Critical response On
Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 44% based on , with a
weighted average rating of 5.10/10 with the consensus stating, "Director Joseph Kahn's relentlessly kinetic style gives
Detention a rebellious kick, but the overload of ideas keeps this genre mashup from ever cohering into a satisfying whole". On
Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating to reviews, the film has a weighted average score of 45 out of 100, based on 14 critics, indicating "mixed or average" reviews. Justine Elias from
Slant Magazine gave the film 3/4 stars, writing, "For gorehounds lured in by the poster and trailer,
Detention will be disappointingly un-gorey. But for pop-culture pilgrims intent on discovering an underground prize, look no further." Brett Gallman from
Oh, the Horror! gave the film a positive review, writing, "Smart, funny, and equally full of splatstick violence and heart,
Detention isn't just next-level horror--it's next level everything, a senses-altering reaffirmation of cinema." R.L. Shafer from
IGN called it "a shockingly meaningful, potent film about the nature of meaninglessness and its damning effects on the younger generation". David Nusair from
Reel Film Reviews awarded the film a mixed 2/4 stars, writing, "while Kahn deserves some credit for attempting something different within the teen-movie genre,
Detention is simply (and finally) too weird and too off-the-wall to become anything more than a mildly amusing curiosity." Nicolas Rapold from
The New York Times gave the film a negative review, writing, "Another entry in self-conscious one-upmanship,
Detention is a horror comedy positively addled with retro references." Peter Hartlaub from
The San Francisco Chronicle hated the film, "There will be young moviegoers who proclaim this genius, and more stodgy audience members who find it torturous. If you're not tweeting and texting a combined 50 times or more per day, you're probably in the latter camp."
Accolades Detention won the Youth Jury Prize at the 2011 Seattle International Film Festival. The film also won the L'Écran Fantastique Prize 2011 at Montreal's Fantasia Film Festival as well as the Midnight Extreme Award at Spain's Sitges. London's Frightfest gave it the Biggest Surprise Award and organizer Alan Jones named
Detention as his overall favorite film of the festival in 2011. Critic Devin Faraci called
Detention "Insane, Hyperkinetic, Next Level Filmmaking." Drew McWeeny of Hitfix described it a "manic throwback horror comedy for the Twitter generation." Quint of Aint-It-Cool-News raved "time traveling teen pop culture comedy
Detention is a runaway freight train of frenetic energy!" Renn Brown of CHUD said "
Detention may very well be completely brilliant (5 of 5 stars)." Kevin Sommerfield from Slasher Studios also gave it a glowing review stating the film "is
Scream meets
Scott Pilgrim with a dash or two of
Kaboom, it makes for one wild cocktail." ==References==