I will always jump at the chance to revisit any project set in high school penned by Kevin Williamson. With his meta scripts, pop culture-savvy characters, and moody soundtracks that are excellent listening for a stormy Friday night when you casually light too many candles and attempt a seance, his films have rightfully become teen movie canon and modern cult favourites. Best known for writing 1996’s revolutionary Scream, television juggernaut Dawson’s Creek, and horror-comedy hybrids I Know What You Did Last Summer (1997) and The Faculty (1998), there was no escaping his work in the 90s. Then, as if he hadn’t bestowed enough gifts upon us, he ended the decade with 1999’s Teaching Mrs. Tingle starring a very hot Helen Mirren and an at-the-height-of-her-powers Katie Holmes.

The only thing standing between good girl Leigh Ann (Katie Holmes) and an important college grant is an A from her unfairly cruel history teacher Mrs. Tingle (Helen Mirren). After blowing her final project, Leigh Ann and best friend Jo Lynn (Marisa Coughlan) are approached in the gymnasium by class burnout Luke (Barry Watson) with the answers to Tingle’s final exam. While initially tempted, Leigh Ann is firmly against the idea of cheating. However, as they’re leaving for the day, Tingle catches them red-handed and threatens to ruin their academic futures by going to the principal. Fortunately for Leigh Ann and crew, Principal Potter (Michael McKean) has already gone home, buying them some time until the next morning. Hoping to reason with her, they visit Tingle at home. When she predictably refuses to listen, Leigh Ann, Jo Lynn, and Luke take matters into their own hands by knocking her unconscious and holding her hostage by strapping her into bed. That’s when the fun and mind games begin.

Teachers have always been fodder for film, but they are usually of the idealized type. Now, don’t get me wrong, I’m all about having a good cry to Lulu singing “…how do you thank someone who has taken you from crayons to perfume?” to Sidney Poitier at the end of To Sir, With Love (1967). And if you don’t stand up to recite “O Captain, my Captain” with tears rolling down your face every time you watch Dead Poet’s Society on a lazy Sunday, we are not the same. There’s also Music of the Heart, Mr. Holland’s Opus and Mona Lisa Smile, to name just a few from this popular trope. I love these movies! I even loved most of my teachers growing up! But who among us doesn’t remember their own personal Mrs. Tingle?

Like most of Williamson’s work, Teaching Mrs. Tingle is delightfully subversive. Leigh Ann is an underdog. Coming from a single mom household, she’s had to work hard towards her dreams of a big life outside her small town. And instead of helping her achieve those dreams, Mrs. Tingle takes pleasure in crushing them, going so far as to publicly humiliate her in front of the class within the first fifteen minutes of the movie. Unfairly cruel, impossible to please, and universally feared by both students and staff, Mrs. Tingle is one of my favourite modern iterations of the hagsploitation subgenre. The camp appeal of Helen Mirren answering the door of her beautiful mansion (on a teacher’s salary, no less) in an elegant robe and silky red pyjamas truly cannot be understated.

What’s fun about Teaching Mrs. Tingle is that you’re rooting for everyone involved. As one of the most accessible actresses of her generation, Katie Holmes makes you feel for Leigh Ann, even though, let’s face it, she’s a little cloying. Coughlan also gives a better-than-it-has-any-right-to-be performance as Jo Lynn, from her The Exorcist re-enactment to declaring “I have star quality” when Tingle tries to get under her skin. As an escapist fantasy, you want them to get revenge on their heinous teacher without repercussion. That being said, Tingle makes the best kind of villain — one that you love to hate. Yes, she’s evil, but she makes it look so good! And quite frankly, she’s probably spent the past 30 years reading asinine essays on the American Constitution so who can really blame her?

An over the top thriller with plenty of twists and turns, self-aware writing, and delicious performances, Teaching Mrs. Tingle is an entertaining PG-13 Shocktober viewing for those less interested in traditional scares for the spooky season. And while Mrs. Tingle probably should’ve retired years earlier to enjoy her full-bodied cabernet, lavish bedding, and hardwood floors in peace, I, for one, am extremely glad she didn’t.

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