Detention

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1:10

Detention

2021

1h 42m

Horror

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Tomatometer

Popcornmeter

86%

Tomatometer

43 Reviews

85%

Popcornmeter

Fewer than 50 Ratings

We're in 1962 Taiwan, during the time of the White Terror, with martial law in full force on the island. In this time of extreme repression, all ideas considered to be dissident are banned, and the culprits are tortured or executed. Tsuihua Secondary School is not an exception from this oppression. Despite close surveillance by the military police, Professor Chang (Fu Meng-Po) runs an underground literary club where he and his students learn about banned books and dream of freedom. One of his club members, Fang (Gingle Wang) is madly in love with him. The usually shy teenage girl from an abusive home manages to open up like a book in his presence. Then Chang disappears... One night, Fang wakes up at her desk, but the school has changed. As she wanders through the sinister corridors and other dilapidated rooms in search of her teacher, she meets Wei (Tse Jing-Hua). Together, they must confront the ghosts and deformed monsters that have taken over their alma mater, to find out what happened there.

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Critics Consensus

Politically charged horror that's as viscerally effective as it is intellectually stimulating, Detention's got class.

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Isaac Feldberg

RogerEbert.com

10/15/2021

2/4

For all the game's attention to the ways fear can become rooted in personal and collective psyches, this adaptation feels curiously depersonalized.

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Noel Murray

Los Angeles Times

10/13/2021

In gaming terms, this movie's characters find themselves on a screen where every move leads to a bottomless pit. The nightmare they're in is as existential as it is visceral.

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Richard Whittaker

Austin Chronicle

10/23/2020

Forgiveness and remembrance are intertwined in this powerful story. An apt heir to [Guillermo] del Toro at his most analytical, it's a stirring political fable dressed in the ghoulish weaves of a creepy monster flick.

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Reuben Baron

CBR

08/10/2023

Detention isn't exactly a great movie, but it's the only video game adaptation to set its sights on greatness.

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Paul Lê

Nightmare on Film Street

07/20/2023

9/10

For the movie relays the important message of how we cannot afford to forget mankind's worst moments because they make us uncomfortable. Doing so only causes history to repeat itself.

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Beth Accomando

KPBS.org

12/17/2021

The film mixes elements of monsters and haunted house scares with a political thriller to engage audiences. There are some odd narrative shifts and tonal changes but if you stick through to the end it all makes sense and is actually quite clever.

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Jane S

@RT81956578 08/15/2024

Excellent! This film sheds light on Taiwan's dark history.

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Nicolas T

@RT99733889 03/03/2024

Nice movie but unnecessarily complex.

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Courtney K

@c0urtn3y 03/21/2022

interesting. totally gave me Silent Hill vibes, which maybe makes a little sense as i think this is based on a horror video game too. i wasn't fully paying attention to the whole thing so there were parts that lost me, story-wise, but to be honest i wasn't really watching it for the story anyway; i just liked the creatures/spooky things. i'd maybe watch it again.

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brad p

@Bradster69 10/08/2021

‘Detention' is a Largely Successful Film Adaptation of Red Candle's Taiwanese Horror Game

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John Hsu

Director

Gingle Wang

Fang Ray-Shin

Meng-Po Fu

Chang Ming-Hui

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Wei Chong-Ting

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Detention: Trailer 1

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Synopsis

We're in 1962 Taiwan, during the time of the White Terror, with martial law in full force on the island. In this time of extreme repression, all ideas considered to be dissident are banned, and the culprits are tortured or executed. Tsuihua Secondary School is not an exception from this oppression. Despite close surveillance by the military police, Professor Chang (Fu Meng-Po) runs an underground literary club where he and his students learn about banned books and dream of freedom. One of his club members, Fang (Gingle Wang) is madly in love with him. The usually shy teenage girl from an abusive home manages to open up like a book in his presence. Then Chang disappears... One night, Fang wakes up at her desk, but the school has changed. As she wanders through the sinister corridors and other dilapidated rooms in search of her teacher, she meets Wei (Tse Jing-Hua). Together, they must confront the ghosts and deformed monsters that have taken over their alma mater, to find out what happened there.

Director: John Hsu
Screenwriter: John Hsu
Distributor: Dekanalog
Production Co: Filmagic Pictures Co., Kaohsiung Film Fund, Taichung Film Development Foundation, Yi Tiao Long Hu Bao International Entertainment Company, 1 Production Film Company, Truffe Holdings, Warner Bros. Pictures, Lots Home Entertainment, Gamania Digital Entertainment Company
Genre: Horror
Original Language: Chinese
Release Date (Theaters): Oct 8, 2021, Limited
Runtime: 1h 42m