Severance
Take a bunch of stock British sitcom characters and put them in a horror movie, that’s the basic concept behind Christopher Smith’s new horror comedy.
After an opening sequence that features a man and two beautiful women being chased through some woods by an unknown assailant we’re introduced to our main cast. The sales team of a multi-national weapons manufacturer are on their way to a luxury lodge in
Eastern Europe for a team building exercise. Following a disagreement with their non-English speaking coach driver, they find themselves abandoned by the roadside. Deciding to walk the rest of the way they end up at what Richard, the team leader assumes at first to be the lodge but it is anything but luxurious.
For most of this first half hour, with the exception of the film’s first scene that seems to be there to let you know this is, in fact, a horror movie, the film plays very much like a standard sitcom and an average one at that. But thankfully things take a darker turn as they realise that, not only is this not their planned destination, but there’s someone out in the woods who may be trying to kill them.
This is where the film finds its feet, as it marries graphic violence with side splitting black humour, and this is a very violent film make no mistake about it. Many of the cast meet extremely unpleasant ends, but then that’s one of the film’s charms. How many TV comedies have you seen where you wish the cast would all die horribly? I know I’ve seen a few, and this film gives you the pleasure of seeing such people meet a sticky end.
Tim McInnerny is annoying as Richard the boss who no one respects and the same can be said of Andy Nyman as Gordon, the everything by the book sort (very Gordon Brittas) but that’s probably deliberate. Toby Stephens (the villain from Die Another Day) tries hard but has to little to work with as the cocky handsome know-it-all. Only Danny Dyer and Laura Harris rise above their stereotypes as the ‘diamond geezer’ and ‘ice queen’ respectively. Dyer, who starred in last year’s British gangster film The Business provides most of the laughs although he has his fair share of gruesome moments too. Harris, whose most memorable roles have been on TV in 24 and Dead Like Me, makes an excellent action heroine, turning the conventional ’scream queen’ part on its head and getting some laughs of her own in the process.
Considering this is only his second film as director, Christopher Smith does an excellent job. Comedy horror is always a hard balancing act as it’s easy to stray too far either way, yet Smith pulls it off like a master. He’s come a long way since his first film, the average and uninspired Creep and I’d say he now stands at the forefront of British horror directors alongside Neil Marshall (Dog Soldiers, The Descent.) Here he’s made the film that Hostel wanted to be, unrelentingly unpleasant while also roll in the aisles funny. This film should be required viewing for Eli Roth before anyone lets him loose with a camera again.
This is sure to become a cult favourite and for those who’ve seen it the mere mention of ‘the knife scene’ or ‘the bit with the plane’ will be enough to raise a smile or even outright laughter while everyone else will just look bemused. So if you don’t want to be left out in the cold get down to the cinema now, you won’t regret it. It’ll be the most fun you’ve had being scared for a long time.
