Some lines that come too mind:
"Pregnant teens are never funny." A clear slap at "Juno."
"I only eat baby animals."
"Pain don't hurt."
"Where did you learn to make a snuff porno? Lady Gaga?"
"Gnawing through boyfriends like an unfed piranha."
"This human conversation thing isn't working. Let's do texting."
The production incorporates numerous obscure 1980's references, some of which are explained. The film is done in a modern quirky "Scott Pilgrim..." style, but knowledge of 1980s movies is helpful in order to enjoy the feature.
There is a slasher at school. Meanwhile Ione (Spencer Locke), the cute air headed blond likes under achiever cool guy Clapton Davis (Josh Hutcherson). She has given up her jock boyfriend Billy Nolan (Parker Bagley)for him. He wants to beat up Clapton over her, and he is willing to fight for her because she is deep and likes Sting. Meanwhile Riley Jones (Shanley Caswell) has a crush on Clapton and becomes a third wheel.
PARENTAL GUIDE: F-bombs, brief sex and brief nudity.Ever since Mel Brooks first began making fun of movie genres it seems that form of comedy has taken hold. What started out hilarious though ended up becoming stale and some truly bad examples were made (think of the movies made by the group behind EPIC MOVIE). Rare gems came out like SCARY MOVIE that then slacked off as well. So when a parody of a genre comes out that offers something original and whacky, I'm ready to give it a watch. With DETENTION I'm glad I did.
The movie begins with a form that hasn't been used before that works well here. The characters now and then talk to the fourth wall, the audience, and guide them through things happening in the film. It opens with the most popular girl in school (and of course the bitchiest) telling us all about her high school and the kids there while she gets ready for her day. This is one of those girls seen on SWEET 16 who complains about not getting the correct car on her birthday. She mentions the release of a new horror film with a killer known as Cinderhella who then promptly shows up and dispatches of our narrator setting the stage for the killer on the lose.
The kids at school of course do nothing but talk about her death as we introduce them here. Riley is the odd girl out, the different girl who talks about being a vegetarian and supports other groups yet isn't on the popular list of school kids. Her best friend Taylor is though. Taylor's boyfriend (the guy Riley wanted to ask out) Clapton Davis is a neer do well teen complete with skateboard and loved by all...except the school jock who wants to do nothing more than pound Clapton into the ground.
As the film progresses we get glimpses of the killer here and there, several in failed attempts on the lives of our main characters. We also get tons of laughter inspiring moments that are too many to count and too fast to catalog. Yes, this film moves at a frighteningly fast pace but not so much that it can't be enjoyed. And the film doesn't leave itself in the horror genre alone, skipping along occasionally into sci fi alien invasion or time travel storylines that tie into the main one as well.
When the group finally makes it to their actual detention during the high school prom, things happen that are completely off the wall and absurd. And yet it totally works. A killer in the room with them and they never see the murder happen? A student who's been in detention for decades and yet never ages? The reveal of how it all began years ago? Yep, it works here.
There really isn't a true category to place this film in. It's more original than most and offers so much at that rapid pace that you might find yourself clutching the remote so you can pause to finish laughing while the next joke or set up is being offered. I wasn't sure what to expect from this film but was pleasantly surprised as it played out. I was left wanting more and finding myself hoping that those behind it are given a bigger budget and the chance to make more movies. Anything they can come up with will far outrank the EPIC MOVIE group who still lay claim to what little they did on SCARY MOVIE.
Read Best Reviews of Detention (2012) Here
I watched this picture because of the critic Steve Shaviro, who said that it (and The Cabin in the Woods) represented between them the "future of horror"--no wait, maybe the "future of cinema," some grand claim, exactly the kind I have a hankering for, and I enjoyed Cabin in the Woods a helluva lot, so I went in thinking, maybe this will be one of those sorts of movies the kind I like, that rip through genre like so many jungle fronds in a machete movie. And so it was, on a rather different scale than Joss Whedon. Whedon is a humanist, whereas I get the picture that Joseph Kahn, who directed this highly entertaining horror comedy, is no such thing, despite the sentimental flourishes with which his movie concludes (sappy voice over that says, basically, "but underneath it all we're just people, and we all need love.")Kahn made two epic videos with the pop singer slash actress Kylie Minogue. In one, the charity single by "Helping Haiti," he blended shocking real-life footage of hurricane devastation in Haiti, with hideous footage or pop stars from Rod Stewart to Westlife and beyond, all lip synching the old R.E.M. classic "Everybody Hurts." For Kylie's 11th solo album, APHRODITE, Kahn turned the first single, "All the Lovers" into a giant orgy of models, male and female, stripping to pristine white underwear in the middle of downtown LA in front of the Gehry Disney Concert Hall, to worship a giant goddess Kylie. Made in the immediate aftermath of DETENTION, you can see Kahn trying to work out ideas he didn't manage to articulate during its filming. Josh Hutcherson, the executive producer of the film, plays the hero part, but he's sort of a sad sack, and he's named after a pair of heritage rock artists (in joke?) In general the acting's not great in DETENTION, but who cares? In CABIN IN THE WOODS, the whole movie slides by on the Whedonesque charm of the actors and the witty dialogue, and here the dialogue and the acting is just one jab after another, like an attack of fire ants. If like me you thought of abandoning Detention before the second murder, my advice is, keep up with it if you can, because you will be amply rewarded throughout. The characters start making sense, they become sort of lovable, even the awful ones and though I never did figure out why the boy had to wear a TV on his wrist growing up, I enjoyed myself immensely and, if this is the future of cinema, it's in safe hands.
Want Detention (2012) Discount?
You might want to stoke up on caffeine and prop your eyelids open before watching this because it moves at a hundred miles an hour with little let-up.Here's the scoop. Someone dressed up as "Cinderhella" from a horror movie franchise is killing kids from Grizzly Lake High School. Meanwhile some smaller dramas with some of the students play out. Riley Jones and Clapton Davis have been good friends since forever. She's a bit peeved because he wants to go to the prom with Ione who is vapid beyond the meaning of the word. Meanwhile, Billy Nolan, who is part fly, (yes, you read that right) wants to beat up Clapton because he also wants to go to the prom with Ione. Oh, and there is a time machine inside the stuffed bear in the school hall.
This is a fast, wild ride. The dialogue is replete with now and wow padder. There are a lot of clever pop culture references from both 'now' and the 90s and they come at you relentlessly. The story isn't quite as involved as it might seem at first glance because the pace throws you off. Once you settle into that the viewing gets a bit easier. There are, though, a couple of bizarre zingers (one late in the third act) that are so far out of left field, you might just be thinking WTF!?
The principle actors, Josh Hutcherson, Shanley Caswell, Spencer Locke, et al, do a decent job. The production values are as good as they need to be to get this done. What's really happening here is the script. Writer/director Joseph Kahn's previous work has been entirely in music videos which is probably why he felt the need to cram so much into each moving minute. But, as I said earlier, you really need to pay attention. A 'time slip' element enters the plot in the third act and, if you blink, you'll be lost.
I liked this a lot. I found it very entertaining and better than it had to be given the content. If being cinematically slapped around for 93 minutes is your poison, this should be right up your alley.
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