Severance

Director: Christopher Smith

Starring: Danny Dyer, Laura Harris, Tim McInnerny, Toby Stephens

Big companies are full of team building these days: you go out to the middle of nowhere and carry a log across rapids and ravines and literally build bridges. You learn to stick together and achieve more than you possibly could on your own. Throw in the catches that you end up in the wrong forest, your luxury lodge is a dilapidated cabin and that there’s something lurking in the dark, waiting, watching your every move, and you end up with a pretty bad weekend!

Set in the Hungarian mountains, we meet our team on their coach, heading for their corporate weekend in the mud. It takes all sorts to design weapons and this group of Palisade employees, led by their insecure manager Richard (McInnerny – Blackadder’s ‘Darling’) is no exception. Amongst the group are Steve (Dyer – Die Another Day) the lady loving, drug using slacker; Harris, (Stephens) the arrogant, career driven, disrespectful to his manager type; and Maggie, (Harris – 24) the attractive blonde who’s hardworking, intelligent and sought after by many of her colleagues.

One detour and a disturbed night’s sleep later, they start their weekend of frolics with a bit of paintball! Cue the beginning of the gore and the panic, as what starts out as a good fun exercise descends into a personal disaster for all round nice guy Billy, who still manages to keep a smile on his brave face. In true horror style, what appears to be an awful accident is soon followed up by frights and scares. Office rumours of violent anti-weapons groups play on the employees’ minds as they try to get out of the not so deserted wilderness and away from a plethora horrible deaths waiting around every corner. Will they survive?

Christopher Smith has come along way since Creep and the result is a film which makes you wonder what happened last time round. The predominately British cast and the mix of tragedy, humour and horror have led to favourable comparisons with Shaun of the Dead, indicating just how good Severance is.

What could be better than adding the midnight atmosphere to a film full of humour and scares, keeping you on the edge of your seat and bent double with laughter?

Robert Gardner