Severance, the latest brit flick comedy/thriller/horror to hit our screens, has been described as a cross between 'The office' and 'Deliverance'. A comedy horror to follow on from the mega successes of Dog Soldiers and Shaun of The Dead is what Severance wants to be while sadly all it manages ... Read review
Another bloody office outing..... When weapons multi-national Palisade Defense reward ... more
their European sales division with a team-building weekend in the mountains of Eastern Europe the team fight first amongst themselves and later for survival against a group of war-crazed killers intent on revenge!
Postage & Packaging:£0.00 Availability:3-5 working days
Production Year: 2000 - Horror - Director: Keenen Ivory Wayans - Original Language: English - Classification: 18 years and over - Starring: Carmen Electra, Anna Faris, Kurt Fuller, James Van Der Beek, Keenen Ivory Wayans
Advantages: A couple of funny moments Disadvantages: Only a couple of funny moments.
...of The Dead is what Severance wants to be while sadly all it manages to do is to be a pale imitation of the two.
While the idea behind it is not too bad it is clichéd as hell and borrows from so many other films that it never really manages to form an identity of its own.
I was looking forward to this, the trailer and the press reviews made it sound as if it would be a very good mix of genres and would live up to my expectations. ... ...you.
Severance is the story of a group of Palisade Defense employees on a team building exercise in Hungary. They are a mixed bunch, though very atypical of groups in films. There is the drugged up comedian Steve (Danny Dyer - Football Factory), the arrogant know it all Harris (Toby Stephens - Die Another Day), the geek Gordon (Andy Nyman), the ineffectual team leader Richard (Tim McInnery - Black Adder, Notting Hill), the politically ... more
Severance, the latest brit flick comedy/thriller/horror to hit our screens, has been described as a cross between 'The office' and 'Deliverance'. A comedy horror to follow on from the mega successes of Dog Soldiers and Shaun of The Dead is what Severance wants to be while sadly all it manages to do is to be a pale imitation of the two. While the idea behind it is not too bad it is clichéd as hell and borrows from so many other films that it never really manages to form an identity of its own.
I was looking forward to this, the trailer and the press reviews made it sound as if it would be a very good mix of genres and would live up to my expectations. For me though the story did not have enough shocks to be a horror, enough thrills to be a thriller or enough comic moments to be a comedy! It is hard to pull off a good comedy horror mix and to do so you have to get right on the line between seriousness and parody, or at least treat the whole thing with a deadly seriousness. Playing the whole thing straight is what makes the comedy stand out amongst the craziness. Snakes On A Plane managed this, as did Slither and Shaun Of The Dead in recent times. The script in all of these plays it very very straight, letting the absurd situation the characters find themselves in bring in the horror and thrills, rather than trying to make you laugh, or trying too hard to scare you.
Severance is the story of a group of Palisade Defense employees on a team building exercise in Hungary. They are a mixed bunch, though very atypical of groups in films. There is the drugged up comedian Steve (Danny Dyer - Football Factory), the arrogant know it all Harris (Toby Stephens - Die Another Day), the geek Gordon (Andy Nyman), the ineffectual team leader Richard (Tim McInnery - Black Adder, Notting Hill), the politically correct woman Jill (Claudie Blakley - Gosford Park), the black assistant Billy (Babou Ceesay) and the good looking woman Maggie (Laura Harris - Dead Like Me & 24 series 2). All in all they are a right mixed bunch who you find it really hard to believe would ever remotely get on, let alone get themselves talked into going to a retreat together.
When they find the route to the lodge their boss has hired blocked by a fallen tree their coach driver refuses to take the other route, through the forest. The team elect to leave their vehicle and walk the short distance to their retreat. When they arrive at the lodge it doesn't look like the high-class establishment they were expecting. Arguments ensue about it being the right one but the security and warmth of four walls wins out and they decide to stay the night.
The next morning their nightmare begins when one of their band gets their leg caught in a bear trap and the group also sense that they are not alone, someone is out there… watching them.
There are some very good touches to Severance… a scene following the line 'I bet this is going to hurt' and the use of a rocket launcher both had me laughing out loud, as did a scene with Danny Dyer where he is leaning against a tree and something hits him in the face! The complete absurdity of the scene makes it not only surreal but very funny, sadly there are not that many more scenes of this quality in the film.
Overall though the film just doesn't hit its targets 90% of the time, it takes way too long to actually get going and the overall reasoning either isn't explained well enough or just doesn't make any sense at all. The copying of a scene last seen in Hostel and the back-stories to the lodge they make up at dinner are just so clichéd that they are just annoying and completely pointless padding as far as I was concerned. I was also very annoyed by a scene near the beginning with Steve that managed to ruin a later surprise, or what should have been a surprise anyway. Seeing as this was written and directed by Christopher Smith who's last film was the much derided 'The Creep' I guess I shouldn't have expected too much from this. The trailer and the recent excellence of the other Brit films of this ilk may make this seem worse than it actually is, I don't think so though, it just didn't scare me, make me laugh or even invest enough in the characters for me to care whether they lived or died.. It had potential but just doesn't really have a script to fulfil it. The main problem for me was that it didn't really know what it wanted to be, or didn't really focus enough on the any of the genres to excel at any of them.
The best way I can explain the awfulness of this is that I went with a couple of mates who thought it was as awful as I did. In fact we thought we had wasted an afternoon and my mates main comment afterwards was along the lines of… 'I'm so glad we didn't have to pay to see that!'
Advantages: Snappy direction, scripting and funny performances Disadvantages: Won't be everyone's cup of tea
A group of businesspeople from an arms company set off into the Hungarian woods for a weekend of corporate team building exercises. Soon they are lost in the forest and the coach driver's disappeared with their only means of escape. But their games of paintball take a turn for the worse when it becomes apparent that they aren't alone in the forest and their opponent is playing war games for real. With night falling and the unseen enemy closing in, ... ...Christopher Smith's debut lacked; humour, real scares, decent actors and characters you can actually care about. It is the best British horror comedy (not that there are that many of them) since "Shaun of the Dead". Smith seems to have learnt an awful lot since his first movie and puts everything into practise in his sophomore effort. He begins with a situation the audience can relate to, populating the story with easily recognisable archetypes. ...
afy9mab 09.10.2006
· Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Severance (DVD)
Advantages: silly humour Disadvantages: silly humour, overly gory, not the spoof its trying to be
...consistently, whereas the laughs in Severance were mainly down to only two characters, Gordon the Geek and junkie Steve. Having said that, nitpickers would have a field day with this film, example: Essex boy Steve basically took most known drugs in this film and was generally off his face throughout- I suppose this was written to make him funnier, but do you really think an employee would be so obvious about his habits on a work team-building weekend, ... ...in the film, and if you're into horrors and excessive violence, go for it, but really the film is full of clichés, bad jokes and unnecessary bloodiness- how it got past the censors with a mere '15' certificate is beyond me. I think it was written as a spoof, but never got quite funny enough to be properly classed as one.
The film IS amusing, but don't go along expecting it to be a piece of world class film-making, or a satirical masterpiece; it's ...
fabulous_girl 11.09.2006
· Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Severance (DVD)
Advantages: Black humor, Plausable plot, plenty of gore Disadvantages: Lacks depth, not scary, gore might not be a good thing for some people
Having watched Severance a few times now, iv decided not to try to put it in a box. You can't realy call it horror, because its not scary - but all the other elements are there. You can't realy call it comedy, because it doesnt go out of its way to get laughs - but it is one of the most blackly comic and satirical films iv seen in a very long time.
The very basic plot outline goes something like this: An office-full of British city types working ... ...Eyre.
So in conclusion, Severance is a well acted, well filmed, hilarious soon-to-be cult classic. With a lot in common, style-wise with Dog Soldiers, it is a monumental improvement on director Christopher Smith's last film, Creep, which realy isn't worth watching.
Every now and then we get a realy good british horror film. 28 Days Later, The Descent. Now Severance. And, as usual, it will probably never get the attention it deserves. ...
CombiChrist 08.10.2006
· Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Severance (DVD)
Advantages: Dark humour. Lots of laughing. Disadvantages: I can't think of any.
Have you ever had one of those weeks were nothing go right? Course you have. So in true tradition (at least for my house), the situation can only be remedied by getting in some cans, ordering an Indian to be deliveried, donning your most comfortable PJs and watching a DVD curled up on the sofa. Oh wait, I almost forgot the most important bit, closing the curtains and telling the problematic world to bugger off until tomorrow.
Having gone through ... ...what 'Severance' was all about...my uncle had let me have it for the night, but it the wrong case, so I had no clues. 'Severance' implied blood, gore and ooze, which I didn't mind...although I couldn't help wishing I had a comedy to light the mood.
I don't really want to discuss the actual content of the film because that spoils the film, and would mean you may as well just read this review instead of watching the film. Why would you do that when ...
RaLou85 09.07.2007
· Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: somewhat helpful Review of Severance (DVD)
Did you enjoy it?
Story
Characters / Performances
Special Effects
How does it compare to ...
Similar reviews »
Reviews which might be of interest for "Severance (DVD)"
Advantages: Good british film with excellent british actors, a lot of suspense in some parts! Disadvantages: Danny Dyer just doesn't suit this role at all!
.
The film is very very gruesome so be warned! I was shocked at the 15 guideline, but thats the UK for you!
Not a big fan of extras myself but the ones on the DVD are not bad at all, a few documentaries, commentary with the director cast and crew, deleted scenes and outtakes, a couple of danny dyer features too, not bad for 12quid! ...
Advantages: Some quite gory horror Disadvantages: The whole movie pretty much.
Commando was the best movie he had ever seen. Upon the movie wrapping up, we all had similar views; Severance would appeal to someone who has lived in a cave, or to be more derogatory "the lowest common denominator" (I'll be interest to see the scathing comments added to this ). Would I watch Severance again? I'd sooner masturbate with a nail filled glove!
I watched the rental version of the DVD which featured a scattering of trailers. This was rented from Blockbuster as part of an all in package by one of my fellow viewers. there is of course a retail version which you can purchase from Play.com for £11.99 this features the below special features; which obviously I cannot comment on and am in no hurry to make a purchase just to review them.
Audio commentary from director Christopher Smith, writer James Moran, production designer John ...
sghawken 06.02.2007
· Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Severance (DVD)
![Severance [DVD] [2006]](http://picnicb.ciao.com/uk/78191431.jpg "Severance [DVD] [2006]")
![Severance Dvd [2006] | Blakley Sealed Free Uk P&p](http://picnica.ciao.com/uk/127802358.jpg "Severance Dvd [2006] | Blakley Sealed Free Uk P&p")
![Severance [DVD] [2006] [Region 1] [US Import] [NTSC]](http://picnicb.ciao.com/uk/83353197.jpg "Severance [DVD] [2006] [Region 1] [US Import] [NTSC]")
![Bruckner: Symphony No.7 (Live Recording From The Severance Hall; Cleveland; 2008) [DVD] [NTSC]](http://picnica.ciao.com/uk/105908524.jpg "Bruckner: Symphony No.7 (Live Recording From The Severance Hall; Cleveland; 2008) [DVD] [NTSC]")
![Severance [umd Mini For Psp] [2006] Dvd | Blakley](http://picnicb.ciao.com/uk/127712779.jpg "Severance [umd Mini For Psp] [2006] Dvd | Blakley")
