Still from SEVERANCE.
© Magnolia Pictures
Mania Grade: A-
Reviewed Format: Theatrical Release
Rated: R
Stars: Danny Dyer, Laura Harris, Tim McInnerny, Toby Stephens, Claudie Blakley, Andy Nyman, Babou Ceesay
Writers: Christopher Smith & James Moran
Director: Christopher Smith
Distributor: Magnolia Pictures
Reviewed Format: Theatrical Release
Rated: R
Stars: Danny Dyer, Laura Harris, Tim McInnerny, Toby Stephens, Claudie Blakley, Andy Nyman, Babou Ceesay
Writers: Christopher Smith & James Moran
Director: Christopher Smith
Distributor: Magnolia Pictures
SEVERANCE
By: Rachel ReitsleffReview Date: Friday, May 25, 2007
When two seemingly unrelated genres are brought together by people who know and love both, the results can be wonderful. They certainly are in Severance, which is rather like what would happen if the characters from the British version of The Office worked for a multinational weapons company and wound up being terrorized in the middle of nowhere by the likes of Jason Voorhees or Michael Myers.
The set-up is deceptively simple. After a pretty hairy opening that will fully make sense later on, we’re introduced to seven employees of Palisade Defense, who are off on a weekend bonding expedition that many of them are understandably not too thrilled about. They’re supposed to be staying at a luxury hotel, but the accommodations turn out to be a bit ratty and there’s a strange lack of staff. Nevertheless, they set out to do the requisite games, amidst the office politics, and it’s not until carnage actually ensues that they realize something is very wrong. Then things get grislier, scarier – and funnier, because all of these people remain pretty much who they are even in the face of real terror.
There may not be anything exactly like Severance out there – Peter Jackson’s pre-Rings horror is more broadly funny, and most slasher films have nothing remotely resembling this kind of characterization. Director/co-writer Christopher Smith and writer James Moran have come up with a set of individuals who could easily populate a watchable weekly TV series, while at the same time pulling out the stops when it comes to bloody predicaments – which are sometimes simultaneously hilarious and horrifying, like a sequence in which the office mates attempt to free one of their own from a trap and wind up making things worse and worse (and then try to deal pragmatically with the end results).
Smith has a really sure grasp of tone, keeping it dry enough for the segues into straight-out fear to be smooth and unpredictable enough for us to honestly wonder who will come out on top here. He’s also got a first-rate cast, with Blackadder’s Tim McInnerny as the team leader, Toby Stephens as the subordinate who would dearly love to climb the ladder higher, Laura Harris as a tough-minded weapons expert and Danny Dyer as a surprisingly coherent drug user.
If you like either British office comedies or horror movies about people being menaced in isolated woodland surroundings, Severance is for you. If you like both, the recommendation goes double.
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