Severance

May 24, 2007

Rated: R Runtime: 96 min Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

Severance isn’t scary enough to be a horror movie, nor is it funny enough to be a comedy, but in this case the movie is more than the sum of it’s parts.

Severance Palisade Defence is a weapons supplier currently providing munitions to fight the war on terror. “Currently” is the important term here as they’ve been in business for 75 years and have been a supplier to many different countries over that time period. After an initial glimpse at what’s to come (in which we see a very creative way to get some girls to take their clothes off) we join the story with a group of Palisade employees on a bus heading to a mountain retreat for some team building.

This is a horror movie at this point even if nobody gets killed.

When the road to the lodge is blocked by a tree the driver refuses to take a dirt road detour and instead kicks everyone (and their luggage) off the bus to fend for themselves. He seemed a bit of a prick, but since he wasn’t speaking English it’s hard to say exactly what was happening. Anyway, the office manager gathers thetroupes and they head down the path on their way to the “luxury” lodge Palisade just purchased. Imagine Michael Scott from The Office and you get the general idea.

This is the typical office group.. a manager, a kiss ass, an ass (he seems to be sales), a stoner, a hot chick (Laura Harris), a geeky developer chick, a black guy (even in a British horror movie you have to ask yourself if you think the black guy is gonna make it) and a few others to round everything out. It’s a horror movie though, so you know they’re all fodder for the knife.

After one of the girls sees someone standing outside of her 2nd story window, the group decides they’ve had enough team building and they want out. Management doesn’t agree but bows to demand and a couple of them head to the hilltop to try and get a cell signal to call for help while the rest play a little paintball.

On the way to the summit they spot the bus… and the bus driver who has seen better days. Fortunately the keys are still in the bus so they quickly drive it back towards the lodge to get everyone and go home. Meanwhile there’s been a bit of an accident while playing paintball and one of the team is in dire need of medical attention. They all hop on the bus and ride to safety!

Or at least they try.

No point going into the details on what happens next, but they end up fighting for their lives and of course most of them don’t win this battle. Can you imagine a horror movie where only a couple of people get the axe?

Severance is a solid 3 star movie that gets a bump to a fourth due to the actions of Laura Harris. Her character does something so perfect not once, but twice in the movie that it just had to get a bump for it. Besides that, the picture you’re looking at of a girl and a machine gun is a great scene, and the final word spoken in the movie is just classic.

See this one with some buddies at the theater if you can, and if not, make sure you watch this on DVD when it comes out.

Posted by John | Filed Under 4 Stars, Comedy, Danny Dyer, David Gilliam, Horror, Laura Harris, R, Theatrical, Tim McInnerny, Toby Stephens