 |
|
|
|
| | | |
| MatchFlick Member Reviews |
All Movie Info
Starring:
Toby Stephens, Claudie Blakley, Tim McInnerny, Laura Harris, Danny Dyer, David Gilliam, Andy Nyman, Judit Viktor, Levente Törköly, Juli Drajkó, Sándor Boros, Bela Kasi, Roland Kollárszky, Péter Katona, Nick Greenall, Matthew Baker, Steve Dawson, John Frankish, Johnnie Schinas, Leon MacPherson, Arnold Zarom, Laura Bushell, John Cole, Murray Golding, Jamie Higgins, Nerys Martin, Stephanie Ratcliff, Babou Ceesay, János Oláh, Attila Ferencz, Levente Lezsák, Cindi Svensson
Directed By:
Christopher Smith
Written By:
Christopher Smith, James Moran
|
|
|
| |
Severance (2006)
 email this review to a friend
Movie Review by Jenny
October 11th, 2007
|  |
Touted as "The Office" meets "The Hills Have Eyes", "Severance" is the latest in the comedy/horror genre from England. Unfortunately, this film is nothing like either of the aforementioned. "The Office" is well written and "The Hills Have Eyes" has good violence: this one has neither.
A group of co-workers from a defense company are on their way to a team-building weekend in the woods. None seem very excited about the trip, and they don't seem too eager to get on with the team-building activities. They are suddenly dropped off in the middle of the road and are forced to walk to their destination, which they find out looks like a very old and abandoned looking mental institution than a corporate lodge. As the group gets settled, they trade stories about what the lodge may have been used for. Among the stories, the lodge may have been used for a wh*rehouse, for terrorist training, or for a holding facility for the Russians. Soon, various members of the group begin seeing strange people walking around the woods. Shortly after, the co-workers start getting picked off one by one by mysterious men wearing hoods and bandages around their faces.
For a movie to be compared to "The Office", it must deliver a few laughs. This movie is worth maybe a chuckle or two. The first half of the movie provides many set-ups for something funny to happen, and then when the punch line is delivered, it's just not funny. It just misses the mark time and again. The first half also gives absolutely no character development. By the time these characters start to get killed, the audience doesn't care whatsoever. Of course that's typical for a horror film, but at least the audience KNOWS the characters beforehand. Way too much time is given to the stoner guy. We spend too much time seeing his blurred vision caused by whatever trip he must be on. It just gets old.
The second half moves pretty slowly in comparison to how many people get killed. There is a scene where one of the killers has a guy tied to a chair and the camera shows that something is being done to his stomach, but we don't exactly get to see. Expecting something along the lines of a "Hostel"-type scene, the camera pans out and we see: the killer has cut some lines in the guy's skin. What? That's it? Call me a fan of the so-called "torture porn", but if you're going to pan out slowly to show something a killer has done, show me something good. Not the killer's grade-school rendition of their company's logo. Is this supposed to be funny? Surely not.
And then the big reveal. Who are these people? Why are they in the woods terrorizing these co-workers? Let's just say that these people are something that should never be considered a bad guy in a "comedy/horror". Or even a "horror/comedy" for that matter. This is something that is so completely unfunny and blatantly serious, that anything that might have been funny, all of a sudden is not anymore. Serious villains aside, one of the main characters blows up a couple hundred innocent people? Is this supposed to be funny? Surely not.
This movie was a huge disappointment. For websites and critics to hail this movie as the next "Shaun of the Dead", it's inconceivable at this point. Surely they watched the same movie.
email this review to a friend
Comment on this Review:
Sorry, you must be a member to add comments to reviews.
Join or Login. |
 | Zara
Oct 11, 2007 9:29 PM
| |
| This had sounded interesting to me when I was adding it to the database a while back. Pity it was hyped well and didn't follow through. I think I'll still check it out though, since I'd love to be able to disagree with you. (Although we tend to think along the same lines with films.) |
 | andy
Nov 9, 2007 4:11 PM
| |
| maybe you don't get our british humor most people over here who saw it loved it. |
 Subscribe to MatchFlick Movie Reviews through RSS
|
Oct 12, 2007 9:12 AM