User reviews

Having run into a swarm of questionable and dubious low-budget zombie movies the last couple of months, I really had no particular high hopes for "Detention of the Dead", but I was genuinely surprised.

The movie starts out well enough and drops the action right in your lap almost right away. I enjoyed that and it was great not having to sit 30 or 45 minutes into the movie before action starts to happen and the movie to pick up pace. "Detention of the Dead" starts off in a high gear and keeps going at that pace.

"Detention of the Dead" has a good amount of comedy to it to make it a worthy addition to the genre where you would find "Shaun of the Dead". While it is not as classic as "Shaun of the Dead", "Detention of the Dead" does manage to leave a good mark on the zombie comedy genre.

The effects in the movie were nice, though not as gory and detailed as that in George Romero movies or "The Walking Dead". But still, for a movie of this type and budget, then the effects and make-up was quite alright.

The characters in the movie were nicely detailed and equally well performed by the people hired for the various roles.

Story-wise, then the movie didn't really bring anything new to the zombie genre. But still, it managed to take already established lore in the zombie genre and put it to good use. There were some nice enough, although cheesy, references to be seen here and there, so stay alert.

"Detention of the Dead" is a good addition to the zombie movie library of any zombie aficionado.

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.

A perfect example of how you could ruin a gory start of a zombie flick into a love story. I have no problem to bring in love into horror but here it overruns the death. And that's the major problem with Detention Of The Dead.

It has been compared with Shaun Of The Dead (2004) but on that part I don't agree. I never laughed with the jokes because they were again for an American release very childish. The farts, that has to be in every US comedy, how stupid is that. On the other hand when they start talking like in The Breakfast Club (1985) then again I prefer The Breakfast Club because it do has funny situations but here they are trying to make it funny with the sexy cheerleader known for sucking off every guy on school, the nerd falling in love with her and finally does, that's one you see coming from the first minute but hey, there's the weirdo, the goth chick who falls for the nerd and of course the muscled guy who dates the cheerleader. But all situations are so predictable that it even becomes a bit boring.

The final is a bit better because the zombies are coming in again. Still, the zombies looked rather good and some attacks were really messy and even sometimes gory. An ideal flick to start the evening while necking some brewies with your pals.

Gore 1,5/5 Nudity 0/5 Effects 3/5 Story 2,5/5 Comedy 0,5/5

A group of oddball high school students find themselves trapped in detention with their classmates having turned into a horde of Zombies.

This is not necessarily a good film, and it is not a surprise to me that the movie has generally low reviews on IMDb. A bit lower than I expected, but maybe it just has not hit the target audience yet. Although, there is a bit too much down time between the jokes to really keep the momentum going, and some of the events go past parody or homage to downright theft (the "Breakfast Club" ripoff where they each explain why they have detention in particular).

This might fall under the category of guilty pleasures, though, for zombie and horror fans. There are countless references, and I am sure I did not catch them all: Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Night of the Living Dead, Evil Dead, Twilight and Rocky Horror Picture Show come to mind. There is an homage to Sam Raimi's directing style, the library is named after effects guru Tom Savini... and in one piece of dialogue, two characters mention all the ways that a zombie outbreak has begun in other films.

This may not be a keeper, but it is definitely worth renting for those who like clever references to other horror flicks. (Or sometimes not so clever -- the Savini reference got a bit too much screen time to be subtle.)

An eclectic group of high-school teens in detention—cheerleader Janet (Christa B. Allen) and her boyfriend Brad (Jayson Blair), geek Eddie (Jacob Zachar), pretty goth Willow (Alexa Nikolas), jock Jimmy (Max Adler), and stoner Ash (Justin Chon)—find themselves trapped in the school library after a zombie outbreak turns all of their classmates into ravenous gutmunchers.

Detention of the Dead is harmless enough fun, but in a world where a new zombie film seems to claw its way to the surface on a daily basis, it simply doesn't do enough to distinguish itself from the competition. The characters are all stereotypes—although that's forgivable given that the film is clearly inspired in part by The Breakfast Club—but for Detention of the Dead to have been really successful, it would have needed far better gags, a few genuine scares, and much more creative zombie mayhem. I'd liked to have seen director Alex Craig Mann really go to town with the splatter, but then again, maybe the budget for such carnage just wasn't available.

I rate Detention of the Dead a passable 5 out of 10, although I was tempted to deduct a point for the obvious in-jokes, most notably the characters named after classics of the genre, something that has been done to death in comedy horror films over the years (the library is named after make-up legend Tom Savini; Brad, Janet and Eddie are all characters from The Rocky Horror Picture Show; Willow is from Buffy the Vampire Slayer; Ash is, of course, from The Evil Dead; admittedly, I haven't the foggiest who Jimmy is named after).

This movie mixed of Detention meet Dance of the Dead ,

The movie dose not take to long to get going and there are some very funny moment that made me laugh out loud.

we got normal detention group, Jock guys, hot cheerleader, goth girl, Drug guy and Nerd guy all in Detention.

Also guys come to seem to feel unwell and then hell break lose of cause

There were some silly over the tops here and there and some of the jokes can go on bit long, but it got laughing.

Some part of the movie are little boring for zombie there, Didn't really do much and sit and talk few room, which I could not case less about.

It did start bit gory but as the movie went the zombie deaths seem to less bloody not really really that gory.

I give 4.8 out of 10, It made laugh,, I just round it's off to 4 out of 10

Dont waste your time watching this.... Worse than amateur videos.

Poor extras, who do bad acting of zombies.

Such movie makers should be tied up and made to watch their own movies as punishment.

Having seen most every zombie flick there is - from great to good to downright painful to witness, this rates amongst the more pleasant ways to spend time with the undead and those attempting to remain amongst the living.

Someone earlier wrote it is like "The Breakfast Club" meets zombie flick, and I cannot come up with a better analogy (partly because I have a raging tooth infection!) If you like zombies and comedy, you'll enjoy this flick. As for its budget, or lack of = didn't notice, didn't care - which makes it an even better film in m y big ol' book of "Seen It..."! Enjoy!!!!!

This is passable harmless fun, but it's so harmless it's barely worth watching. The characters are the most cardboard cut out of cliches, the story beats the same. The zombie genre is so saturated now that films like this just don't need to be made. See it if you love to watch all zombie movies, the good the bad, and the boring vanilla, but don't expect anything you haven't seen a hundred times before.

I was lucky enough to see "Detention of the Dead" at this year's FrightFest.

Honestly, I went in not knowing what I should expect. I had only seen a couple teasers, and they really didn't do too much for me, so I didn't exactly have any expectations.

It's such a simple basis that happens to be taken beyond that. A handful of kids are in detention...when a zombie outbreak hits. At first, I was thrown off by how cliché each character was. We have the nerd, the feisty goth, the stoner, the good looking jock bully, his meat-head friend, and of course the hot cheerleader. It's like they were all taken straight from "The Breakfast Club". Then it hit me...this is the joke! Just like those preps in "Tucker & Dale Vs. Evil". This feel and tone was supposed to be of the classic Hughs films...and it worked so perfectly!

The gore scale on this flick is great. For a movie that I hear had a low budget, they sure made due. The zombies looked sweet and there are some great and gory moments.

I feel like this flick is also a gift for us zombie fans. It is packed with homages and references that made me giddy.

I heard a lot of complaints from people, at Glasgow, that it wasn't scary. Here's the thing...I don't think scares were their biggest priority. Is it filled with tons of amazing zombie gore? Hell yes! Awesome zombies? Yes. But I think this is more-so a...dare I say light hearted(?)...comedy...that happens to be centered in a zombie apocalypse.

The cast was great. Jacob Zachar (Eddie) has yet again created a wonderfully likable nerd character. I found myself both feeling embarrassed for Eddie, at times, and rooting for him. Alexa Nikolas (Willow) was so likable as the feisty and intellectual goth chick. I kept thinking...I'd be sticking with her, in this situation! Justin Chon (Ash) was so completely ridiculous as the stupid stoner...but I loved every second of his screen time. Everyone was great.

As funny and gore packed as this movie is, it actually has a lot of sweet moments, and in a zombie movie...it works!

I cannot wait to own this film!

This movie is really not too bad , its funny and acted pretty decent , its supposed to be not taken too 'serious'. All in all I had a great time watching it , it has a mix of high school students all in detention together , a geek , a Gothic chick , the prom queen and king and a couple a stoners , as the zombieness breaks out. The comedy is pretty stupid but that's what makes it so funny . Don't get the rating been so low , only 3.9 ? I have definitely saw worse zombie movies on bigger budgets than this. I give it 6/10 and look forward to seeing it again.

don't go buy the rating !! This really is worth watching !!

It's a teen zombie movie. Think "Breakfast Club" plus zombies, less epic music (except for the Pixies' cover of "Where is My Mind?" by Nada Surf – Fight Club song for those of you who need a mental nudge). When I say it's "Breakfast Club" I mean just that: "Breakfast Club." It is heavy on the whole teen superficial archetypes thrust together serendipitously, and who must work together in order to get out of a predicament, all whilst learning about each other and themselves. This movie is similar, but instead of figuring out how to survive each other, they need to fight against a shambling horde of newly converted undead. This is the first movie review in RockRevolt Magazine. My reviews are more like a spanking, which sting at first, but when applied with appropriate follow-up, tend to be quite nice. I put everything I didn't like about the movie out there first, and then I soften that blow with what I did like. Let us proceed with that spanking now: Too Long. In this reviewer's opinion, the movie could have been shortened up. There were some brief moments that could have come out, that would have shaved off some minutes without having much impact on the overall delivery.

Jimmy? There could have been more to him; a little more substance. He was practically a prop, right up until his demise.

Holding the Head Effect. The effect was not as polished as I would have preferred. Since it was jarringly different from the other gory details, I would have done away with that particular scene, as it really didn't add a whole lot more, nor was it crucial to the story.

"I don't want to die a virgin?" Seriously? You are stuck in your school's library. The place is crawling with zombies, both inside and out, and all you can think of is…I take that back. If I were a teen in high school in a similar position, I would probably have the same mind-set. Move this to the plusses. Let us not die virgins.

Let's work on removing that sting now, and talking about some of the things that did work for me: John Hughes. I really enjoy some John Hughes flicks, so any nod in the direction of his classic films just hits me where I like it, even with zombies running around.

Visual Comedy. Call me immature, but I will laugh at the same thing a 13-14 year old boy will laugh at. The homo-erotic double entendre scene in which Ash and Eddie are trying to release the Kung-Fu grip a dismembered zombie arm had on Eddie's nether regions as they hump and thrust around just slays me. There were other instances that provoked the Beavis and Butthead giggling in me. I sported the "he he he he" quite frequently.

Ash. By far my favorite character. I could see such a character go awry with the wrong actor, but as portrayed by Justin Chon, I found him to be incredibly charismatic. What I particularly enjoyed about this character was watching his antics become the catalysts that propelled the story forward.

Classic Zombie Movie Salutes. Every once in a while, a reference to another zombie movie would pop-up and make me smile. There was no bigger smile on my lips than when the characters were huddled in front of a desk that had the sign "Savini Library."

There were many other reasons to enjoy this movie. If you enjoy John Hughes flicks, and zombie flicks, you will absolutely want to see this one. If you are ambivalent about one or the other, you should still check this one out. It's a movie that has an amazingly relatable story. How many of you are a dweeb with a hard-on for the cheerleader, but learned that you could save the day and get a girl that is like-minded and just as hot in other ways? I mean, not everyone can be a cheerleader or the school jock, but everyone is somebody, and whether or not you are slaying homework, zombies, or your day to day cubicle farm job, there is something ultimately cool about watching the under-dog save the day, and anyone can walk a mile in those shoes of that average man.

Off the soap box now. Detention of the Dead. Check it out. Take a date. If you get bored, you could always make-out, but I suspect you might actually want to watch this one.

~Alice Roques

This is what I like to call a "Fence Movie." If you love zombies and Tarantino-esque movie references, you'll like it. If you're not on the zombie side and you hate constant film references, this probably won't be your cup of tea.

Detention of the Dead is nothing new; teens who don't have an emotional click with each other (the nerd, the goth, the drug dealer, the athletic, and the dutsy blonde cheerleader,) end up in detention with each other. But just before The Simple Minds kick in their musical cult classic theme, zombies take siege on the school, and they have to work together to get out the school alive.

Again, nothing new. But I'm the kind of guy who respects a film when they give credit where credit is due, is that accomplished, yes.

The characters are set up in the classic horror movie ways, they don't stand out. You have one or two who manage to make themselves dimensional, but that's it.

Where the film succeeds is keeping your attention, but in that street magician way. While Tarantino is Houdini, Detention is the really sketchy looking one that keeps your attention on the hands, but if you look at it entirely, you see how it's done, and that's a big problem.

Some of the references flow, while some just don't.

But, I kept my eyes on what I liked, and it being a "Fence movie," you'll have to find your pros for yourself.

I give it a 7.5 ticket stub out of 10

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.

Group of teenagers from different cliques end up in weekend detention, very Breakfast Club to me. Zombies start attacking the school and they end up trapped in the library. Again Breakfast Club, this time mixed with Dawn Of The Dead. The group even gets high together. Not sure if the whole "Breakfast Club" similarities were intentional but they were obvious. The movie had it's moments, had it's humor and had it's gore. There are parts that just seemed obvious but for the most part it was an okay movie for it's genre, horror/comedy. I wouldn't have watched it in theaters but renting or watching on TV is worth it. Some of the acting could have been better, but some of it is pretty good. Don't expect too much out of it, it is a bunch of teenagers stuck in school during a zombie attack.

Well I like the ending though. And it is quite interesting. Not that bad

Well, there certainly are many zombie B-movies being made these days, and many of them are very bad. DETENTION OF THE DEAD isn't. Although it's yet another comic zombie horror set in a high school, the jokes aren't bad and there's plenty of fast-paced action to take your mind off the deficiencies of the script. Plus, the constant references to THE BREAKFAST CLUB are unexpected and a lot of fun too.

DETENTION OF THE DEAD gets to the zombie action very quickly, while the laughs come thick and fast too. Some of the plot ingredients are over-laboured to the max - that running severed head joke for instance - but others are handled quite well. The zombies are effectively ferocious and the gore effects don't disappoint either.

Mainly it's the characters that make this film work, with the actors putting plenty of enthusiasm into the performances. I found the main nerd character to be a bit dull, but the supporting players like Alexa Nikolas and Justin Chon have fun roles and do plenty with them. DETENTION OF THE DEAD isn't the best film in the world, but I found it to be an enjoyable time-waster.

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.

Forced into detention together,a widely-varied group of students are forced to come face-to-face with their own insecurities in order to repel a zombie outbreak at the school.

This turned out to be quite a fun and rousing mixture of horror and comedy that works surprisingly well considering the high risk of detrimental flaws here. The fact that the whole film rests on fulfilling clichés and then twisting them does tend to fall short at times, because it is doing nothing more than utilizing the same exact tropes and storied characters that have been a part of the genre for years now and then turns them into exactly what you would expect would happen because you have to invert the clichés, resulting in nothing new or groundbreaking despite acting like it is. The low-budget doesn't help matters much either with a rather pedestrian look overall to the zombies who look decent enough but never really pack that special push to really sell them, settling instead on colored contacts and swollen features to sell their zombified state, and that's not entirely convincing throughout. As well, the lower-budget-means are fully viewed on the swarming scenes, which lack the massive size of most normal zombie hordes as well as failing to really exploit the type of blood and gore that come to be expected in such a scenario despite several rather gruesome moments which signal the start of what it does right. The fact that the zombie outbreak is so early on in the film, barely ten minutes in when the first victim turns into the ravenous being, makes for a rather pleasing amount of action in this one with a rapid series of encounters that are fun, exciting and quite thrilling, working the best when utilizing the comedy in the intense situations. Being forced to sneak past a group of zombies gnawing on a corpse without suspicion and doing so successfully only to be rousing by the cheers and congratulations of the rest of the survivors, fending off zombies by hurling library books at them or continually bashing them over the head with baseball bats but always loosing their grip on the bat are just some of the wonderful comedic scenes throughout that are not only hysterically funny and logical in such a situation but do so to make the non-stop action all the more fun. Coupled with some of the great gore gags when they occur and a rousing amount of heart, it's a lot more fun than what it seems like.

Rated R: Graphic Violence, Graphic Language, nude pictures and drug use.

Sleepy Sunday with nothing to do, decided to watch this and was pleasantly surprised. OK it's not going to be everyone's choice but if you enjoy the zombie genre and films that don't take themselves seriously, it may be worth a look. Plenty of nods to other films to look out for and grin at. The occasional bit of black humour to enjoy with some great kills. Yes I am well aware that the stereotypical school types has been done before but they didn't do a bad job. The problem this film has is that the non zombie fans will stay away from it and the hardcore zombie fans will bitch and whine on about parts used from other films. But really...who cares? If you're in the mood to sit and just enjoy a bit of no brain zombie action, give it a look