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[BD Review] ‘Detention of the Dead’ Should’ve Studied Harder

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To be honest, I’ve never been a big fan of parody films. There are some exceptions, like the first Scary Movie, Shaun of the Dead or Spaceballs, but those films generally had some brains behind the humour, and didn’t come across as a bad live-action episode of Family Guy. With Detention of the Dead, actor-turned-director Alex Craig Mann has taken pieces of Edgar Wright’s zom-com and thrown in 80s classic The Breakfast Club and put the mixture to film. What’s there is a parody, but is it one worth laughing about?

Things start out simple enough. A group of stereotypical teens at Lincoln High are stuck gather in detention. There’s your lovestruck nerd (Jacob Zachar), your goth-chick (Alexa Nikolas of The Walking Dead), a snotty cheerleader with her doofus boyfriend (Christa B. Allen and Jayson Blair), a stoner (Justin Chon) and your dumb jock (Max Adler). All them are under the supervision of English teacher Mrs. Rumblethorp (Michele Messmer). Also joining the group is a student who’s coincidentally been bitten by a zombie. After the guy croaks and rises up as a member of the living dead, he proceeds to snack on Mrs. Rumblethorp. Seems that there’s a zombie plague going around, and so the group now has to come up with a plan to escape.

Right away, the film earns points to the actors involved. Rather than being content with the paper-thin stereotypes, the actors add personality to their respective roles. We eventually get your predictable yet welcome evolutions of these characters once things start to get heavy and they’re forced to band together. We still get the quick quips and yammering between the characters, so it’s not all exposition. Gorehounds will be pleased with the amount of plasma being spilt, thanks to effects designers Daniel Aaron Phillips and Troy Holbrook. It’s nice to see a paper cutter being put to more sinister uses. As for the zombies themselves, we don’t get the rotten types, but they still look pretty good as the fresh pasty types. There’s even a little person zombie! How often do you get those?

On the other side of things, the negatives creep up on this film quickly. From the get-go, Mann directs this film akin to Shaun of the Dead (which has been referenced numerous times in the film’s marketing), with the above stereotypes being played against the gory efforts of the zombie horde in an attempt to mimic Edgar Wright’s balancing act of humour and horror. It’s not the most successful attempt, and it doesn’t help that the film knowingly treads where Shaun has already gone, with character names and places referencing other horror movies and personalities being sprinkled throughout the film. It’s a distraction more than a cute send-up.

Mann’s difficulty in the zom-com balancing act reaches the tipping point once the group makes it to the library. The Savini Library, to be exact. It’s in the library where the film lurches to a halt thanks to misplaced character exposition and development. In amongst recreating the library confessional scene from The Breakfast Club, we get hit with straight-laced Eddie’s reveal as to why he was sent to detention, which is heavy all by itself, but then the other characters mention they were worried that he was going to “Columbine” them. Yeah. I know that there were heavy moments in Shaun, but they weren’t offensive.

Despite being made with good intentions, Detention of the Dead falls flat. Recycling the formula that Shaun of the Dead used with balancing funny and the zombie menace and messing it up is one thing, but to make a plethora of painful self-aware gags is aggravating. It’s a shame, since you can tell that everyone involved was into the project, and wanted to make something that was enjoyable. And true, there were parts that did elicit a few chuckles and had my attention with their gory efforts. Nevertheless, the film was more derivative than anything, and is really just something you’d have on while you’re doing your homework. Think extended detention rather than expulsion.

Video/Audio:

Presented in 2.35:1 anamorphic widescreen, the picture looks about as good as you’d expect from a low-budget title such as this. Colours are consistent, with no edge enhancement or contrast issues. The picture shows a good amount of detail for a DVD. Overall, it doesn’t blow you away, but it works.

The Dolby Digital 5.1 track is about the same in terms of quality as the picture: nothing that you could use for a benchmark for your system, but given the budget, does an acceptable job. Dialogue is clear and free of distortion, and isn’t overpowered by any of the other effects.

Special Features:

For starters, we get an audio commentary with Executive Producer/Writer/Director Alex Craig Mann. Mann keeps things moving, covering various aspects of the production, while also dropping nuggets of trivia. Mann comes across as being very enthused and relaxed while looking back on the film.

The other extra is Detention of the Dead: Behind The Scenes. This 42-minute piece is a mix of production footage with interviews with cast and crew. Topics include all aspects of the production, including special effects. While it would’ve been nice to have heard from more of the cast (including the little person zombie!), shortcomings from the film aside, it’s still a great companion piece, and shows how much enthusiasm was put into the film.

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‘Herencia Diabólica’ – 1993’s “Mexican Child’s Play” Finally Has a Blu-ray Release [Review]

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Did you know that there is a Child’s Play-inspired film from Mexico? If you didn’t, you can thank Vinegar Syndrome’s new label Degausser Video for making 1993’s Herencia Diabólica available for the masses to watch. Or at least for the VS hardcore fanbase, Chucky completists and anyone else who needs something like this in their lives.

Director Alfredo Salazar, known for his writing connection to the 70s Santo film series, also serves as the writer here to bring us a film seemingly inspired from the Child’s Play franchise. While it has been recently labeled as the “Mexican Child’s Play” (there’s a special feature on the disc with that very title), the killer doll concept is where the comparison should start and end. Despite having some seeds planted by that franchise, Salazar delivers a story that blossoms into something unique.

Tony (Roberto Guinar) receives a letter informing him that his aunt has died, and he has inherited her estate in Mexico. He quits his job and uproots his life in New York with his wife Annie (Holda Ramírez) to relocate south of the border and move into his new crib. Now I know what you’re thinking, what person just quits their job and drags their wife to another country without having reliable monetary income? Tony does, everyone, Tony does.

And what’s the first thing they do once they arrive in Mexico and check out the estate? They hit the bedroom, naturally. We are treated to a sex scene with an erotica song that feels like a knockoff of “Sadness” by Enigma (remember them?). Sounds fun and all, but the scene takes place completely in the dark and we see absolutely nothing. Maybe that’s why the sexy-time tune was pumping, so we could know what was exactly going down.

While Tony goes on a job interview, Annie explores the estate’s grounds in a tedious chore to experience, going room by room, plodding along. But it does lead us to her discovery of our antagonist—the evil clown doll, Payasito! Of all the things in the house, she decides to bring this monstrosity down to show Tony when he gets home. What an exciting way to celebrate (sic)! Then out of nowhere, she spouts off some exposition about rumors that Tony’s aunt dabbled in the dark arts and now we know where our title Diabolical Inheritance (the English translation for Herencia Diabólica) originates. For those of you who keep score for things like that.

Before proceeding with this review, you really need to visualize what Payasito looks like to truly embrace the rest of the film’s shenanigans. While Chucky resembles a cute ginger child, Payasito resembles a small clown that is much larger in stature than Chucky. That’s because Payasito is performed by an actor (Margarito Esparaza) in clown cosplay whenever he’s on the move (like Mannequin 2), and makes some really horrible facial expressions. Chucky dresses in “Good Guys” overalls and a striped shirt, but Payasito wears a new wave Santa hat while sporting a Sgt. Pepper jacket and Peter Pan tights. As you can now tell, he is quite beautiful.

Back to our story, Payasito begins to spook Annie cerebrally until she becomes unnerved to the point of having a complete mental break down, making her easy prey to eliminate. She dies but the unborn child survives, with Tony believing that her death was caused by her mental instability. Fast forward some years later and the couple’s surviving spawn has grown into child Roy (Alan Fernando), who at this point has already bonded with Payasito to help him over the loss of his mother. Dun-dun-duuunnn!

Meanwhile wealthy Tony remains single, still grieving his late wife, until his blonde assistant Doris encourages him to move on with his life and start seeing other people. And by other people, she naturally means herself. As the old Kanye West song lyric goes, “I ain’t saying she’s a gold digger…”, and it seems that she might be until we learn more about her character. Doris is played by the stunning Lorena Hererra who has an extremely extensive resume in Mexico, and she carries most of the film quite well during the feature’s second half. The singer and former Playboy centerfold for their Mexico edition is by far the most recognizable face in the cast.

Doris and Tony do indeed hookup and she moves into La casa de Herencia, where she does her best to impress Roy and lessen his obsession with the doll. There is a scene where they go to a nearby park without Payasito that is filled with famous fairytale figures, such as Pinocchio, Cinderella and King Kong! What, you didn’t know King Kong is a fairytale? Me neither. But Roy continues to be obsessed with Payasito after their trip, much to Doris’ chagrin.

Her actions to separate him from Roy gets Payasito angry, setting up the film’s most memorable scene. We already know that Payasito is a devil doll like Chucky, but now we learn he also has the power to invade people’s dreams like Freddy Krueger! Does Payasito enter the dream world and concoct a creative way to kill Doris in her sleep? No, he harnesses his power to sexually assault her instead. Yes that actually happens. After she awakens, Doris grabs the doll and tosses him into a lake, only to find him waiting for her by the time she gets back to the house. So now we know he also maintains the ability to “transport” like Jason Voorhees too. This doll is the total package!

More insanity happens before we close out the film with the longest victim chase sequence ever. It makes the previously mentioned painful house search scene seem like an eyeblink. It feels like it’s the film’s entire third act, filled with so much padding that you could soundproof an entire three-story house.

So how’s the transfer? Considering it was created using a mix of VHS and film source elements from 1993, they did one heck of a job! The work they put into it is especially noticeable in the dream invasion sequence, with the pulsing multi-colored psychedelic visuals. Super trippy stuff. Even the film’s score provides a pretty chill vibe, during the times when Payasito isn’t on the prowl.

If anything you read has piqued your interest in the very least, you should give it a shot. But if not, it is best to leave this doll on the shelf.

Herencia Diabólica is now available to purchase at VinegarSyndrome.com.

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