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Severance (2007)
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:84
Fresh:55
Rotten:29
Average Rating:6.1/10
Consensus: A twisted and bloody spoof on office life, Severance nicely balances comedy and nasty horror.
Runtime: 1 hr 31 mins
Genre: Horror/Suspense
Theatrical Release:Apr 20, 2007 Limited
Box Office: $66,719
Synopsis: A team-building exercise goes horribly wrong in this horror comedy, where HOSTEL meets OFFICE SPACE. A group of Brits (and a single, sexy American blonde played by Laura Harris of DEAD LIKE ME)... A team-building exercise goes horribly wrong in this horror comedy, where HOSTEL meets OFFICE SPACE. A group of Brits (and a single, sexy American blonde played by Laura Harris of DEAD LIKE ME) travels through the forests of Hungary to a remote lodge in order to mix business with pleasure. Led by their manager, Richard (Tim McInnerny, BLACKADDER), the co-workers soon realize that their trip is less about trust falls and rope courses than it is about death and destruction. Someone has targeted the team, and begins to take down the cubemates one by one. SEVERANCE is savvy and sly, but it never lets the comedy override the onscreen horror. Humor may temper the disturbing visuals, but this British comedy isn't SHAUN OF THE DEAD. It's far less flashy and a good deal darker, but it all works to great effect. This film is more in the spirit of DOG SOLDIERS, a movie with bleak gallows humor amid its blood and gore. In addition to its smart satire of office culture, SEVERANCE features stomach-churning scenes that rival the violence in films from the SAW trilogy. This film doesn't rely on A-list stars, with McInnerny vying with Harris and Toby Stephens (DIE ANOTHER DAY) for the position of most recognizable actor. But regardless of its lack of marquee talent, SEVERANCE ably mixes guts and giggles to create an entertaining and gruesome film. [More]
Starring: Danny Dyer, Laura Harris, Tim McInnerny, Toby Stephens
Starring: Danny Dyer, Laura Harris, Tim McInnerny, Toby Stephens, Claudie Blakely, David Gilliam, Andy Nyman, Babou Ceesay
Director: Christopher Smith
Director: Christopher Smith
Screenwriter: James Moran, Christopher Smith
Producer: Jason Newmark
Studio: Magnolia Pictures
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Reviews for Severance
Severance is a story of terrible things that couldn't have happened to funnier people.
Sitting through its increasingly sluggish pace feels like, well, work.
For the most part, the scary parts are the scary parts, the funny parts are the funny parts, and never the twain meet.
The result is a cathartic hoot, relishing its own carefully doled out carnage.
Will surely make you laugh, but the guffaws are few and far between. That's hardly a caveat when you consider the statement made here, though...
The cast shows spark and gusto, especially Laura Harris as a vulnerable yet intrepid survivor type and Danny Dyer as a bent druggie who straightens out long enough to fight back.
So there's still a smart office-horror movie left to be made. In the meantime, Severance is just another paycheck.
Like the Britain of Tony Blair, it's neither bloody awful nor bloody great. Which isn't to say, rest assured, that there isn't plenty of blood.
[Smith] paces the gore too unevenly, leaving the cast standing around and griping for vast chunks of time. And the jokes ... are either too broad or too underplayed.
It turns into yet another graphic Hostel-style killfest that eventually washes away all the fun ... with lots of blood.
"Severance" is just enough of an exploitation satire (think, Roger Corman in his heyday) to hold your interest beyond its gratuitous knife, blood and breast recipe for suspense and shock.
Like Shaun of the Dead, the movie enthusiastically embraces all the grotesque clichés we love and have come to expect from the form -- turning several on their ear.
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