After the dire averageness that was Christopher Smith's debut horror movie Creep, my expectations were pretty low for his follow up Severance. Fortunately, with an inspired (mostly) British cast, a witty script and (rarely) a measured balance of humour and horror, Severance is a triumph.
A group of office workers go to 'somewhere in eastern Europe' for a team building weekend. After finding their lodge is a s~~thole, the masked nutters turn up and it's fight for their lives. Pretty generic stuff. Fortunately the group are well wriiten and brought to life by a sparky Laura Harris, superior Toby Stephens, struggling Tim McInnerny and brown-noser David Gilliam. The legend that is Danny Dyer gets to be the most fun as the horny, foul mouthed, drug taking Steve.
Along with Dog Soldiers, The Descent, Shaun Of The Dead and 28 Days Later..Severance isproof that the Brits can deliver a powerful brand of horror that can rival what the Japanese, Koreans and French are doing these days. With added humour, of course(The decapitated head gag and wild bear gag get me every time.)
2 comments:
I love this movie. An almost perfect blend of horror, thriller and blackest of black humour that even manages some sly political and observational jabs. It is also wonderfully cast with some great actors working from a really good script. The gags are often surreal or just plain gross but are also usualy character based poking fun at office types we have often encountered in our working lives. I especially like Tim Mackinerny as the hopeless boss who is secretley intimidated by his often smarter underlings. And Danny Dyer is hilarious as the drug addles Steve. Great fun.
A fantastic film. Up there with the recent Dead Snow in terms of 'It's funny, but jesus that was scary" type way
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