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Released by: Anchor Bay Entertainment
Released on: July 23, 2013.
Director: Alex Craig Mann
Cast: Jacob Zachar, Alexa Nikolas, Christa B. Allen
Year: 2012
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The Movie:
Written and directed by Alex Craig Mann, 2012's straight to video horror comedy Detention Of The Dead is basically The Breakfast Club with zombies. The setting is a high school detention room where a teacher named Mrs. Rumblethorp (Michele Messmer) is watching over a group of students being held after class, dudes like nerdy Eddie (Jacob Zachar), frat boy bully type Brad (Jayson Blair), pot smoker Ash (Justin Chon), dim witted football star Jimmy (Max Adler), and random guy Mark (Joseph Porter) and the requisite high school hotties, goth chick Willow (Alexa Nikolas) and cheerleader Janet (Christa B. Allen).
Mark heads up to Rumblethorp and tells her he feels sick and shortly after that, he attacks her. He's turned into a zombie and from the looks of things, so have a lot of other people. For a detention class being held after school, there are an unusual amount of people around, all of whom are now shambling corpses. Our rag tag group of students sneaks into the library (which is named after Tom Savini) where they hole up for a bit and try to figure out not only what's going on, but maybe more importantly how to get out of the school without being eaten. Unfortunately for them, it seems that there are just as many zombies waiting outside…
This is a movie that is seemingly proud to deal almost exclusively in clichés. Not only do we get the same high school student stereotypes that John Hughes established back in the eighties recycled here for your enjoyment, we get loads and loads of zombie movie clichés and references too. Yeah, the library is named after Savini and at one point a character is watching Night Of The Living Dead, you know, just so it's clear that the filmmakers like zombie movies a lot. They want us to know that they know their zombie movie history. But it's unnecessary, it detracts from the story line and is ultimately a dopey distraction that does not benefit the film in the least. It's not subtle, it's not clever and it's not original.
Without wanting to completely trash the movie, there are elements here that do work. The cast are all obviously having fun with the material and that can be occasionally infectious. The performances are enthusiastic and spirited and some of the dialogue is legitimately clever. There are also some decent makeup effects on display and a bit more gore than you might expect. This makes it all the more disappointing then that the filmmakers didn't really seem to bother trying to come up with something new, something we haven't seen done before. It's all well and good to wear your influences on your sleeve but at least make a shot at carving out your own little niche if you're doing to dabble in what has quickly become the most contrived sub-genre of horror movie. Ah well, maybe next time. At least this one moves quickly and hey, a midget zombie. That's kind of cool. Ultimately this isn't a complete waste of time and it's entertaining enough if you don't mind predictability and recycled set pieces, but the wasted potential is hard to miss.
Video/Audio/Extras:
Detention Of The Dead looks good in 2.35.1 anamorphic widescreen as it's presented on this DVD. Detail is good as are colors and black levels. There are no compression artifacts to report nor are there any noticeable edge enhancement issues to spot while the picture is in motion. Skin tones generally look pretty realistic and overall the picture quality is quite strong. This was shot digitally and on a modest budget but the picture quality is solid.
Also impressive is the English language Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound mix, which makes occasional use of the rear channels to heighten the more suspenseful scenes in the movie and to spread out the score. Levels are properly balanced and as you'd expect from a feature this new, there are no problems with hiss or distortion to complain about. English closed captioning is provided as are Spanish subtitles.
Writer/director Alex Craig Mann starts the extra features off with a commentary that's basically a scene specific play by play of who did what and when during the making of the movie. He covers the effects, the locations, the writing and directing process - pretty much everything that you'd expect the writer/director of the movie to cover, he covers. Aside from that, we also get a behind the scenes documentary that clocks in at roughly forty-two minutes and which is made up of cast and crew interviews and footage shot on the set during the production.
The Final Word:
The world really doesn't need another zombie comedy, it's been done to death (if you'll forgive the cheesy pun) over the last few years and it no longer feels fresh, interesting or creative. With that said, based on its own merits Detention Of The Dead is amusing enough but you can't help but wish the filmmakers tried for something more interesting. The movie is very well paced, cutting right to the chase and hitting the ground running. Anchor Bay's DVD looks and sounds good and offers some decent supplements as well. Maybe not an essential release, but better than you'd probably expect it to be… if pretty far from perfect.
