After early attempts at break-out films with the Journey series and **The Vampire's Assistant **(not to mention narrowly missing out on Spider-Man), Josh Hutcherson finally struck franchise gold in The Hunger Games. Before that, however, he made the teen slasher comedy Detention, the trailer for which, with impeccable timing, has just arrived.
The film sees Hutcherson as the amusingly-named Clapton, who's waiting out high school and not getting anywhere with cheerleader Spencer Locke. Life gets slightly more exciting when serial killer Cinderhella starts offing his classmates. Fearing a bloodbath on prom night (he's obviously watched the right movies), principal Dane Cook (huh?) decides to keep anyone he considers a suspect in detention during the whole of the festivities. Which of course means that they need to escape if they're going to save the world/school.
Writer/director Joseph Kahn obviously knows the slasher genre inside out, but there's also a healthy dose of Breakfast Club in here, and even a joke about Torque (one of Kahn's less proud previous moments). But what the trailer keeps more-or-less hidden for later is the scale of the adventure that the detainees embark on. There's apparently some time-travelling involved, and keep an eye out for a quick glimpse of what looks suspiciously like a flying saucer.
Debuting at last year's SXSW, Detention has picked up several accolades in the twelve months since, including the Biggest Surprise Award at London's FrightFest. There's no UK release date yet, but it gets its full release in the States on April 13. Hutcherson's Hunger Games presence can't hurt its chances at the box office.