SEVERANCE

I had heard Severance described as The Office meets Deliverance. I think my delight at Office-type humor blinded me to taking note of the Deliverance-part of that comparison.

As I peeked from behind my hands during Severance, I quickly remembered how brutal and horrifying Deliverance was. But thank god for British humor. If there was no humor in Severance, I don't know if I could have sat through it.

A mixed bag of white-collar co-workers are trundling through the countryside of Hungary in a tour bus, en route to a "team-building" retreat. They are a mixed lot, from the druggie (Danny Dyer) to the handsome smartass (Toby Stephens) to the meek nice guy (Babou Ceesay) to the nerd (Andy Nyman). Of course, the boss (Tim McInnerny) is a dork, more interested in following company rules and giving morale speeches like, "I can't spell success without you... and you... and you..." And need I mention that there is a hot chick in the lot (Laura Harris), whom everyone seems to have a crush on?

The lot of them end up in a broken down countryside "lodge" that looks like it has seen better days. It doesn't help that they can't just leave, since their frustrated bus driver took off with their only transportation out of there. And isn't it a little weird that the place isn't stocked with food, but there is a meat pie in the fridge? But wait... I swear I just saw someone looking in my bedroom window from the forest!

Fear! Spooky sounds! Severed limbs! Carnage! Carnage! Hot chicks with machine guns! (Wait... what?)

You get the picture. I think I didn't expect it to be so gory, so let me emphasize that Severance is indeed a horror film! I don't want you, dear readers, to be misled into thinking that you are simply seeing a black comedy. But, I also want to emphasize that Severance is indeed quite funny as well. If you need some good laughs to balance out puke-inducing horror, this movie delivers.