Wednesday, December 3, 2008

Severance


Who doesn't love mandatory team-building seminars? Well, pretty much the entire population of the planet earth. Fortunately for those of us who have been forced to partake in these workplace events, in general, we usually make it out alive, with all limbs intact. For the group of co-workers in "Severance", however, surviving a team-building weekend means something entirely different.

Much like zombie movies, the "horror comedy" is getting a renaissance lately, which has resulted in a dearth of pretty awful movies. "Severance" however, is one of the best, and one of my favorites.

I'm a huge fan of British comedy, and in the vein of "Shaun of the Dead", the hilariously dry wit is well balanced against the horror of the situation the employees of Pacific Palisades find themselves in when their team-building weekend lands them in the middle of the wilderness, hunted down by renegade terrorists. "Severance" plays the whole thing much more straight than "Shaun of the Dead", but this actually benefits the film, making the funny parts wildly hilarious, and the horror parts deadly scary.

The plot follows seven workers from an international defense company on a corporate weekend to an "exclusive" retreat at the behest of their company president. Featuring among the cast is the superb Laura Harris, (honestly one of the best actresses in Hollywood, why she isn't in more films I have no clue) and the hilarious Danny Dyer. For fans of both horror, comedy, and "Shaun of the Dead", you will not be disappointed with "Severance".