Movie Review: Detention of the Dead (2012)

The movie stars Jacob Zachar, Alexa Nikolas, Christa B. Allen, Jayson Blair, Max Adler and Justin Chon.

My wife and I came across this movie while looking for something to watch and, deciding it sounded somewhat unique, decided to give it a try. I wasn't really sure what to expect from this film. But, I had to admit, it was pretty good.

I've seen quite a few zombie movies that have attempted to be funny but the list of films that have actually been successful at doing that is actually very short. This movie, however, is one that I would not hesitate to add to that list.

In fact, there were times when this movie was absolutely hilarious. I, personally, loved the scene where the nerd, Eddie (Zachar), saves the popular girl (Allen) and winds up having a zombie grabbing him by the crotch. At first, this just seemed corny. But, the way that scene played out, with the group trying to free him, had me laughing almost to the point I was in tears. And, when combined with things like the surprisingly strong zombie rats and the way they treat the still-living severed head of one of their teachers (Michele Messmer), the light-hearted nature of this film works really well.

At the same time, the film does know when to take some things seriously, such as when some of the characters start revealing personal details that give them a surprising amount of depth. This is something most other movies fail to do properly

One of my biggest pet peeves about zombie movies in general is when the characters in those films act like they have never seen a zombie movie before. And, because of this, I thought it was somewhat refreshing to see the characters in this film using Night of the Living Dead and similar movies as reference points when figuring out how to survive. If nothing else, it does save the viewer from the typical, boring, scenes where the survivors take what seems like forever to figure out what is happening and how to kill the zombies. That does allow the movie to move at a faster pace and stay entertaining from start to finish.

While some scenes were a little predictable, the movie, overall, was somewhat refreshing when compared to many of the other zombie movies that have been made recently. There is a good mix of comedy and suspense and the film is entertaining to watch as a result of that. I would highly recommend it because of this.

My Grade: A