Movie Review: Severance
Kevin L. Powers
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The Team Building Weekend in Hell
Director Christopher Smith has returned in top form from his previous film Creep (2004) with the man verses man film Severance. Where his previous film was a claustrophobic nightmare, Severance fills the frame with the openness of wilderness as a group of weapons developers and salSeverance is a dark, comic horror film that's just as funny as it is terrifying, yet the comedy never over shadows the severity of the film. It's an entirely British cast except for Laura Harris as Maggie, the heroine of the film. Her role here echoes that of Cecile De France's Marie of Haunte Tension (except for the role reversal at the end). Although characterizations are slim the relationships (or lack thereof) between the different characters, especially Steve (Danny Dyer) the resident drug addict who has a similar euphoric experience to the one Captain Jake Sparrow has in Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End when he is in Davy Jones' Locker, are tantamount to the way in which many of them meet an ironic fate in the film. The film is brimming with ironic twists of fate that heighten the black humor of the film proving that Smith has come a long way since Creep.
One of the great things about Severance is the fact that it generally has a lot of scary scenes executed very well for the modest budget of the production. Also, every cent of the production is on the screen as Smith, from beginning to end, sets up elaborate sequences that never feel clichéd or recycled. Ed Wild's cinematography is top notch and brings an immediacy to the production that few recent productions have had. The look of the film is stark while at the same time beautiful as the grimy under belly of the woods and its secrets simmer just under the surface.