Writer/Director Christopher Smith follows up sick Brit chiller Creep with Severance, a mad mix of laughs and scares, which sees the sales division of Palisade Defense, a weapons multi-national, come under attack whilst deep in the heart of the Romanian wilderness on a team building weekend.
The film has a wonderful cast of familiar and new faces, all of whom do excellent jobs and play well against one another. It is also actually bloody funny, bloody scary and well…bloody, with decapitations, impalements, nasty gun shot wounds and a giant bear trap.
The locations and the excellent score by Christian Henson add much to the proceedings, but it is ultimately Danny Dyer and Laura Harris who steal the show as good time geezer Steve and sexy and smart Maggie respectively, although special mention goes out to Andy Nyman who had me cracking up throughout, as ever prepared Gordon.
Blending a topical and very real social issue with the day to day horrors of work and then setting it in the horror genre may have seemed a bit silly on paper but it works exceptionally well on screen, thanks to genuine enthusiasm, an eye for detail and some amazing set pieces involving land mines, flame throwers and a bus crash.
OVERALL SUMMARY
Severance is a fine follow up to Creep and most importantly is very different. Christopher Smith has successfully managed to build upon the promise he showed with his debut feature. I can’t wait for his next film.
