Detention (2011)
Starring: Jost Hutcherson, Shanley Caswell, Spencer Locke
Writers: Joseph Kahn, Mark Palermo
Director: Joseph Kahn
Synopsis:
The students of Grizzly Lake high school are being stalked by someone who dresses up like Cinderhella, a fictional slasher from a popular horror film.
Review:
To be honest, the slasher aspect of Detention is really just one small piece to a massive puzzle of genre defying mind fuckery. If you take tidbits of every film from the 80s and 90s that achieved cult status over a period of time and rolled them into one, you would get the cliff notes of Detention. Immediately after the first viewing I wasn't even sure how I felt about it, but I knew I didn't hate it. So I watched it again... and again... and again... and again. It's really fucking rare for me to do that with a newer film, especially in a window of five days. Matter of fact, this is something that only happens every half decade or so, and it always seems to be with a film that either splits audiences or is one that is completely hated (Southland Tales, for example). Well, I think at this point in time it is safe to say that I enjoy the hell out of Detention. It's a mess, for sure, but it's a beautifully constructed mess.
I really wish I could sit here and pick this movie apart and talk about all the things that made me like it so much, but I would hate to do that and ruin it for someone. Perhaps I will do a big love letter review for it later on down the road. I will say that this movie has so many goddamn pop culture references that it becomes a test to keep up with them all. Admittedly, some of the nods I wasn't able to relate to as much as others. I gotta face it; I'm gettin' old. However, there are moments in Detention that really took me the hell back. For instance, there's a segment that takes place IN detention --like The Breakfast Club-- and this is really where the story skyrockets into chaos. But this is also where I feel that director Joseph Kahn strikes brilliance. Every element conveyed in this sequence is perfect from where I stand. There's so much going on in this flick, especially during the final half hour. Perhaps it's pretentious, or maybe it's intentionally pretentious. Most of the time it seems like the latter.
Camera work here is pretty damn fantastic. As mentioned earlier, Detention is somewhat light on horror, but holy shit whenever said element kicks in it's really intense. Especially chase scenes. It's frantic and just straight edge of your seat shit. One moment in particular has our slasher choking out a victim in a school hallway while classes are in session. The way this is shot makes it feel like the life is truly being strangled out of the character. You see the background behind the killer and the victim slipping away, in what appears to be manipulated dolly zooms. Really freakin' cool.
Lemme say that I don't identify with too many teens today, and I'm sure other people in their mid 30s can agree. I mean, people thought we were wild and outlandish. Holy shit, today's crowd seems nuts to me, but I guess this will always be a repeated argument throughout generations. Anyway, many of the characters in Detention are people I would straight detest in actuality, but the performances make even the worst of them enjoyable. Josh Hutcherson, Shanley Caswell, Spencer Locke, and Aaron David Johnson really gleam in their roles. But if I'm being honest, it's Locke and Johnson who are ahead of the game. Additionally, the more supporting characters are given great life --even just by facial expressions/gestures-- by the actors, too. Lastly, Dane Cook is actually kind of humorous here... something he hasn't been for a long fucking time, in my opinion.
Now, while gore is few and far between, there are some healthy scenes of grue. What's neat about the kills is that they are in a totally playful manner. When blood flies, it looks absolutely ridiculous, almost cartoonish. And the get-up for the Cindehella character is awesome. The CGI FX are pretty bad, though, I was able to look past that.
The Detention soundtrack has a bit of everything- some shit I like and some shit I hate. From Hole to House of Pain to Backstreet Boys to Hanson. It's pretty fucking mind boggling, honestly. The score is done up by Brian Mantia and Melissa Reese, and it's really solid. There's a Scream-like vibe for the horror parts, a True Romance vibe for the cutesy scenes, and so on. Much like the film, the score and music soundtrack are all over the damn place.
Final Words:
Detention will probably be something that's generally disliked by the masses. But later on I could see it hitting cult status, just like the movies that it references. I gotta stand by it. Any film that calls me to watch it repeatedly has to be doing something right.
