I actually saw this last week but haven't gotten around to writing a review until now. Anyway, Severance is a British horror/comedy that's managed to garner a little low key hype whilst remaining under the radar. The previews suggested something in the vein of Shaun of the Dead except taking on the slasher subgenre instead (one review even mentioned similarities to The Office). The result was an interesting one although not quite what I expected.

Severance focuses on a team of new employees for a European weapons manufacturing company heading for a lodge in Eastern Europe (somewhere around Hungary and Romania though it's never confirmed) for some "team building" exercises (painballing among others). Shortly after their arrival, a few of these guys are able to dig up some info about the lodge's disturbing yet ambiguous history (involving deranged mental patients and European war criminals). The info is muddled and contradictory but everything seems to suggest that the company was somehow involved (foreshadowing upcoming events). The next day, one of their exercises goes awry, the guys are stranded in the middle of the Eastern European wilderness, and someone is out for their blood.

The previews of Severance suggest something more sidesplitting than hair raising and yet the tone of the film is grim and morose; firmly planted in the horror genre. The humor's there, for sure, and a lot of it's pretty chuckle-worthy and a little on the British side. There's several humorous twists and what would likely end up as non-humorous discussions (about bears' compliance with country borders and what an inch constitutes on a map). Still, the overbearing horror element dillutes the humor, which could (should) have been the selling point of the film. Instead of a horror comedy, you end up with a horror movie with comedic embelishments.

Still, I'm speaking from what I would have liked (and expected) and expected the film to be. What the film actually is constitutes as a pretty damn good horror movie. The events unfold in a relatively standard genre fashion, for the most part in sync with the slasher formula. Still, there's plenty of twists and turns here and there and the direction of the film is so harsh and suspenseful (think The Descent), it doesn't really matter how tried and true the story is. There's also a pretty nifty twist on a decapitation I don't think I've ever seen in a horror movie (the closest thing to it I can think of is Re-Animator).

Long story short, Severance is more horror than horror/comedy but the horror is good and the humor makes for some decent icing on the cake as opposed to the cake itself. It's not so underground that you won't find it on the New Release shelf of your local video store. Otherwise, it's worth a Netflix. Overall, solid flick and a textbook example of how independent film directors are keeping horror alive while mainstream directors are too busy disgracing classics of the genre.

I pretty much agree. I liked the film overall (Laura Harris looked so cool with other people's blood on her face!) but I think it's a pretty scizophrenic one.

Like James said, there are basically two genres vying equally for our attention and trying to hijack the tone of the film. When it's horror it's 100% horror and it works brilliantly. When it's comedy it's 100% comedy and it works pretty well too. But the two never co-exist in the film, and consequently we end of with two distinctly different products stuck in the same film.

I'd recommend viewing but would say it's a very flawed movie.

I love this movie but then I think Danny Dyer is the reason behind this.  The film is more serious than most trailers led us to believe but again it's Dyer that brings that cockney charm comedy to the front and it works well.  This has been out for some time in England but I've watched it a few times already (on dvd).  The effects I think are pretty good but I guess the story aint to original but you can't have everything.