Detention – Nachsitzen kann tödlich sein (2011)

Detention – Nachsitzen kann tödlich sein: Directed by Joseph Kahn. With Alison Woods, Logan Stalarow, Julie Dolan, Shanley Caswell. As a copycat killer named after movie villain Cinderhella stalks the student body at Grizzly Lake High School, a group of co-eds band together to survive while serving detention.

“I went into this knowing very little, on the back of seeing Detention mentioned in a horror movie list and attracted by the promise of a very different kind of horror film.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eFrom the very opening line of dialogue (Iu0026#39;m Taylor Fisher and Iu0026#39;m a B**CH – beauty, intelligence, talent, charisma, hoobastank) the film picks no bones in immediately letting you know what youu0026#39;re in for and the satirical, self referential kind of humour weu0026#39;re dealing with. Unfortunately the film misses the mark on this front far more often than hitting it. I have no issue with this kind of humour (see Josie and the Pussycats or The Cabin in the Woods for stellar examples of it done well) but it feels far too much like an exercise in throwing everything at a wall and hoping something sticks in this case (as does the convoluted plot). Admittedly there are a sprinkling of lines that hit the spot but in order for this kind of humour to succeed it has to be razor sharp and Detention just isnu0026#39;t there. Eventually the relentless culture references become tiresome and I found myself disengaging from the movie.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eOn the plus side the film is acted perfectly well and the cast is obviously giving it their all (Shanley Caswell carries the movie and is particularly watchable) and to be fair you canu0026#39;t say the filmmakers arenu0026#39;t ambitious and tying to do something different, which has to be commended, but assuredness and ambition unfortunately canu0026#39;t save the movie overall as it descends further and further into ridiculousness and leaves you with the feeling that the movie isnu0026#39;t as smart as it thinks it is.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eIf youu0026#39;re looking to pass 90 minutes without particularly needing to heavily invest in something then you could do worse than Detention, but otherwise itu0026#39;s a film best left in the annals of relative obscurity.”