Severance

Severance has been labeled a cross between The Office and Deliverance, although, as far as the latter goes, a more apt comparison would probably be Just Before Dawn or Wrong Turn; all three films revolve around a group of characters that find themselves at the mercy of bloodthirsty maniacs in the middle of a remote forest. Cowritten and directed by Christopher Smith, Severance is a definite cut above its forebears – as the filmmaker has imbued the movie with memorable characters, an emphasis on surprisingly dark bits of comedy, and a surfeit of gleefully over-the-top kill sequences. The storyline follows several employees of an international arms corporation as they head into the woods for a “team-building weekend,” which quickly transforms into something far more sinister. Smith, along with co-writer James Moran, is clearly under no illusions as to the sort of movie he’s making, and the director subsequently pokes fun at the genre at every opportunity (one character even says, “I’ll be right back”!) This is essentially the ideal Midnight Madness flick, as it’s not difficult at all to imagine audiences going crazy over some of this stuff (the “bear trap” sequence is an obvious highlight). And although the movie kind of runs out of steam as it progresses, there’s simply no denying that Severance is one of the most flat-out fun movies to play the festival.

*** out of ****