Severance (2006)

Director:

Christopher Smith

Writers:

James Moran (screenplay) and
Christopher Smith (screenplay) ...

Release Date:

25 August 2006 (Ireland)

Genre:

Comedy | Horror | Thriller

Tagline:

Another bloody office outing.

Plot:

A team-building weekend in the mountains of Eastern Europe goes horribly wrong for the sales division...

Plot Keywords:

Eastern Europe | Team Building | Flamethrower | Shot To Death | Torture

Awards:

4 wins & 1 nomination

Cast

Toby Stephens	...	Harris
Claudie Blakley	...	Jill
Andy Nyman	...	Gordon
Babou Ceesay	...	Billy
Tim McInnerny	...	Richard
Laura Harris	...	Maggie
Danny Dyer	...	Steve
David Gilliam	...	George
Juli Drajkó	...	Olga
Judit Viktor	...	Nadia
Sándor Boros	...	Coach Driver
Levente Törköly	...	Lodge Killer
János Oláh	...	Flamethrower Killer
Attila Ferencz	...	Head-squish Killer
Bela Kasi	...	Headbutt Killer

Also Known As:

P45 (UK) (working title)
Severance - Ein blutiger Betriebsausflug (Germany)
Acecha en las sombras, lo que (Mexico) [es]
Csapatleépítés (Hungary) [hu]
Desmembrados (Spain) [es]
Kanli mesai (Turkey: Turkish title) [tr]
Mutilados (Brazil) [pt]
Recorte sangriento (Argentina) [es]
Severance (France) [fr]
Severance - Teambuilding (Sweden) [sv]
Severence - Tagli al personale (Italy) [it]
Tha sou kopso to kefali (Greece) [el]
Verisempi viikonloppu (Finland) [fi]

MPAA:

Rated R for strong bloody violence, language, drug content and some sexuality/nudity.

Runtime:

96 min | Canada:90 min (Toronto International Film Festival)

Country:

UK | Germany

Language:

English | Hungarian | Russian

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital EX

Certification:

UK:15 | Ireland:18 | Switzerland:18 (canton of Geneva) | Switzerland:18 (canton of Vaud) | Singapore:NC-16 | Germany:18 | France:-12 (with warning) | Malaysia:(Banned) | USA:R | Finland:K-18 | Argentina:18 | Norway:18 | Portugal:M/16 | Italy:VM18 | South Korea:18 | Australia:MA | Canada:13+ (Quebec) | New Zealand:R16 | Netherlands:16 | Italy:VM14 (DVD)

Filming Locations:

Hungary

Company:

Dan Films

Trivia:

Danny Dyer's character is fed grapes by a bevy of robed girls in a similar scene to one in Kubrick's A Clockwork Orange (1971).

Goofs:

Continuity: When the land-mine that Richard is stepping from explodes you can clearly see that the explosion of it takes place in a completely different place in the forest (tree on the left side of the screen which wasn't there before, the soldiers balancing over the horizontal-tree are completely gone together with the tree from the screen, as well already before the explosion takes place).

Quotes:

[the group is at breakfast the day after Steve ate the hallucinogenic mushrooms]
Maggie: Are you still tripping?
Steve: No, no. Why are you naked?

Movie Connections:

References Psycho (1960)

Soundtrack:

Summertimin'

Funny, scary, clever and even moving

I was a big fan of Chris Smith's previous film Creep and had heard this was even better so I had high expectations going in. They were completely surpassed by this superlative slice of hilarious horror action.

The way the film combines humour and horror is skilled and the script is smarter than average for the genre. The film works better as a comedy and there are some absolutely precious comedy moments that I won't detail here as I don't want to spoil any of them. Suffice to say that the audience were busily quoting them and some of the better of the fantastic lines of dialogue after the screening. I feel people will be quoting some of these lines for years!

On a more serious note, there are some seriously scary scenes in the picture and even a couple of deaths of some of the more sympathetic characters that are actually quite moving.

The cast is also perfect, none of them put a foot wrong. Laura Harris completely kicks ass as the heroine.

I sorta want to see a sequel but heaven knows where they'd go with it.

Overall, I loved the film - it's made by a writer and director who are genuine horror fans and it shows. They're also both very talented.