Detention

Set in Taiwan in 1962, during the White Terror martial law period, teenage student Fang and a classmate visit their high school after dark to try and solve the disappearance of their friends and teachers who founded an illegal book club. Plagued by strange visions and pursued by horrific creatures, Fang begins to suspect she may have had a role in the disappearance of her schoolmates. Adapted from the eponymous video game, Detention combines psychological horror and historical political drama to make Taiwan’s repression tangible and remind us how precious democratic freedom is.

Always interested in digital culture, video games, comedy and sci-fi genres, John Hsu Han-Chiang won the Best Director Award at the Golden Bell Awards 2005, the biggest television award in Taiwan, with his TV movie debut Real Online.

‘As a video game player, the spooky visual effects and the heartbreaking story of the video game Detention exerted such a strong long-lasting impact on me. Since then I had been hoping to turn it into a movie and to move the hearts of a larger audience with it. Aiming to be faithful to the original story, I enhanced its distinctive visual design and the emotions it conveyed, transforming it into a unique thriller both in terms of the story and the style.’

John Hsu, Director