The strong cast of somewhat familiar faces meshes well, and the film's first half contains some wonderful byplay.
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
A motley group of employees from an international weapons company find themselves hilariously at the business end of their own products in Christopher Smith's razor-sharp comedy horror film.
The pacing is uneven, leading to a bumpy road where laughter and gore sometimes complement each other and sometimes are at odds. This makes Severance more of a mixed bag than an unqualified success.
So there's still a smart office-horror movie left to be made. In the meantime, Severance is just another paycheck.
It is being billed as 'Deliverance meets The Office' -- a tellingly misleading description.
Severance is a bit of British fear-mongering that pulls you in with a nifty mix of black humour and white-knuckle scares.
For the most part, the scary parts are the scary parts, the funny parts are the funny parts, and never the twain meet.
Severance turns a corporate retreat in a Hungarian forest into a bloody game of whack-a-mole. (Team building and paintballing are so last year.)
The Brits have been coming up with some creative horror films, both serious and humorous. Severance continues this push of the creative.
An entertaining mix of raucous humour and outrageous gore. Plus an intriguingly strong (and unsubtle) political message.
Sitting through its increasingly sluggish pace feels like, well, work.
Every clash of tones that worked in Shaun of the Dead goes haywire here.
This is a severance package that may kill you... we nearly died laughing.
[Inserts] the funniest bits of British comedy into the type of gory slasher flick that will make even the most jaded horror fan giddy.
This is the first shocker in ages where you actually care about what happens to the victims.
The most outrageous and exhilarating moments of Severance zip by like Apocalypto on whippets, gory but hilarious.
If anyone involved in this sloppy, inexplicable slasher flick had a notion of what they were doing or why, they've kept it to themselves.
Blending fierce horror and sly humour, Christopher Smith’s confident follow-up to the more generic Creep marks a quantum leap forward for the young British filmmaker.
Latest News for Severance
September 18, 2007:
RT on DVD: It's Death Proof Time!
If you've been itching for a good rental, you're in luck -- even the gambles this week are near Fresh on the Tomatometer! Tarantino fans already know to look for his Death Proof... More...
September 13, 2007:
A comical cautionary tale which ought to trigger a little paranoia in the souls of any advocates of the Military-Industrial Complex. ![]()
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May 17, 2007:
Critical Consensus: Third Time's Not the Charm for "Shrek"
America is going green this week: "Shrek the Third" (featuring the voices of Mike Meyers, Eddie Murphy, and Antonio Banderas) is our single new wide release. Critics... More...
April 28, 2007:
Trailer & Poster review ![]()
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| Tomatometer Percentage | Movie |
|---|---|
| 78% 78% | The Hangover |
| 88% 88% | Inglourious Basterds |
| 66% 66% | Public Enemies |
| 24% 24% | G-Force |
| 44% 44% | Night at the Museum: B… |
| Tomatometer Percentage | Movie |
|---|---|
| 90% 90% | District 9 |
| 86% 86% | 500 Days of Summer |
| 63% 63% | Extract |
| 06% 06% | All About Steve |
| 78% 78% | It Might Get Loud |
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