New Review: Detention

There appears to be a trend of late for horror filmmakers to experiment with genre mash-ups and meta-style reflexive moviemaking with an eye towards the viewer.  The wisdom seems to stem from the notion that all has been said and done before, but that doesn’t mean it’s immune from examination and discussion within the film.  Such is the case with Joseph Kahn’s Detention, the movie that would put the last nail in the coffin of the meta horror genre if it were a wider release.  Unlike the exquisite The Cabin in the Woods, Detention trades on being all kinds of movies at once, with enough sci-fi and horror to put it on horror fans’ radar.

There’s a bit of fun to be had in the opening moments, when the despicable and reality-show-inspired Taylor Fisher(Alison Woods) is dispatched by a character appearing as Cinderhella.  We soon learn that Cinderhella is the villain of a trilogy of horror films, the third of which opens the same night as the upcoming prom.  The high school setting doesn’t shy away from its John Hughes-ian roots, presenting the awkward flirt in Sander Sanderson (Aaron David Johnson), the rebellious but lovable lead Clapton Davis (Josh Hutcherson), the cheerleading beauty Ione (Spencer Locke),  and the shunned but lovely Riley Jones (Shanley Caswell).  In usual teen drama fashion, Riley and Clapton are best friends (who we just know they should be together!), but Clapton loves Ione, Riley carries a torch for Clapton, Sanders digs Riley and somehow they all end up spending a detention together so that things can happen with all of them together.

Throw in the teen comedy mix the serial-killing Cinderhella impersonator, a time-travel obsessed teacher, a hard-edged principal (played by Dane Cook, no less), and a fellated school mascot, and you have an idea of the ingredients in the Detentionstew. 

You may recognize Josh Hutcherson from the Hunger Games films, and he’s fine here, if slightly miscast.  It feels as if Kahn and company were reaching for a Michael J. Fox type and instead ended up with a Jason Bateman (Teen Wolf sequel jokes represent!).  Shanley Caswell is charming and Johnson does his best adolescent Anthony Michael Hall, but the performances are backseat to the stylish direction and rapid-fire editing.

Directed by music video and Torque helmer Joseph Khan, Detentiondoesn’t try to do one thing particularly well, content to make its hay on being a lot of things all at once.  Unfortunately, the many personalities of the movie, which work for specific gags throughout, are ultimately too disparate for the film to feel like a cohesive whole.  It’s basically a series of vignettes held together by an overarching story involving time travel and a mysterious serial killer.  The wipes, quick cuts, zooms and cutaways distract from the story, such as it is, making Detention feel like a prime example of the style over substance school of filmmaking.

This is not to say that Detentionis particularly bad, or even below-average, but it does feel disjointed, often losing story threads in favor of a joke or surprise.  It’s less like watching a narrative than being jerked along by it towards the finale.  There is inventive and clever stuff here, to be sure, but it doesn’t equal the sum of its parts.  There are clear references to the films of the ‘80s, but it’s not enough to reference these films and trends, you have to do something with those references.  It’s like the difference between The Big Bang Theory and Community – one finds its comedy in the fact that THESE THINGS EXIST CAN YOU BELIEVE IT?! and the latter finds these cultural touchstones as part of its DNA, building characters up from that place. 

Detention is a sporadically entertaining movie that believes its invention and references can excuse some thin characterization and tonal issues.  Worth a look for fans of ‘80s pop culture and horror films, but be prepared for some disappointment.