SEVERANCE (2006) movie review

Severance (2006) d. Smith, Christopher (UK)

Finally, a horror film the entire cubicle crowd can appreciate, one that doles out the laughter and splatter in equal measure. When a team-building weekend for the sales division of weapons company Palisade Defence in the mountains of Eastern Europe goes horribly wrong, the results pay off in rich dividends for gore-loving genre aficionados.

Director/co-writer Christopher Smith, who also dreamed up 2005’s claustrophobic subway-dwelling creature feature Creep, nimbly balances dry, outrageous Brit-styled humor and solid, nail-biting tension, with plenty of hemoglobin splashed around when the occasion calls for it. After dodging paintballs and unscheduled bear appearances, the white-collar hijinks take a turn for the worse when they become the targets of a group of crazed killers who will stop at nothing to see them spiked and skewered.

By turns hilarious and horrifying, Smith never lets the momentum ebb and is aided in his task by a brilliant ensemble of witty, winning and whining weekend warriors, including Danny Dyer, Tim McInnerny, Laura Harris, Toby Stephens and newcomer Babou Ceesay. And, as their faces are likely unfamiliar to most Yankee viewers, the guessing game of who will survive the dark night is joyously unpredictable, as Smith shows no discrimination between the “types” and the “heroes” when it comes time to thin the herd. Recommended.