WARNING: THIS BLOG CONTAINS BODYCOUNT. HIGH RISK OF SPOILERS. ENTER IF YOU DARE.

Friday, August 10, 2012

Nothing BUT The Ordinary Teenage Life: Detention (2012)

Detention (2012)
rating:***
starring:  Josh Hutcherson, Shanley Caswell and Spencer Locke

Seeing the film's director, Joseph Kahn, was once a music video helmer, it's no surprise for me that this film's completely out of focus and utterly chaotic; but as far as creativity goes, as well as providing laughs, Detention has its own set of ups and downs.

Say hello to Grizzly Lake High, an ordinary High School! Ordinary bitch, ordinary awkward girl, ordinary thief, ordinary bitter principal with a past, ordinary time-machine disguised as a stuffed bear, ordinary jock turned alien mutant, ordinary cheerleader switching bodies and traveling time with her mum, ordinary Canadian!

Okay, mutated jock and time machine aside, there's a not so ordinary case involving a loose psycho donning a mask similar to their slasher movie villainess, CinderHella. The killer already killed the most popular girl in school, so when our awkward, vegan, female lead gets too close to being victim number two (twice!), she finds herself targeted by a psycho with an axe. But with the principal and the police believing she's the killer, their only solution for her not to do anything equally suspicious, or stupid, is to put her in detention along with the rest of her fellow "witnesses".

Of course, that didn't work, but with the jock vomiting acid and the world ending due to a time vortex glitch coming from the past, all things are bound to go crazier!

Detention is a weird film from the opening credits to the twist ending; the first half wherein the slasher killings took place is probably the closest the movie gets as being an advertised slasher flick, but with each scene packed with things weird and unusual, and neither the cast or us are giving a bat's eye, it slowly gets out of hand and left us wondering how the whole film's gonna end. Frankly, it's as if the movie itself took on some magic mushrooms with speed (and I mean lots of speed!) and just gave us whatever random crap it thought up; if you ever had one of those trips, then yer not missing much!

The random nature of the film has both good and bad sides. For those who are expecting a horror comedy, or a straight slasher per se, you'll be partially disappointed; there's comedy, there's horror, there's a body count, but the net result is more teen comedy with a genre identity disorder, which is a first for my book. Luckily, despite its confused state, it's still odd enough to keep us glued and entertained.

In the end, I wouldn't be surprise if you find yourself asking "what the hell just happened here?" I did too and the closest answer I could give to you is this: Detention happened. And it was trippy!

Bodycount:
1 female repeatedly stabbed with knife, thrown off window
1 female head baked open with lamp (film)
1 dog blown apart (flashback)
1 male hacked to pieces with axe
1 male impaled by a falling ceiling fan (film)
1 male knife through mouth (film)
1 female knife to the gut (film)
1 male knife to the gut (film)
1 female knife to the back (film)
1 female knife to the back (film)
1 female knife to the back (film)
1 female knife to the gut (film)
1 female knife to the gut (film)
1 male head baked open with lamp (film)
1 male found impaled to the door with a ceiling fan, cut in half
1 male hacked in half with axe
1 male and 1 female caught on fire
1 male burned to death
1 male blown apart by bomb
1 female decapitated with axe
1 male head punctured on stuffed bear fangs
1 female vaporized by laser beam
2 males and 2 females vaporized by laser beam
total: 27

8 comments:

  1. I always love the horror films with the axe killings. Axes are so heavy and unwieldy, it makes them a really poor weapon choice. Unless the killer is about the size of Jason Voorhees. LOL

    What a strange little film this is, but I think I will have to check it out.

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    1. well, can't stop you on that one. Fire away, luv! and have fun while yer at it~!

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  2. Despite the flaws, i actually liked this movie. The oddness you describe so well is what makes me remember it. It also has a fantastic body-count.

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    1. Well, any film who can pull off something as outrageous as a time traveling bear is enough to at least earn some of my respect! XD

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  3. Despite myself, I enjoyed it. as you said, time traveling grizzlies demand some respect. All hail originality! :D

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  4. Need to see this soon, although the trailers looked kinda mediocre to me.

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    Replies
    1. don't be fooled by the trailer! The trailer is EVOL!

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