Detention (2012)
Brief review: "Detention" is a slasher / time travel / sci-fi / teen comedy mash-up that has too much going on, but still manages to keep you thoroughly entertained throughout, even if the movie itself often can't cope with its own ambitious creativity. From the sarcastically hilarious opening scene and super-cool opening credit, you could tell that Joseph Kahn's "Detention" intends to be one "smart ass" of a horror movie. And it kind of is. Aside from its talky script it successfully makes fun of most stereotypical teen characters and some overused horror cliches in an ironically cruel, yet funny way, and that alone makes it quite enjoyable to watch. "Detention" has tons of cool gore and blood splattering, but it lacks scares big time, as it relies purely on its visual impact, instead of trying to build any sort of tension. Technically, "Detention" is a hit and miss. Even though there are some truly interesting directing choices and some flashy editing, Joseph Kahn's direction ends up being all over the place. The lack of focus may confuse some viewers, but at the end of the day it becomes pretty clear that this directional chaos is completely intentional, and Joseph Kahn deserves credit for his risky, yet innovative approach. "Detention" also boasts a colorful cast of young actors, but sadly none them can act decently, maybe with the exception of TV series star Shanley Caswell and the wildly underused Josh Hutcherson.
Overall summary: More funny than scary, Joseph Kahn's "Detention" is a creative, yet rather messy and unfocused horror comedy, devoid of any proper scares, that shouldn't really work at all because of its head spinning over-the-topness, but in the end, it somewhat does.
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