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09 / 03 / 2010
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02 / 08 / 2009
Reviews: Sorry, there won't be any more movie reviews for the foreseeable future. Events have overtaken me. Catch up on reviews you may have missed.

18 / 08 / 2005
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Severance

Cast: Danny Dyer, Laura Harris, Tim McInnerney, Toby Stephens, Claudie Blakley, Andy Nyman, Babou Ceesay, David Gilliam. Directed by Christopher Smith. Story: An office team-building trip goes all Hostel. Running Time: 1hr 36 minutes. UK Certificate 15.

Severance follows Shaun of the Dead's lead into the underpopulated Brit-horror-comedy genre, and comes out with most of its internal organs intact. Which is more than can be said for the cast.

I love British comedies, and office comedies tend to tickle my funny bone too (Office Space is one of my favourites), so Severance is off to a good start. Horror I can live without, and Severance definitely leans on the horror more than its predecessors. Right from the start we're led into many suspenseful wait-for-the-bang moments before the real gore begins and when it does, it's done with a great deal of black humour. The bear trap scene, for instance, (I shan't spoil it) is a great comedy moment, as is the fridge moment shortly afterwards. Severance has certainly got the comedy portion bang on. Well, up until the final reel, that is.

They should've learned from Shaun of the Dead. That movie ran out of steam once the plot had to be resolved, and so does Severance. The final twenty minutes is all about the chase, and as it does nothing that we haven't seen a zillion times before, it desperately needs the comedy element to spice it up - but by then most of the funnies have been used, so we're left with a slightly flat ending that doesn't really do the journey justice. However, it was great fun getting there, so I suppose I can forgive it that.

Danny Dyer, who you may remember from the Cockney-crimelords-abroad movie The Business, is great at this sort of thing - ladding it up for laughs amongst a motley crew of tossers and strait-laced businessfolk. We really should see more of him, he's so much fun to watch. Tim McInnerney (Darling from Blackadder) makes a decent snivelling middle manager and Laura Harris (Marie Warner from 24) is adequate but fairly unsparkling in a largely underwritten role. Together they're a good team, supported well by the grim and funny storyline.

Severance does well at combining horror with comedy, falling halfway between Shaun of the Dead and Hostel. If the comedy had been sustained until the end, we might have had a 5/5 score, but as it is, 4 is fair. Highly entertaining.

I enjoyed this film: 4/5

I think the average moviegoer will enjoy it: 4/5

Testosterone Satisfaction Rating: 4/5 - plenty of gore, one large pair of knockers briefly flashed, many drug references.

To enjoy this film you should: enjoy dark comedy.