Movie Review: "Detention"

- by Ninja Ross, 3 October 2012

Hey, it’s October! When did that happen? It seems to have come from nowhere! But, it is indeed the month of horror and I, Trash Mutant’s Horror Expert, am taking this opportunity to fill the month with monsters, slashers, victims and more! Starting with the horror comedy "Detention"!

Detention is a Meta film that uses characters and scenarios from a whole bunch of different teen movie genres: slashers, quirky indie films, teen sci-fi, Spider-Man and body swap films like Freaky Friday.

I really don’t know if this is the worst film I’ve seen in a long time or one of the most interesting.

The story follows the female lead in a teen slasher film as she struggles to be noticed at school, dealing with a love triangle involving a girl who seems to be from 1992 and a young man who reminds me of Michael Cera in every movie he’s ever been in.

Each character brings to the story their own aspects, from their own genre. Quirky Indie guy has to get an A or he doesn’t graduate, Freaky Friday ’92 girl is doing her thing, Slasher victim is battling a Slasher and there’s a time machine. Also, aliens.

For the first 50 minutes, this creates a very messy film full of jokes referencing films like Scream, Donnie Darko, Spider-Man, American Pie and so on. The jokes aren’t very funny, either.

What the film is trying to do is admirable, but seems to fail. With a better script and a more competent director, this could have been on par with films like Cabin in the Woods. Unfortunately, Joseph Kahn (writer and director) lacks the wit to pull a film like this off.

It does try to be interesting. It’s full of references to other movies and itself and breaks the fourth wall more than a Deadpool and Ferris Bueller crossover movie.

The movie's slasher - "Cinderhella"

The film does become very interesting at the 52 minute mark, though. This is when the detention actually happens. The characters all get detention so the head teacher can force them to out the murderer, suspecting that one of these students is the culprit.

It’s also where all the loose, unfunny plot threads begin to come together. The films biggest redeeming quality is that all the meta, self-referencing stuff actually serves a purpose and works with the narrative. From the detention, things get crazy. Time travelling, murder, a film within a film within a film within a porn film and a bomb.

The cast is ok. "Ok" is probably the only word that can describe them. All the actors are relatively unknown and have a lot of potential but the script and directing doesn’t really give them an opportunity to show off their talents. At least, not until the end. Like I said, that’s where the film gets interesting, if not kind of good.

But there’s also Dane Cook.

To be fair to Mr Cook, he’s a better actor than he is a stand up comedian. Which is kind of like saying it’s better to eat ground up glass than it is to inject it into your eyes.

So, to sum up, this movie isn’t terrible but it’s only good for about twenty minutes. If you want to enjoy a comedy horror you should just watch Cabin in the Woods. Or wait for John Dies at the End, which, now that they have finally found a distributor, is finally coming out soon.

Seriously, John Dies at the End is going to be more than awesome. Just saying. Based on one of the greatest books in recent years. But that’s a review for another time!

Tagged: movies & tv, Reviews.

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