Genre Mashing: Detention

Detention (2012) seems to be a love it or hate it movie. We love it, but it didn't start that way. We watched this with a friend one Halloween, and it got to the point that we all wanted to stop watching, but none of us wanted to ruin the movie for anyone else who might be enjoying it so we kept our mouths shut. Lucky we did because by the time it was over, we all wanted to watch it again!

Detention is a genre mash-up with no peers. There are subtle homages to just about every teen movie you can think of, but not many are so obvious that you can even place why they're familiar. And the sub-genres they cover are amazing: freaky-friday style body switch, time travel, coming of age, save the dance, misfits come together as friends, underdog saves the day, avant-garde, and slasher horror.

Main plot unfolds something like this: Riley Jones has awoken to yet another awful day in her high school life. Little does she know that this awful day will be punctuated by a copy cat serial killer who's basing their crime spree on a popular slasher film. Will Riley and her band of misfit friends be able to figure out what's going on and save their school before the big dance? And what's with that friggin' bear?

You might appreciate Detention if you ever liked any of the following (or just elements from the following): Rubber, Crank, Freaky Friday, Venture Bros., Breakfast Club, Saw, Back to the Future II, Better Off Dead, The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai, Can't Hardly Wait, Heathers, Scream, or The Fly.

Things to watch for: Josh Hutcherson before The Hunger Games, breakneck twists and turns, more absurdity than you can shake a stick at (while remaining a movie with a heart and plot), a shockingly amazing score from Brain Mantia and Melissa Reese, and some top notch performances from the entire cast.

Other things directer Joseph Kahn has done lately: That amazing Power Rangers homage!

This is one of our favorite movies, so we are totally biased, but if any of that sounded interesting to you, check this one out! You might like it as much as we do...