DETENTION (2011)

Streaming on Tubi!
Directed by Joseph Khan
Written by Joseph Khan & Mark Palermo
Starring Josh Hutcherson, Shanley Caswell, Spencer Locke, Dane Cook, Walter Perez, Will Wallace, Arthur Darbinyan, Richard Brake, Lindsey Morgan, Parker Bagley

If SCREAM had a little brother with ADHD and if that brother lost his meds for a month then ate a crate of pop rocks and chased it with a case of Red Bull, you’d have DETENTION—a comedy horror that hits the ground at a full-on sprint and never lets up until the credits roll. That description may feel not very positive, but I actually liked this movie quite a lot for its unbridled energy and fearlessness to go to ludicrous places.

What do I mean when I say ludicrous places, you may ask?

Well, in this single little movie, we’ve got time travel, a space bear, UFOs, a boy with fly blood that spits acid, a serial killer, and riffs on everything from FREAKY FRIDAY to THE BREAKFAST CLUB. This film throws the excrement of 1000 cows against the wall and most of it sticks. What amazes me is how writer/director Joseph Kahn (with fellow writer Mark Palermo) can juggle so many different elements and storylines and characters and have it all make sense and never lose focus. Sure, mashup films such as this are quite common. Some work, like CABIN IN THE WOODS and SCREAM, while others, as with the SCARY MOVIE films which gave way to EPIC MOVIE and the like, fall flat on their unfunny faces. But never have so many different elements come together in such a cohesive manner. The fact that the story moves at a mile a minute makes it even more impressive. The storyboards of this film must have seemed like Russell Crowe’s post it board from A BEAUTIFUL MIND, but somehow, someway, it all works.

What keeps it all together are the two main stars, Josh Hutcherson (who is recently getting attention for his role in THE HUNGER GAMES) and newcomer Shanley Caswell as the outcast girl next door who longs for his love when she’s not trying to kill herself. Other characters such as the 90’s-obsessed cheerleader Spencer Locke, the bully with fly blood Parker Bagley, and even the maniacal Principal Verge, played by Dane Cook, are all memorable and insane roles.

Split into mini vignettes a la Tarantino, DETENTION has a loose plot of a serial killer aping a popular movie franchise and murdering select popular teens. The narrative is extremely self-aware, and Caswell’s character stops the police during their interrogation stating that she’s not another Neve Campbell. Though comparisons to other movies often make my eyes roll, the dialog and the people saying it here felt genuine and real. Much of the dialog is of the Sorkin/Mamet mile-a-minute rapid fire variety, as are the jokes. In any given scene, everything from teen rom-coms to popular horror films are referenced. But they are done so in such a likable way that I didn’t mind the scattershot manner by which it’s done. Any film that can pull off a mashup of RULES OF ATTRACTION, THE FLY, BREAKFAST CLUB, SCREAM, BACK TO THE FUTURE, CAN’T HARDLY WAIT, RAISING ARIZONA, BEING JOHN MALKOVICH, PRETTY IN PINK, HEATHERS, DONNIE DARKO, and a million other cool films is ok in my book.

See this film for the fly blood bully sequence alone, which is so insane it’s infectious.

I’m not a huge fan of self-referentialism in horror. I think it can often be more of a detriment to the genre than anything else, making fun of it and trying to talk down to a genre that already gets a bad rap. But DETENTION is self-aware that it’s self-aware and still manages to convey a solid story despite the patchwork quilt of different genres that serve as its components. There will be those who might become exhausted trying to follow the erratic pace of this film, but I loved every frantic second of it. I think it’ll be one of those films that will develop somewhat of a cult following when it is released and it definitely deserves it.