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| Credits |
Director: Christopher Smith
Starring: Danny Dyer, Laura Harris, Tim McInnerny, Toby Stephens, Claudie Blakley, Andy Nyman
Screenplay: James Moran, Christopher Smith
Country: UK
Duration: 96 minutes |
By
director Chris Smith's own admission, his 2004 old-school
horror debut Creep was an ode to
the guilty pleasures of the video nasty era. His
latest flick ups the ante by blending some seriously
messy gore with genuinely funny ultra-black comedy.
Severance pits a global munitions
company sales team against a foe that kills them
using their own products. The team are on a reluctant
training exercise deep in the Hungarian forests
when they are abandoned by a disgruntled bus driver
and forced to spend the night in a former insane
asylum.
Horror movie fans will know that this is never
a good sign. More ill portents appear; a pie they
think has been left as a welcoming gesture is
found to contain human teeth, the cellar is crammed
with files about Serbian war criminals, and a
mask-wearing prowler is spotted peering through
the windows.
While two of the group head off to find help,
their prat of a manager insists that the other
staff members get on with the team building exercise.
He promptly organises a game of paintball, and
soon the hills are alive with the sound of screaming
as the team encounter various death traps littering
the woods.
Then the fun really begins.
Anyone who has ever worked in an office will
enjoy the subtle-as-a-brick characterisations:
an accident-prone health and safety officer, a
manager who quotes business jargon in the face
of death, a right-on designer who is developing
humane weapons that don't actually kill, a stoner
junior officer who refuses to accept responsibility
even when working for a company that trades in
death...
Severance begins like a standard
slasher movie, veers into Office Space territory and swings back for a grim final reel
of gore soaked brutality, all of which is heavily
laced with dark humour that wouldn't be out of
place in some of Peter Jackson's early films -
like the character who loses a leg in a bear trap
and is given ecstasy in lieu of morphine, or the
poor sod who hobbles around with an eight inch
hunting knife wedged in his arse before falling
flat on his backside. Owch! And speaking of Jackson, Severance also boasts one of
the best gags involving a rocket launcher since Bad Taste's sheep-destroying
mishap.
 On the minus side, the origin of the foe that
they face is never really made clear, something
that I found mildly irritating - maybe Smith is
saving this for the sequel?
Featuring familiar faces from the likes of 24 and Blackadder, Severance is great fun and further evidence that the UK
is enjoying a fresh boom in decent horror fare. |
