Detention (2011)

Film details

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DirectorJoseph Kahn
Year2011
CountryUSA
GenreComedy
TypeMovie
Runtime93m
CastAlison Woods, Logan Stalarow, Julie Dolan, Shanley Caswell, Daniel Negreanu, Will Wallace, Josh Breeding, Marco Garcia, Josh Hutcherson, Mickey River

Review

"Don't be turned off by Kahn's satirical take on teen angst and high school drama though, even if you find yourself outside the tech generation of today. Detention still has enough polished oddities to win over anyone with an open mind and a hunger for cutting edge cinema. One can simply marvel at how our director effortlessly pulls off tonal 180's, or creates such indulgently fun scenarios, but does so with grace and beauty while simultaneously throwing massive amounts of dense script material directly in our face. Both challenging and rewarding, Kahn's sophomore feature oozes unfiltered creativity films like Jennifer's Body tried so hard to emulate, given the whole horrific high school experience scenario. Most impressive is the usage of self-aware filmmaking, opening a hidden door of silly gags and playful interactions. Kahn ingeniously pokes enough fun at his own movie as a smack to the audience's head, almost as to say "Hey, this is supposed to be fun and not serious! Just embrace it!"" - Matt Donato, We Got This Covered

Ranking history

The 1,000 Greatest Horror Films

EDITIONS IN TOP 1,0009
HIGHEST#5592016
LOWEST#1,1272019
Top 1,000Outside Top 1,000Missing ranking data

Dashed lines indicate missing ranking data. Select a point to view that year's published list. The 1,000 Greatest Horror Films list was not updated in 2022.

The 21st Century’s Greatest Horror Films

EDITIONS RANKED7
HIGHEST#462015
LOWEST#2752026
Published rankingNot ranked (outside published list)

The list was not updated from 2016 to 2019 or in 2022. It expanded from a Top 250 to a Top 500 in 2021. Full rankings beyond the published lists are not available. Dotted segments and hollow points indicate editions in which the film was outside the published list; their exact ranks are unknown.

Lists featuring this film 29 lists

Bizarro Central's Jeff Burk's Seventeen Great Horror Movies You Probably Haven't Seen2016Unranked—
Bloody Disgusting's David Harley's List of the Best Horror Films of 2011!2011Ranked#10
Bloody Disgusting's Evan Dickson's List Of The Best Horror Films Of 2012!2012Ranked#9
Bloody Disgusting's Mr. Disgusting's List of the Best Horror Films of 2012!2012Ranked#10
Brian Collins' Horror Movie A Day2016Unranked—
brian32935's 50 best horror movies of the 2010s2015Ranked#26
Creepy Catalog's Raquel Quintana's 35+ Best High School Horror Movies2020Unranked—
Dustin Putnam's The Fright File - 150 Films to See Before Halloween2013Unranked—
Esquire's Eric Francisco's The 40 Best Halloween Movies for People Who Hate Horror Movies2025Unranked—
Film School Rejects' Robert Fure's Year in Review - The 12 Best Horror Movies of 20122012Ranked#8
Film4's 50 Must-See Horror Films Of The 21st Century2015Ranked#26
Final Girl Shocktoberfest Poll2017Ranked#557
Hollie Horror's 2010-20192021Ranked#13
Hollie Horror's Horror Comedies2020Ranked#37
IndieWire's Eric Kohn's 13 Indie Horror Movies From 2012 to Watch on Halloween2012Unranked—
Jason Coffman's 100 Favorite Horror Films 2000-20142015Ranked#19
Knockout Horror's Richie's 20 Meta Horror Movies That Hold a Mirror Up To The Genre - Ranked2025Ranked#19
Les Ingoruptibles' Top 10 des meilleurs films d'horreur de 20122013Ranked#9
LOLWOT's 20 Creepy Horror Movies You've Never Seen2015Unranked—
PCBreakdown's Top 500 Horror Movies2014Ranked#149
Screenage Wasteland's Sailor Monsoon's The 100 Greatest Overlooked Horror Movies2019Ranked#39
SlashFilm's Matt Donato's The 100 Best Horror Movies of the Past Decade2019Ranked#26
The Bloodlust's Jamie's Best Back-to-School Horror Movies2016Unranked—
The Brag's Joseph Earp's 50 greatest horror films of the 21st century2018Ranked#33
Thought Catalog's Rob Fee's The Best Horror Movie Of The Year For The Last 40 Years2014Unranked—
We Are Indie Horror's 9 Must-See Indie Horror Films From The Last 10 Years2016Unranked—
We Are Movie Geeks' 15 Top Horror Films of 20122012Unranked—
We Got This Covered's Matt Donato's 2011's Best Horror Films2012Ranked#9
We Got This Covered's Matt Donato's The Top 10 Horror Films Of 20122012Ranked#2