420 Reviews: Detention, A Little Bit Zombie, and Excision

Ok Cellmates, here’s the deal.  I have a hell of a lot of movies to get through before the end of the year.  I’m one of those bloggers who feels the need to see everything that I can get my hands on before I make the obligatory “best and worst flicks of 2012” lists.  Otherwise, mediocre movies sneak their way onto the lists, and we can’t have that, now can we?  I’ll write full reviews of some of them, but there’s no way in hell I could do them all.  Therefore, for the duration of my “procrastination penance horror gauntlet,” I’ll be writing a lot of 420 reviews.

If you weren’t here for my previous 420 reviews, I’ll explain.  Back before SOC was born, I wrote mini reviews on Facebook.  At that time, statuses had a 420 character limit.  Summing up my thoughts on a flick in exactly 420 characters became a word game.  Plus, it’s fun confusing the stoners who saw the title and were expecting something completely different.  So, I return to the format from time to time either when I don’t have much to say about a movie (which, as we all know, is a Tales From The Quadead Zone level rarity), it’s already been reviewed to death, or I’m pressed for time, which is the case right now.  So, without further ado…

Detention:

All “meta” movies have the stink of hipster on them to some degree, but that’s pretty much all Detention is. This high school comedy/horror/sci-fi hybrid mess offers the occasional laugh or good line, but that’s about it.  Constant ironic 90s pop culture references don’t equal funny. Kudos for having the balls to name drop Scream while badly ripping it off though. At least the cast is decent.  1 severed thumb down. 

 

 A Little Bit Zombie:

A horror comedy with brains. I know, that was bad.  The whole cast is on point, and there’s some choice dialog. I could have gone for a little more gore and focus on the horror elements, but it’s funny enough to overlook that.  Keen eyed viewers will pick up quite a few Evil Dead influences. Plus, we get an appearance from Kurgan. Probably the best horredy I’ve seen so far this year. One and a half severed thumbs up.

 

Excision:

If David Lynch and David Cronenberg codirected a high school coming of age movie, this is what would happen. A great supporting cast of genre veterans compliments a powerhouse performance by AnnaLynne McCord. Some of the imagery is deliciously bizarre. It’s part creepy, part funny, and part touching. If Richard Bates Jr. keeps making flicks like this, he has a bright future in cinematic horror. Two severed thumbs up.