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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, how will they survive?
"Severance" has everything "Creep" director 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. You'll find yourself cringing at the cheesy corporate video and management speak if you've ever worked for a big company. He doesn't shoot his bolt too early and keeps the killer a shadowy presence until the final half hour. The pacing is solid throughout allowing you to get to know the characters for the first half-hour and then bonding with them in their peril through the second third before the crunch comes in the final act. This makes for a taut ninety-six minutes. He sticks to a muted palette that keeps the background shadowy enough to hide potential bad guys and uses bleached-out footage as a sort of killer's eye view effect. He builds tension effectively, giving the audience plenty of glimpses of the assailant. This leads to comic situations where we see members of the group
being dragged off in the background while the characters in the foreground are entirely unaware. This is one example of how he builds suspense only to puncture it with humour, giving the audience a breather before sneaking up on them with a real scare.
Unlike his horror debut, Smith no longer feels the need to spell everything out, crediting the viewer with more intelligence and allowing them to join the dots. So with many of the gags you see the set-up and outcome, but not necessarily the pay-off. And because the human imagination is infinitely resourceful, your own version of it is probably funnier than Smith could make it. The director has also learnt the trick of comic excess; letting his characters go further than they need to just for laughs. Allowing the audience to use its imagination helps in terms of horror too - as cast members suffer grisly deaths, we are tricked into believing we've seen more than we actually have. Most of the fatalities occur off-screen with suitably gory sound effects, shocked expressions and splashes of claret. The nastiest thing we actually see is a man getting caught in a bear trap; the horror of which is offset by the prolonged comedy of his colleagues' ineptitude at releasing him. This time around Smith isn't taking everything so seriously as his flashback vignettes of different possible uses for the lodge in the woods show. Each is shot in a different style from the German expressionist silent movie stylings of the asylum idea to the documentary handheld video war criminals theory to the sex hospital skin flick. The finale is an amusing dig at eighties action movies, complete with bare-breasted women toting guns.
The screenplay by Smith and James Moran sticks to a fairly basic horror story format. It introduces the characters as a group of office stereotypes (the toff, the sycophantic boss, the career woman, the geek, the mousy secretary, the slacker and the token ethnic minority) belonging to a corporate bogeyman (the arms industry). It then pits them against a seemingly unstoppable assailant, who is undoubtedly the product of their company's labours. And unlike Smith's previous film, he and Moran never make the mistake of trying to explain the killer's motivations. It's then a case of who will die when and how and if any of them will survive. The writer and director separate the group, making them easier targets for the killer. Cue lots of inventive, gory deaths.
Where it diverges from the usual horror template is in its use of humour. For every nasty moment, there is a dash of inky black comedy that tends a little towards the sick. So you get Steve high as a kite, paranoid and being led around on the end of a bit of string for his own safety. One cast member gets decapitated, but at least it vindicates their belief in a story about Marie Antoinette. Then there's an example of the worst possible time to be put on hold with only tinny music for company. However, it is difficult to figure out where Steve fits into the working group. He doesn't appear to have any kind of purpose as far as the corporation is concerned, so it's unclear why he's there (unless they're required by law to have a stoner on the bus). The dialogue is very funny and quickfire, rattling off one-liners at every turn and even making such mundane comments as "You found a pie?!?" chucklesome. The pacing is tight and there is little fat on the script, keeping the watcher entertained throughout.
The cast is made up of a host of familiar faces from British TV and film, with a sprinkling of newcomers. I get the impression that Danny Dyer is just playing a heightened version of himself as loveable stoner Steve. He's a gobby geezer prone to paranoia when under the influence and forever swearing. But he's likeable enough, which is a good job considering he's the main focus of the movie. He's also got great comic timing and manages to hit each line just right.
Canadian actress Laura Harris goes from no-nonsense businesswoman to action heroine during the film and she's pretty much top of the tree when it comes to playing gun-wielding women. She's harsh, funny and really hard and in her we may have found Sigourney Weaver's successor.
Tim McInnery still has shades of Percy from "Blackadder" about him as sycophantic manager Richard. He's an over-zealous bumbler able to dig himself into the deepest of holes. Just watch as he tries to compliment Maggie, only to find himself almost sexually harassing her. Toby Stephens has made a career of playing public school-educated snots and Harris is more of the same. He's unbearably smug and snide and swaggers about the screen. But at times he lets his guard down and becomes almost human, suggesting a softer side. Andy Nyman is fantastic value as safety officer Gordon. He comes across as a terminally cheerful scoutmaster type. He's essentially a comedy stooge but commits himself so fully to the role that you can't help but love him as he blunders into yet another situation. Claudie Blakley gets the thin end of the wedge as Jill, who doesn't have much to do other than act as cannon fodder. Babou Ceesay makes a solid film debut as Billy, proving a likeable character that you really don't want to die.
Christian Henson provides an eclectic score that goes through English Light Orchestral tunes, creepy horror string arrangements and jangling balalaikas to set the nerves on edge, reverberating percussion and eerie vocals and unsettling juddering windy soundscapes. It's an appropriate accompaniment to the action that is contrasted with the ludicrously upbeat "Itchycoo Park", Cameo's "Word Up" and a skanky version of "We'll Meet Again".
The effects throughout aren't as gory as you might expect. But they are effective - particularly a fake dismembered leg that looks just like the real thing, right down to the hair texture and skin tone. The blood is a decent consistency and there's an adequate though not excessive amount on display. There are some biggish pyrotechnics and one sequence that involves a malfunctioning rocket launcher is a joy of simple CGI.
"Severance" is a shot in the arm for the British film industry, showing that there is a depth of directing, acting and writing talent. Or it will as long as writer-director Smith continues in the same vein, rather than reverting to the self-indulgent excesses of "Creep". It is funny, dark, sick and sometimes crude. But if you like your horror comic, it will be right up your street. It certainly made me jump and nearly choke on my popcorn from laughing.
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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
I have seen Severance and I really enjoyed it! Great review... Darren
cladach29 09.10.2006 15:19
great review- horror comedy is a style that's very hard to pull off successfully. "Shaun of the Dead" and the "Evil Dead" films managed it and maybe this one too- i'll have to go and check it out. -Rob
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!
tonyanwas 16.01.2007 ·
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Review of Severance (DVD)
![Severance [DVD] [2006]](http://picnicb.ciao.com/uk/78191431.jpg "Severance [DVD] [2006]")
Oct 9th, 2006
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