July 14 – The 2012 Toronto After Dark Film Festival Summer Screening Series at the Bloor Cinema (June 27 + July 11) has just wrapped and once again the horror cult experience didn’t disappoint. T-MAK World was there and we have reviews. Toronto After Dark is our favourite genre festival in Toronto. You can read our recap from TAD 2011 here.
DETENTION
In the pantheon of cinematic films, few directors have been able to unlock, let alone successfully craft the enigma of all hybrid genres the Teen Horror Comedy. Lukewarm flirtations have been offered up at times (Exhibit A: Scream) and the mere hint of opening weekend success quickly churns this pristine offering into a sequel-a-thon of diminishing returns for the next umpteen years. Getting the balance right with just enough eye gouging eviscerations to satisfy the most strident horror fan while still delivering the comedic goods so you don’t alienate the remainder of the fanboys and girls is no easy feat. Writer / director Joseph Kahn and writer Mark Palermo have solved this genre riddle with their new teen high school film Detention, with help from great performances from its cast including Josh Hutcherson and Dane Cook.
Millennial sub references, social and satirical commentary, teen and tween angst, and so so much more all get a refreshing reboot leading to a series of cinematic pivots and switchbacks as your taken through a kaleidoscopic mash up of alternate realities in hyper drive. Peddling faster won’t help. In our over consumerised, media driven, self-absorbed society, Kahn and Palermo have channelled then distilled this visual chaos into comic anarchy. Detention follows the local students of Grizzly Lake as they try to survive their final year of high school and all the angst that comes with the upcoming prom. Student life become more complicated as a killer has chosen their high school as his new home of slaughter. It then becomes a race against time to stop the killer, which will in a roundabout way save the world. Don’t ask. This pop cultural pilgrimage offers selected helpings where Donny Darko meets The Breakfast Club meets Back to the Future meets Freaky Fridays, you get the picture. And yes your eyes won’t deceive you when iconic Ron Jeremy appears for a brief cameo.
The been there done that crowd definitely haven’t been here and seen this before and if they say they have, brand them with a Scarlett Letter. Detention never presumes to be anything more than what it is. And what it is is a damn fine Teen Horror Comedy of the highest order. This post modern gem is a set on hyper drive so hold on and enjoy.
Review, 4.5 / 5
Review by John Dash
