I don’t normally watch horror films, but I knew that “Severance” was a British film, and played for comedic effect. It also only has a 15 rating, so I figured that it wouldn’t be that scary. I was right; there is a fair amount of gore in this film, but I didn’t find it scary. As the name suggests, ... 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 agains...
Postage & Packaging: £0.00 Availability: 3-5 working days
Following a boom in military arms sales, the team at Palisade Defence are rewarded with a ... more
team-building weekend in the wilds of Eastern Europe. But what begins as a corporate jolly rapidly descends into a deadly nightmare as they are pitched into a ter...
Advantages: It's funny... Disadvantages: ...in a really sick way. Only 90mins long.
I don’t normally watch horror films, but I knew that “Severance” was a British film, and played for comedic effect. It also only has a 15 rating, so I figured that it wouldn’t be that scary. I was right; there is a fair amount of gore in this film, but I didn’t find it scary. As the name suggests, the plot is plain vanilla madman-in-the-woods rather than anything supernatural.
After an initial gory taste of what is to follow, the film ... ...a “team building” exercise in the woods, somewhere in Eastern Europe. The seven main characters on board work for a defence company, Palisade, and have been on-tour promoting its products. Each of these characters is a parody of an “office type”: we have Richard, the cringe-making sales manager who uses clichéd expressions like “I can’t spell success without “u””, played by Tim McInnerny (most well known as Darling from Blackadder). Sucking up to ... more
I don’t normally watch horror films, but I knew that “Severance” was a British film, and played for comedic effect. It also only has a 15 rating, so I figured that it wouldn’t be that scary. I was right; there is a fair amount of gore in this film, but I didn’t find it scary. As the name suggests, the plot is plain vanilla madman-in-the-woods rather than anything supernatural.
After an initial gory taste of what is to follow, the film begins with a coach of British office workers heading to a “team building” exercise in the woods, somewhere in Eastern Europe. The seven main characters on board work for a defence company, Palisade, and have been on-tour promoting its products. Each of these characters is a parody of an “office type”: we have Richard, the cringe-making sales manager who uses clichéd expressions like “I can’t spell success without “u””, played by Tim McInnerny (most well known as Darling from Blackadder). Sucking up to him is Gordon, the over-enthusiastic office nerd, clutching his clipboard and anxious to organise the weekend’s proceedings. Joining him in nerd corner is the bespectacled Jill, the ever-so-slightly-conflicted politically correct weapons designer. We also have Billy the Nice Guy, Harris the conceited Sales Executive, Maggie the cool blonde American and Steve, the drug-taking IT slacker, played by Danny Dyer. At first I thought that these characterisations were very two-dimensional and obvious and would put me off the film, but they do work in the sense that they instantly set up the relationships between the characters without the need for too much further explanation. Most of the comedy in the early part of the film is based on the witty dialogue between the members of the group, so it’s essential that you are able to buy into this.
A fallen tree blocks the coach’s progress but the driver refuses to take them on a detour through the woods, so the group set off on foot to “their” lodge. An exploration after arrival unearths some old files marked with the Pallisade logo, and the group sit around the dinner table discussing urban legends about the site’s history. After one of the group discovers a tooth in the pie they are eating, they finally realise that something is not quite right.
What follows is essentially a splatter movie, as the group get picked off one by one, but with lots of humour and reference to other horror movies / movie folklore, in the style of “Scary Movie”. I especially liked the use of Billy’s “I’ll be right back” (and no, what follows is not what you expect) and you just know that that discussion between Harris and Jill about whether the guillotine was humane or not – with Harris insisting that the brain continues to function for a couple of minutes - is leading somewhere (not least to the title of this review). Despite the absurdity of any horror film, this one does actually manage to have a half credible (if political) motivation for the killer, which I enjoyed. There were several moments that made me jump, and the suspense is maintained well, although I wouldn’t say that it scared me per se. The film manages to introduce some additional targets, courtesy of two hookers and another company employee, but only lasts for 90 minutes in total, which seemed quite short. Overall, it kept me entertained although I probably wouldn’t rush to watch it again. Worth a watch, although think twice if you work for BAE or Thales.
Advantages: It ends Disadvantages: It does not end soon enough
...the back of Hostel's popularity. Severance is a dreadfully overlong story that's plot is so familiar, even to someone that does not watch horror movies. DRAB, is a good word. If Channel Five made movies, this would be it! The movie delivers nothing new, and frequently has unusual pauses like the movie is about to swing into a commercial break. No explanation is ever offered either, for pretty much anything. Why are they on this team building weekend? ... ...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 interested to see the scathing comments added to this). Would I watch Severance again? I'd sooner masturbate with a nail filled glove, twice in fact! I can't advise anyone to watch this; though I'm sure some Danny Dyer completist will rush out and see this as if it were part of a shopping list of bad ...
sghawken 03.10.2007
· Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Severance (DVD)
Advantages: Watchable, funny, and quite gory Disadvantages: Slow in parts
I like British films. It sounds like I should be saying that in a self-help group…I’m Jayne and I like British films, and then some bloke with a beard and leather patches on his tweed jacket will congratulate me in making the first step towards recovery.
Anyway, there we are, I like British flims and I like Danny Dyer. Yes, he’s a cockney wide-boy who plays a similar character in almost every film he’s been in, including The Football Factory and ... ...actor.
I had high expectations of this film. It was billed as Deliverance meets The Office, and while it didn’t quite live up to these expectations, it was, as Barrymore would say, “Alwight”.
The film was directed by Chistopher Smith, and you have to admire the way that comedy (and there are some very funny lines courtesy of Dyer) has been worked into what is, as times, a scary and gruesome film.
This film has all the ingredients of a good horror ...
JaynieMo 25.04.2007 (03.05.2007)
· Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Severance (DVD)
Advantages: Good black British humour Disadvantages: Special effects are sometimes too realistic!
A team of workers for a weapons company are sent on a team-building course in Hungary. On arrival at a lodge in the middle of a forest, they are slightly freaked to find that, far from being the luxury accommodation they were expecting, they have to stay in a creepy building with just a few basic facilities. Things take a turn for the worse the next day when two of them find their coach driver dead and another one loses his leg to a bear trap - one ... ...the coach, they crash and are forced to face the fact that someone doesn't want them to go...alive, that is. But who is trying to kill them, and why? Will any of them escape alive?
As a team of seven, it is would be very difficult to mention the performance of some of them and not the others, so bear with me while I go through them. As team leader, Richard, Tim McInnery is one of my favourite characters. I've loved his acting since the Blackadder ...
sunmeilan 08.11.2007
· Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Severance (DVD)
Advantages: funny, light-hearted, good SFX, Tim Mcinnery is good, solid direction Disadvantages: pretty formulaic
Released in 2006, Severance is a British-made horror comedy in which a group of office workers working for a big defence company specialising in military hardware go on a corporate team-building trip via coach to a remote location in the Hungarian mountains. They end up taking a wrong turn however, and find themselves being mercilessly hunted down and killed one-by-one by a group of deranged and heavily armed Russian war criminals. The film contains ... ...Severance is hardly the funniest or most original horror film out there, but with a decent cast, amusing story and good, over-the-top SFX it remains entertaining throughout and is well worth a watch. Summary: A entertaining horror-comedy that will appeal to fans of Shaun of the Dead ...
Burning_Darkness 02.11.2009
· Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Severance (DVD)
Advantages: Danny Dyer, funny, good cast Disadvantages: weak plot, predictacble
This is a review of the film only.
I this was one of my choices from the dvd subscription I have.
Synopsis
Working nine to five is a real killer, but when you work for Palisade Defence, team-building holidays can be even worse. Seven colleagues find themselves faced with the chop when their corporate weekend is sabotaged by a deadly enemy. Forget office politics, only the smartest will survive this office outing.
Story
Seven colleagues (Harris, ... ...Palisade Defence ( a weapons company) are on a team building exercise, on their way to there destination (a luxury lodge in the Hungarian Forest) a tree blocks their path and the coach driver refuses to take them by an alternative route. They team get off the coach as the only way of getting there now is on foot.. When they reach the lodge it's anything but luxurious and they suspect they may have the wrong place especially as George (the owner of ...
hollywoodmum 01.10.2007 (05.10.2007)
· Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: very 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: 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)
Advantages: silly humour Disadvantages: silly humour, overly gory, not the spoof its trying to be
Bargain Tuesday is a great thing at Cineworld, £4.20 to watch any film that would cost you an alarming £7-odd quid at the weekend. This week, I went with my boyfriend to watch Severance, a new British Comedy Horror film by Chistopher Smith, who previously wrote and directed Creep.
A group of peeps working for a weapons distributor are on a coach in Hungary travelling to a luxury lodge owned by their employer, who has sent them there on a team building weekend. There's overenthusiatic uber-geek Gordon, wideboy Steve, sexy American Maggie, prim and proper Jill, public school playboy Harris and Billy, the clever quiet one. The group is led by stubborn Brent-esque manager Richard. They are travelling towards the lodge when the driver stops abruptly as he finds a tree blocking the road. Richard tries to use his management prowess to ...
fabulous_girl 11.09.2006
· Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Severance (DVD)
Advantages: A couple of funny moments Disadvantages: Only a couple of funny moments.
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 ...
Seven colleagues from Palisade Defence embark on a team-building weekend away in Hungary only to find their holiday being sabotaged by a mysterious enemy.
Release details
DVD Region
DVD
Studio(s)
PATHE DISTRIBUTION; 20TH CENTURY FOX HOME ENTERTAINMENT
Audio commentary by Christopher Smith, James Moran, John Frankish, Danny Dyer, Tim McInnerny, Babou Ceesay, and Andy Nyman, Deleted scenes with optional commentary, Making of SEVERENCE featurette, Being Danny Dyer featurette, Not So Special Effects featurette, The Genesis of Severance featurette, The Coach featurette, Outtakes, Easter Egg - Nadia and Olga interview, The Bearpit animatics, Palisade corporate video, Alternate ending storyboard, UK theatrical trailer
Aspect Ratio
2.35 Wide Screen
Sound
Dolby Digital 5.1
Professional reviews
Review
Brilliant horror-comedy... the gags are laugh-out-loud. (FHM, 01/12/2006)
The best British horror-comedy you'll see this year. (Loaded, 01/12/2006)
DVD Description
Seven colleagues from Palisade Defence embark on a team-building weekend away in Hungary only to find their holiday being sabotaged by a mysterious enemy. A motley group of employees from the company find themselves abandoned in a spooky forest when their coach driver refuses to continue to their destination. The group includes sycophantic manager Richard (Tim McInnerny, Darling in BLACKADDER), driven supervisor Maggie (Laura Harris, 24), and drug-taking joker Steve (Danny Dyer, THE BUSINESS). The septet quickly get lost. After taking some Mexican magic mushrooms, Steve swears that a balaclava-clad man crept up on him. Maggie dismisses Steve's alarm as a side-effect of the hallucinogenic drugs. The group come across an unwelcoming concrete building and decide to set up base there. When one of the group discovers a room filled with files in Russian and stamped with a logo similar to Palisade's, a number of conspiracy theories are suggested. When members of the group start being tracked down by an enemy intent on violence, the group realise that one of the theories may not be so ludicrous. The first half of SEVERANCE is played as a straight comedy, making an initial impression that the film is trying to be a holiday special of THE OFFICE, albeit with broader characterisation. Much like HOSTEL, the film switches half way through and becomes a bloody and gory horror film. Christopher Smith--who made the terrifying CREEP--has made a film that is not only packed full of humour but also features some inventively nasty scenes of bloodshed.
![Severance [DVD] [2006]](http://picnicb.ciao.com/uk/78191431.jpg)
![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")
