DETENTION

Okay, this opens with an attractive if overbearing American teen called Taylor (Alison Woods) talking us through her life. She’s a privileged lassie, with a nice home, good looks and popularity on her side. Oh, and she has the attitude to go with all that.

She’s fixated on maintaining her popularity in high school. This involves respecting certain life rules that she’s set herself: make sure only the right photos make your Facebook page, acknowledge that "the 90s are the new 80s" and get to see the latest slasher sensation – "Cinderhella 2: Beauty Scream" – at the local cinema.

Taylor seems affable enough … until, three minutes in to her breathless life lessons to camera, she’s attacked in her bedroom by a masked assailant and her throat is slashed.

And so we turn our attentions to Riley (Shanley Caswell), who becomes our muse for the remainder of this genuinely "different" oddity.

She’s one of Grizzly Lake school’s eternal losers, condemned to a drunken father (although onscreen text mid-film reminds us that the makers of DETENTION don’t condone such things) and prone to missing the school bus on a morning. Still, at least she has a few geeky mates to help her through school – and will soon meet Clapton (Josh Hutcherson), a dude with a soul and brain.

The Anna Faris-type Riley cracks wise in class but proves unlike, both in love and in popularity, until the police turn up at school and advise these frankly wasted students that one of their kind has been killed.

That evening, Riley is attacked in HER bedroom by the same killer – who appears to be a character straight out of the "Cinderhella" films …

From there onwards, we get onscreen warnings, homages to SAW and even time-travelling – nothing is beyond possibility, it would seem.

DETENTION is very well made and highly enjoyable as a result. But, for all its aesthetic splendour and game cast who deliver pitch-perfect performances of stock characters (pervy teachers, geeks, bullying jocks etc), this is just too frenetic for its own good. Ironic, isn’t it? In an age where the genre has so few ideas, we’re left chastising a film for having too many – but it’s a valid concern, as this film can’t possibly sustain this pace over a feature length without exhausting its viewer. And it doesn’t.

But I do appreciate the effort. Director Joseph Khan pushes the boat out, wanting to cram as much reference and visual comedy into his film as possible. He does a fair job of achieving this. He also co-writes the literally non-stop screenplay with Mark Palermo.

It is amusing in spots, and admittedly it’s almost always engaging. But what it is, more than anything, is clever. It’s clever in its evocation of early 90s cinema homages. It’s clever in that it’s HEATHERS meets CLUELESS meets SCOTT PILGRIM VS THE WORLD meets THE BREAKFAST CLUB. I get that. But I don’t necessarily want it.

There is an obvious reference in the SCREAM films (this is vocalised in the film) and even the SCARY MOVIE franchise – although DETENTION aims above the latter intellectually and is, unintentionally, less amusing as a result.

Attractively shot, manically paced and acted with conviction throughout, DETENTION is not a perfect film but it does entertain.

So, I’m left in a bit of a quandary. The film appears to be superbly made and literally riddled with concise gags. But it’s not for me, I enjoyed it on a lower level.

DETENTION comes to UK DVD in an uncut 2.40:1 aspect ratio. It’s the film’s original aspect ratio and it looks utterly superb. Wow. It’s so sharp and vivid without looking enhanced in any way … awesome.

The English 5.1 audio track is also great. And, to cap it all off, the optional subtitles are flawless too. These are available in multiple languages (including English and English for the Hard of Hearing), and we also get the bonus of an English audio descriptive track for the sight impaired.

Sony’s region 2 UK DVD opens straight into a static main menu page. From there, a static scene-selection menu allows access to the film via 16 chapters.

Extras begin with a rather excellent picture-in-picture visual/audio commentary track from a number of cast and crew members, billed as being the "cheat mode". It’s snappy, witty and informative – and also incorporates a healthy quota of behind-the-scenes stills: good stuff.

Alas, as cool an extra as it is (especially on the DVD format), this is the only bonus feature we get.

DETENTION is a busy, busy film. It’s wilfully daft and perhaps a slave to its abundance of reference points. But it’s chock-full of energy and invention, and a lot of the gags do work. I thought it was okay.

If you need the film on blu-ray, it’s only available on that format in America and Germany.

Review by Stuart Willis