Severance
Rated: R
Runtime: 1 hour, 30 minutes
Directed by: Christopher Smith
Starring:
Danny Dyer - Steve
Laura Harris - Maggie
Tim McInnerny - Richard
Tony Stephens - Harris
Claudie Blakley - Jill
Andy Nyman - Gordon
Babou Ceesay - Billy
Horror-comedy really doesn’t get much better than Severance, a film about the dangers of team-building weekend and corporate retreats. But it’s rated R, delivers geuine thrills, and is made for people that like to have a good time at the movies instead of pre-teens that think they might be watching something scary or stunted man-children who just want to see borderline snuff-films in order to compensate for their own lack of power. If it sounds like I’m harshly judging a group of stereotypes, it’s because I am. I feel like the horror films which cater to these groups are hurting the genre and clever films like Severance would be its salvation if only it could find an audience.
While the intro to the film lets you know exactly what kind of film you’re about to see: a corporate type is running for his life and refusing to save two busty beauties who are stuck in a pit and stripping so they can tie their garments together and use their clothes-rope to escape. The film then lets you see the grisly fate of the douchebag exec before cutting to the film’s core cast. Severance takes its time in building its seven lead characters so that while you may not fall in love with them or quote them like the gang from Shaun of the Dead, they’re certainly likable enough so that you’ll be rooting for them to live rather than just rooting for a bloody good death (although the film certainly has those as well).
The film also pokes fun at its horror sub-set: the slasher film as the group discovers that they’re in lodge that used to be an insane asylum…where the inmates were murdered…and Eastern European psychos inhabited it…and they were mostly murdered…by the company the group works for. It’s ridiculous and weird the film revels in it. While films that go crazy seem to only do so when its convienent for the comedy and thus leaving the rest of the film feeling dry, co-writer and director Christopher Smith keeps everything lively with a frenetic tone and pacing that always leaves the film fun and tense while expertly weaving in some deadpan sight gags so that the film never becomes a seizure-inducing headache.
Sadly, Severance, being from Britain (although it does feature American Laura Harris who played "Daisy, Daisy Adair" in Dead Like Me) and choosing to be good rather than be popular probably won’t find its audience till it hits DVD. But if the film opens wide enough to where its playing at a theatre near you, make sure to catch it like a bear trap to the shin.
Words by
Matt Goldberg
5.25.07