Detention of the Dead (2012)

Detention Of The Dead is a fun and entertaining Zombie-Horror-Comedy that combines nice direction,a good cast,a memorable soundtrack and fine special effects. And while the movie is far from perfect,all of those elements make Detention Of The Dead a nice way to spend 87 minutes.Based on the stage play by Rob Rinow,Detention Of The Dead tells the story of 5 High School students serving detention together. While serving detention the students discover that their fellow students have turned into flesh eating zombies. With nowhere to turn the kids serving detention barricade themselves in the library dealing with the zombies and each other.If you took the Zombies of George A. Romero's Night Of The Living Dead and mixed it with the Comedy of Edgar Wright's Shaun Of The Dead and Teen Angst of John Hughes' The Breakfast Club you would get Detention Of The Dead a flawed but amusing Horror-Comedy that while not matching the greatness and quality of those three amazing films I mentioned above it has enough moments that make up for it's less than perfect storyline. It's not the kind of movie that is going to be thought-provoking or will make you think but it's a movie that keep your attention. Detention Of The Dead is Horror-Comedy in the truest sense of the genres with the Horror coming from the Zombies,blood and gore although DOTD isn't going to scare or frighten you to make you keep the light on at night. The Zombies in Detention Of The Dead come in huge packs and are disgusting but are mostly used for laughs and lack the intimidating menace of George A. Romero's Zombies. While Detention Of The Dead is a Horror movie there is nothing serious or dark going on in the film because the tone is very silly and offbeat with a proud and quirky spirit. The Comedy and laughs in DOTD are funny with scenes of funny dialog and moments of over the top insanity. DOTD is almost like a Teen movie with Zombies added to the mix. The movie is also funny in the way pays nods to other films whether it's to Night Of The Living Dead or to The Breakfast Club while there are nods that more subtle(the library in the high school is called "Savini Library" named after make-up effects master and Horror icon Tom Savini). The flaw with DOTD is that the Comedy can be flat at times and doesn't always hit the mark but when the Comedy works it works. I love movies that take place in one setting and What I enjoyed about this film is that all of the action takes place in one setting the one setting being a High School library(thanks to the original stage play)where we see the characters having not only dealing with the zombies but with each other and trying to survive. And while the main characters are pretty much High School,teen and coming of age movie stereotypes(nerd,goth,sports jock,cheerleader,stoner)the characters are actually memorable and well-developed because even though the characters are surrounded by Zombie they take time to get to know one another beyond their stereotypes(another nod to The Breakfast Club). The blood and gore is good and something you will always see in a Zombie film and while it's not as bloody or gory as Day Of The Dead(1985)or Peter Jackson's Dead Alive(1992)some blood and gore shows up once and a while. The ending of Detention Of The Dead is good and a little surprising but it fits with the tone and offbeat style of the movie. A Fine ending.The cast is good. Jacob Zachar is wonderful as Eddie,the smart nerd. Alexa Nikolas is terrific,beautiful and sexy in my favorite performance in the movie as Willow,the Goth girl who's Eddie's friend. Christa B. Allen is fantastic and sexy as Janet,a cheerleader that Eddie has a crush on. Jayson Blair is great as Brad,Janet's Football jock boyfriend. Justin Chow is hilarious and memorable as Ash,a laid back stoner. Max Adler(Jimmy),Michele Messmer(Mrs. Rumblethrorp)and Joseph Porter(Mark)give good performances as well.The direction by Alex Craig Mann is simple but good,with Mann at times moving the camera and giving the movie a nice pace. Nice direction,Mann.The score by Cody Westheimer is fine,with Westheimer's score being goofy,offbeat and intense. Good score,Westheimer. There is also some good Rock and Pop songs on the soundtrack as well.The special make-up effects are well-done,bloody and add to the film. Good special effects.In final word,if you love Horror Films,Zombie Movies or Horror-Comedies,I suggest you see Detention Of The Dead,a fun and entertaining Zombie-Horror-Comedy that is flawed and far from perfect but is still a watchable film. Recommended. 6.5/10.

Jacob Zachar is geeky Eddie. Alexa Nikolas is goth chick Willow. Christa B. Allen is cheerleader Janet. Jayson Blair is jerky Brad. Justin Chon is stoner Ash. Max Adler is meathead football player Jimmy.They are all stock characters being completely stereotypical. The big problem being that they are all too old to be in high school. This is especially true for Jacob Zachar. He's suppose to be a geeky weakling, and he looks more like a haggard teacher. In fact, the only one that could pass for a high schooler is Alexa Nikolas, and just barely.This is a weak effort from first time writer/director Alex Craig Mann. It's a derivative story of every other high school zombie movie. There is nothing new in the script or in the directing. Maybe he's trying to parody the whole genre by mocking it with a stupid weak Zombie Breakfast Club. But even a parody would add something new rather than just copying everything.

I took my brothers and saw this movie over the summer at a local film festival and LOVED it. I'm a big John Hughes fan and a huge indie enthusiast, so this flick was right up my alley. The story was great and totally relatable, much like the way many of Hughes' films were (and still are) to just about anyone who's ever had to deal with the awkward, where-do-i-fit-in-the-world, purgatory that is high school. The writer and director do a great job of taking on a lot of pretty touchy subjects and adding more than a few dashes of hilarity to them, whether through a character's self deprecation or the irony of an entire situation. And if you're a big zombie fiend like my brothers are you'll love it even more than I did. They've already told all of their friends, and I've told all of mine, and none of us can wait to see it again.

just in case. SPOILER. This movie has NO originality. if anybody seen "Shawn of the Dead" then this movie is a very poor attempt to copy it. when I say copy I mean from the title down to the last detail on how it ends. everything in the middle is just a bunch of filler. one scene after another with nothing but talking that has no relevance to what is going on in the movie. The zombies acted better than the people who are alive but seriously how hard could acting like a zombie be, I do it everyday when I come in to work. I did try to look for something that is remotely interesting about this movie but I just came up with nothing, maybe just maybe the cheer leader outfit was the best part of this movie. please stop making movies like this.