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Latest News

25 / 07 / 2010
Fantasy F1:
The results from the eleventh race in Germany are in! Check the results, see how your team did or enter a new team. Next race is Hungary next weekend on 1st August.

11 / 07 / 2010
Fantasy Rally:
The results from Rally Bulgaria are in! Check the results, see how your team did or enter a new team. Next rally is Finland on THURSDAY 29th July (a day earlier than usual!).

11 / 07 / 2010
Fantasy F1:
The results from the tenth race in Silverstone are in! Check the results, see how your team did or enter a new team. Next race is Hockenheim on 25th July.

27 / 06 / 2010
Fantasy F1:
The results from the ninth race in Valencia are in, including the penalties for the naughty boys driving too fast. Check the results, see how your team did or enter a new team. Next race is Silverstone on 11th July.

13 / 06 / 2010
Fantasy F1:
The results from the eighth race in Canada are in! Check the results, see how your team did or enter a new team. Next race is Valencia on 27th June.

30 / 05 / 2010
Fantasy Rally:
The results from Rally Portugal are in! Check the results, see how your team did or enter a new team. Next rally is Bulgaria on 9th July.

30 / 05 / 2010
Fantasy F1:
The results from the exciting seventh race in Turkey are in! Check the results, see how your team did or enter a new team. Next race is Canada on 13th June.

16 / 05 / 2010
Fantasy F1:
The Monaco scores have been updated to reflect Michael Schumacher's ridiculous penalty for daring to overtake a Ferrari. Check the updated results, see how your team did or enter a new team.

16 / 05 / 2010
Fantasy F1:
The results from the sixth race in Monaco are in! Check the results, see how your team did or enter a new team. Next race is Turkey on 30th May.

10 / 05 / 2010
Fantasy F1:
The results from the fifth race in Barcelona are in! Check the results, see how your team did or enter a new team. Next race is Monaco on 16th May.

10 / 05 / 2010
Fantasy Rally:
The results from Rally New Zealand are in! Check the results, see how your team did or enter a new team. Next rally is Portugal on 28th May.

19 / 04 / 2010
Fantasy Rally:
The results from Rally Turkey are in! Check the results, see how your team did or enter a new team. Next rally is New Zealand on 7th May.

18 / 04 / 2010
Fantasy F1:
The results from the fourth race in China are in! Check the results, see how your team did or enter a new team. Next race is Barcelona on 9th May.

06 / 04 / 2010
Fantasy Rally:
The JWRC driver lineup has been released, so you can make your selection before teams are frozen for Turkey on the night of 15th April. If you don't pick anyone, you'll get Aaron Burkart by default.

05 / 04 / 2010
Fantasy F1:
The results from the third race in Malaysia are in! Check the results, see how your team did or enter a new team. Next race is China on 18th April.

03 / 04 / 2010
Fantasy Rally:
The results from Rally Jordan are in! Check the results, see how your team did or enter a new team. Next race is Turkey on 14th April.

29 / 03 / 2010
Fantasy F1:
The results from the second race in Melbourne are in! Check the results, see how your team did or enter a new team. Next race is Malaysia THIS WEEKEND on 4th April.

14 / 03 / 2010
Fantasy F1:
The results from the first race in Bahrain are in! Check the results, see how your team did or enter a new team. Next race is Australia on 28th March.

09 / 03 / 2010
Fantasy F1!
Yes, there's a brand new Fantasy Formula One game! Check the rules or enter your team by Friday night to qualify for the first race in Bahrain!

08 / 03 / 2010
Fantasy Rally:
The results from Rally Mexico are in! Check the results, see how your team did or enter a new team. Next race is Jordan on 1st April.

17 / 02 / 2010
Fantasy Rally:
The points awarded for a win have changed in the real WRC, so we've reflected the changes in our scoring too. Check the rules to see the details. Next rally is Mexico on 5th March, teams will be frozen at midnight on the night of Thursday 4th March.

16 / 02 / 2010
Fantasy Rally:
The results from Rally Sweden are in! Check the results, see how your team did or enter a new team.

31 / 01 / 2010
Fantasy Rally:
The new rally season is upon us - 2010 Fantasy Rally is now open! Check the rules or pick a team ready for the start on 12th Feb.

25 / 10 / 2009
Fantasy Rally:
All previous years' Fantasy Rally results are online - Check the 2009 season.

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
Sudoku!
Have a go at the online Sudoku game.

 

Severance

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.

Despite his protestations, Laura Harris insists that Andy Nyman attend the synergy workshop. 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.

With hindsight, Danny Dyer perhaps shouldn't have stolen a kick-boxer's blouse. 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.

Claudie Blakley regrets questioning the smoking policy. 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.

 

Severance was released in the UK on 25th August.