More a framing device than an actual camera technique, the "Mouth Cam" is a shot taken from a position that appears to be inside the mouth of one character as he, she or it faces or approaches another character. Most of the time, it is used when someone or something is about to or even is in the process of being eaten
. It can be used for real horror if handled well enough.
Almost a Discredited Trope
these days, although it continues to be used in all seriousness.
Not to be confused with Eat The Camera
, which is technically its opposite.
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Anime & Manga
Films — Animated
- The 2005 film Madagascar has a sequence where a clueless lion is trying to be friendly with a tiny primate, with a mouth cam shot used to show just how threatening he is unintentionally being.
- In The Simpsons Movie, we get a mouth cam shot of Homer eating a burger.
- This does happen in the An American Tail movies but only because Fievel is actually inside the mouth at the time.
- Used in Wreck-It Ralph, as Ralph interrogates Sour Bill, a minion of the film's main antagonist, by threatening to eat him.
- Happens in Disney's Pinocchio, through Monstro's mouth as he swallows the raft with Pinocchio and Geppetto
- Used in Wolves, Witches, and Giants when ever the wolf ate someone.
- Briefly happens with Grimlock menacing a Sharkticon in Transformers: The Movie. Doubly amusing because the Sharkticon is basically a walking metal ball comprised largely of spikes and teeth that had previously been set up with piranha -like aggressiveness in swarms.
Films — Live-Action
- The Jaws films, as noted above.
- Averted in the first one, but it was however used in the trailer.
- The "Dentist!" musical number from Little Shop of Horrors includes a sequence shot from inside a dental patient's mouth.
- The very bad film Ice Grill does a particularly unsavory variation, with a shot meant to appear as if it had been filmed through a character's fly.
- Used in the 2005 film Charlie and the Chocolate Factory during Willy Wonka's climactic visit to a dentist/his estranged father.
- One appears in Stranger Than Fiction from Harold's mouth into the bathroom mirror as he brushes his teeth.
- In Anaconda we get a mouth shot of the villain being swallowed by the titular creature.
- This trope is used in a rather squicky way in the low budget film Scar 3D. The shot is within a teen girl's mouth while a knife cuts her cheek open.
- One Crazy Summer parodies the Jaws angle with a view from the mouth of the "rabid killer dolphin" submarine as it attacks the villain.
- Used towards the end of Alien 2: On Earth, as one of the alien monsters attacks the protagonist.
- In the Dennis the Menace film there's a shot from inside Mr. Wilson's mouth as Dennis is about to slingshot something in there while Mr. Wilson is asleep.
- In Detroit Rock City, the camera appears inside Gene Simmons' mouth as he's doing the tongue-wriggling during the KISS concert.
- Used in Shorts, when Toe asks his alien friends to clean his teeth for him.
Live Action TV
- Edina's liposuction nightmare in Absolutely Fabulous.
- Used in the Goosebumps TV episode for "The Blob That Ate Everyone" before the blob eats Adam.
- Present in some video games with playable toothy monsters, such as skulks in Natural Selection and the Kabuto in Giants: Citizen Kabuto. Ostensibly being first-person views, it does seem to imply that their eyes actually are within their mouths.
- Also pops up in Ghouls Vs Humans for most of the Ghoul classes (they're huge floating heads who usually attack by biting/screaming/breathing something out of their mouths).
- The Cave Of Bad Dreams level in Rayman 2 uses this when the Guardian of the Cave catches up to Rayman and chases him down a slippery slide, with the camera switched to a POV shot of the Guardian's mouth, sharp teeth dripping with saliva and all. It's very effective.
- In Ratchet & Clank 3, during the boss fight against the Mother Tyrrhanoid, there is a sequence where the camera takes up residence inside her head. It's very definitely not her POV, because all her eyes are on eyestalks. It's not a typical Mouth Cam either, as no teeth or lips are visible at the edge of the screen. On the other hand, her mouth is probably big enough that you wouldn't see them... Unusual also in that she's not trying to eat Ratchet, she's trying to shoot him.
- If you're playing as an Alien in the Aliens Vs Predator video games, teeth will appear on the top and bottom of the screen if you've lined up a headbite on an unlucky victim.
- Two of them (in the mouths of manatees), both in Tales of Monkey Island Chapter 3: Lair of the Leviathan: one when Guybrush is approaching the cave guarded by a female manatee, and one near the end of the chapter, as the Giant Manatee approaches to swallow De Cava and his crew in the Howler Monkey.
- The Rockgagan in Tales of Graces gets one as it lunges towards the party in a successful attempt to devour them.
- A hilarious part of the gimmick of Table For One, along with a... shall we say, challenging case of Mind over Matter.
- Codename: Kids Next Door, "Op TEETH", has a Mouth Cam shot of Numbuh Three licking a lollipop within a plaque filled mouth.
- One Bill Plympton short or another sees a date progress, from the viewpoint of the back of the mouth. It ends well.
- Happens in Justice League Unlimited in "The Once and Future Thing" part 2— we get a nice shot of the inside of the hyena-man's toothy maw.
- Almost every episode Rugrats would use this trope. Sometimes a shot would be used when characters are crying, eating or even simply talking.
- There are a few in Avatar: The Last Airbender, usually of Appa's mouth. There also some within Sokka's mouth, once where a spider has made its web while he was asleep and another when he insists that there was a wart on his "throat flap."
- In one of the episodes of Ed Eddn Eddy, where they're filming a video, Ed randomly swallows the camera (shouting "Man the helms! DIVE, DIVE!"), ending up in a shot from inside his stomach as Edd digs it back out.
- The Ursa Minor from "My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic" in episode 6 exhibits this shot.
- In an episode of Street Fighter, Blanka attacks Guile with his biting attack. At this moment, we see a shot from inside Blanka's mouth as he comes closer.
- Done in "The Demon Within" episode of Sym-Bionic Titan from inside the mouth of an alligator mutraddi Ilana fights.
- Happens a couple times in Animaniacs.