The sales division of the multi-national weapons company Palisade Defense go on a team-building weekend in the mountains of Eastern Europe. They take a detour to get to where they're supposed to stay, but soon people from the group start to end up dead becuase of a small war-crazed Eastern European army who will stop at nothing to see the English tourists dead. Now they have to fight for survival in order to get out alive.
There has been talk about Severance being the new Shaun of the Dead, and while they might have a few things in common (both from the UK, mixing horror with comedy) they're also quite different from one another. Although, I think that if you enjoyed the humour in Shaun, you'll definitely have a good time watching Severance as well. This flick does not deal with zombies though, but instead an army of war-crazed Eastern Europeans who will stop at nothing to see a group of English tourists dead. Even though I think Shaun was a better flick, Severance had much more to offer on the gore-front and I can honestly say that this is the type of flick that can (and will) be watched many more times in the near future, so maybe it'll grow on you and become even better, who knows? Anyway, Severance kicked a lot of ass the first time watching it so this is actually one of few times it's all right to believe the hype.
We're introduced to a sales division team working for a multinational weapons corporation who are on a team building exercise in Hungary. They seem to have enough trouble with each other as it is, but that's really nothing compared to what's about to come. When searching for their accommodation, which is supposed to have some luxury to it, they decide to take a detour in order to find it. The Eastern European guy driving the bus doesn't like the idea of the detour that is suggested, and when the team takes a short break, the driver takes of with the bus, leaving the team stranded in the middle of nowhere. They soon find their accommodation though, but it's far from as grand as it was supposed to be and some members of the team even doubt if they're at the right place. Nevertheless, they stay there for a while in order to sort things out, but soon they find themselves running for their lives when a merciless small Eastern European army is out to get them.
 
One thing that I was really impressed with was how well Severance combined horror and comedy. This is a really tricky thing to do for both of it to work, but for most of the time, it works truly well. Although, it's mostly fun early on when all the focus is on the comedy, later it kinda switches over and starts to deliver full-on horror and gore. It has a slight Wrong Turn feel to it, not that it deals with mutants, but for the fact that people are being chased around in a forest in the middle of nowhere, and also for the gore, violence etc. It's not similar to Shaun of the Dead at all really since the movies deal with totally different things, although the British humour works wonders in both flicks. But humour and gore is not all that Severance has to offer, it also delivers a great deal of tension and some scenes are, if not really nail-biting, at least pretty intense from a horror point of view.
The story is very simple, yet intriguing and will keep you on the edge of your seat with a few breaks for laughs every now and then. The acting is excellent and all the actors do a great job. It's always great to see Tim McInnerny, but I believe Danny Dyer is the one who stands out the most and delivers some fine one-liners while on drugs. Actually, all the drug scenes involving him are just hilarious. The camera-work is good and the movie itself looks pretty darn slick. Basically, there's no real reason not to check this movie out.
Combining horror and comedy is a really hard thing. Usually it ends up with the horror being just too lame and the comedy being not as comical as one could've hoped for, but I have to say that Severance did a mighty fine job delivering both of these two genres well. It has some tension, humour and a lot of great looking gore and splattery scenes as well. Sounds great doesnt it? Well, it pretty much is.
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ALTERNATIVE TITLE:
MOVIE YEAR: 2006
DIRECTOR: Christopher Smith
WRITING CREDITS: James Moran, Christopher Smith
GENRE: Horror, Comedy
CAST: Danny Dyer, Tim McInnerny, Laura Harris
COUNTRY: UK
RUNTIME: 95 min
RATING: 8/10
Severance Website/IMDB Click here
Severance Trailer Click here
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