[Severance]
Plot:About a group of arms dealers taking part in a team-building exercise weekend in rural Romania - who later are tossed into a fight for survival against a group of war-crazed killers intent on revenge.

Cast: Laura Harris, Toby Stephens, Danny Dyer, Tim McInernney, Andy Nyman, Claudie Blakley, Babou Ceesay.

My Thoughts:Great movie!

Review:It's about time something new was put forth in the slasher genre, and I guess the only way one can do that is to change the dynamic of the genre, and alter it just a bit. Which is exactly what director Chris Smith's film "Severance" does. After an opening montage (which happens to be a small portion of the films final act), which shows a man and two women running scared from something pursuing them, and a bloody end to the whole sequence is met by one of three characters..the movie shoots back to current time...with a group of arms dealers, who are on their way to a remote cabin lodge to take part in a weekend team building exercise. The group arrives at their destination but soon it becomes apparent that someone is watching them, waiting for just the right opportunity to strike. Chris Smith who directed the film and co-wrote the screenplay along with writer James Moran does an excellent job of not revealing his villains too quickly, and instead letting the surroundings and the brief noises in the woods do the work for him. The setting of the movie is very atmospheric and works to the films advantage, always giving you the impression that there's someone lurking about out there. You also get caught up in trying to figure out who or what it is. Due to the fact that other than the opening montage, you never see a full shot of the antagonist. But the opening montage also lets you know that the killer is human, or so it would seem. Smith's film also contains a very diverse group of characters, with Maggie (Laura Harris) and Steve (Danny Dyer) standing out the most. There's an obvious chemistry between the two and the film hints at the love interest subplot while at the same time not beating the audience over the head with it, or making Dyer's character out to be the lecherous type. One of the more interesting supporting characters comes in the form of Jill played by Claudie Blakley, an arms dealer with compassion for everyone....including the enemy. The characters play very well off of each other making the comedic bits of the movie, such as when at dinner the group discovers a tooth inside a pie and asks Gordon was it there when he c prepared it, to which Gordon responds with "I didn't cook it I found it, but I thought it was safe because it was wrapped in foil". Bits such as those are very successful and actually funny because of the strength of the script and the talent of the actors, which makes them not feel like forced or out of place humor. "Severance" begins to pick up steam when one of the group gets his leg caught in a well-placed beartrap...a situation which only gets worse when Dyer's character Steve and his friend/teammate Billy (Babou Ceesay) try to remove the deadly device, in one of 'Severance"'s bloodiest scenes. It's at that point that they discover a bevy of beartraps strolled all around the area, leading them to figure out that someone is trying to kill them. A suspicion that becomes reality when some other members of the team return with news that they found their bus driver dead on the side of the road. The best thing about the films villains is that they really aren't over the top as far as orgins go, there's a story told during the dinner scene which pretty much explains where these villains come from and why they have their sights set on the group members. But as much as they aren't over the top, they're certainly not a bunch you'd want to meet in a dark alley, and despite their habits of procrastination when they have a victim cornered, they were still pretty awesome bad guys in this movie. Especially because their methods of killing weren't anything fancy or over-contrived, but instead just brutal and downright nasty. The pictures most exciting scenes come late in act three when the final two members of the team are on the run through the dark almost pitch black woods....from a mob of the bad guys and it pretty much becomes a fight for survival pitting good against evil and insane! Some of "Severance"'s best scenes are found here, as the two take on the bad guys with anything they can get their hands on from rocks, to guns, to even their own teeth! The film ends on a solid note with a very exciting chase sequence which leads to a short but sweet showdown in an unpopulated village of sorts, and while the picture doesn't set up for a sequel at the very end, I wouldn't mind seeing one..it was that good of a movie.

Positives:Great acting, likeable characters, awesome chase scenes, suitable amounts of blood, gore, and violence, and some very intense action sequences.

Negatives:One of the films female characters dies late in act two, and I thought she should've survived or atleast lived a little longer myself.

Overall:Great horror film that's worth seeing at the movies.





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