Detention (2010)

Touches You

So much average

Tells a fascinating and unsettling true story, and does so well, without pretending to have all the answers.

It’s sentimental, ridiculously long and only occasionally funny

"Detention" is a really well made small B horror film, taking its cues from traditional 80s genre stuff and the more contemporary Asian horror elements -- and by that I mean, a lot of really weird, bizarre and strange stuff happens without a whole lot of explanation. It asks you, the audience, to go along for the ride and its a fun one at that.Its a story of revenge. Somebody is out to kill all the children of a group of parents who, back in the 1970s, were involved in a "prank gone bad" leading to the grisly death of another teenager - Gabriel. It's Gabriel's mother who is out for blood. The doomed teenagers all end up in detention during the worst storm of the year -- in fact, the storm is so effective that it becomes one of the better characters in the film.They are trapped in detention with no power, manage to escape but this leads to them being stalked and bumped off, one by one, by horrific supernatural forces that haunt the high school. One even gets possessed and joins in the mayhem. And did we mention that Gabriel's mother was all along a ghost? Still with me.So - all bets are off. The production credits are all solid from James Hickox's directing to the dark and eerie photography to the creepy visual effects to the somber music score. It must also be noted that, as the high school principal, this was one of David Carradine's final film performances. The rest of the cast is also quite good led by Michael Mitchell who plays "crazy" Sam. 7 Stars.

What a cheap-looking, stupid film. I thought it was made in the late 70s/early 80s, from the look of it, and I don't mean it as a compliment. I was surprised and disgusted finding out afterwards that this film was made in 2008 for 2 Mio and couldn't come up with anything better. They saved enough money on the actors and effects, so where has all the dough gone? D. Carradine, what hast thou done? I can't believe I thought after watching this "jeeez, Birdemic was more entertaining". That says everything.Detention doesn't come near to be honored with the word "trash", nor is it "so bad it's good". It's not even a homage to the 70s/80s teen slashers.Sorry I can't be bothered to detail the content. I'm too angry. And my fellow reviewers have already done a good job on this.Detention bored me to tears but also annoyed me. Stupidity throughout - script, dialog, everything. I expect characters in these kind of flicks to be acting "stupid" (you know, the usual in these type of films - like saying hello who's there in a dark lonely room, opening a door you know better you shouldn't, etc.) but not so retarded. I actually got up inbetween to wash the dishes while watching so my life time wasn't wasted completely.I'm happy it was a cheap rental. I only made it till the end so I could live to tell. If you want to get rid of a "friend", recommend him/her this film. Go and watch Dance of the Dead, which also covers the cliché teens (okay, they're slashed by Zombies and not a ghost). That film is silly, but funny and dimensions better in so many ways than Detention.

This particular movie has pretty much every cliché you could expect from a supernatural slasher, but somehow it works. The generic hero, his girlfriend, his quirky friend, the goth, the jock, the cheerleader type, and a nerd get detention for various reasons. Not surprisingly, they find themselves locked in.Not surprisingly, there turns out to be the ghost of a nerd killed in a furnace years ago comes back seeking revenge. It happens that they're all connected through past events.While terribly clichéd, the movie seems pretty spooky in a Halloween spookhouse kinda way. I know I'm making it sound boring, but somehow it works. Maybe the thunderstorms help the atmosphere. I don't know. But I was enjoying it considerably more than i probably should have!

Detention starts in 1976 at Reseda High School late one night where a group of teenagers have broken in, in an effort to scare Gabriel (Gregory Mikurak) off his girlfriend Diane (Catherine Combs) one guy named Jack (Billy Aaron Brown) tricks Gabriel into getting in a furnace which ignites after a freak lightening bolt & incinerates poor Gabriel. Jump forward to the 'Present Day' where it's the day of a big football game & everyone from Reseda High is going, except for those unlucky seven students who all have to stay behind for detention. As detention starts a thunder storm outside rages, heavy rain & lightening trap the few remaining students & teacher's inside the school. With the phone lines down & the entire school locked down the students quickly find themselves being killed off by the vengeful spirit of Gabriel who wants revenge for his brutal death with the lives of the children of those responsible...Directed by James D.R. Hickox this is a pretty awful low budget supernatural horror film with a strong element of teen slasher thrown in there, Detention is really quite bad on any level you care to choose. I will start by commenting on the positive aspects of Detention, it only lasts for 80 minutes. That's it for positives. Now the negatives, of which there are many. On a conceptually level Detention needed more work, the idea that a bunch of kids are being punished for their parents past sins isn't new is it (A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984) anyone?)? The idea of some killer ghost slicing up annoying American teens is as uninspired as they come & Detention doesn't add anything to the mix & in fact messes up any attempt at tension, shock or surprise. The twist ending is ludicrous & makes zero sense, so the whole idea of who the actual killer ghost was is turned on it's head but when the last two teens say they can't see Gabriel & that he was imaginary how did the entire class of seven students see him earlier in the film? Who or what was that black cloud thing flying around? Who took the the mobile phones from the drawer? Why was Miss Cipher seemingly possessed considering the twist end? It makes no sense when you think about it. Are we to understand that ghost's can now apply for & get teaching jobs? Who killed the Coach? Was that thin kid possessed or did he just go mental? Who put those images of the kids parents on the computer screen for them to see? Who put that girls body on the stairs with the sword sticking out so that guy could use it at the end? Nothing here gels together, there's one contradiction after another that just doesn't make sense & leaves you annoyed that you bothered watching it. Besides a very muddled supernatural ghost story that has more holes than something with lots of holes Detention is at heart a teen slasher with a bunch of clichéd American teens (the goth, the pretty rich bitch, the black guy with attitude, the final blonde girl & her loyal boyfriend) walking around lots of dark corridors for no apparent reason getting killed off. There are only about three corridors in the film & about four rooms despite an entire high school to choose from & the significance of the thunder & lightening is never explained either.The lighting levels in Detention are noticeably off, whenever it cuts to an outside shot there are dark black clouds but it is surprisingly light inside the school despite the electricity having been cut off so there would be no lights. Also at the very end as the last two teens leave the school after their ordeal the grass & pavement is dry yet it had been raining for the entire film prior to that point & the reason they were trapped was stated to be because of flooding. A badly made & sloppy film all round with forgettable visuals & some truly terrible computer effects, the fire & ghost effects are embarrassingly bad. This thing doesn't even deliver on the gore, all of the death's occur off screen, there's a bit of blood splatter but no proper gore effects or memorable kills.The IMDb says Detention had a budget of about $2,150,000 which is amazingly high considering the cruddy film that got made for it, although shot & completed in 2008 this remained unreleased until 2010 where it apparently earned a paltry $190 at the US box-office. The late David Carradine has a small role, he also gets an 'In Memory of' credit just before the end credits roll. The rest of the cast are bland although there are one or two nice looking girls here but that doesn't make it any more watchable.Detention is a really bad supernatural teen slasher horror film that fails miserably on all counts, the makers seemed to have forgotten about the scares & gore as there aren't any while the plot & intended twist's makes little sense. Even running less than 80 minutes this is a real chore to sit through.