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DVD Review
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| Director |
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Christopher Smith
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| Cast |
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Danny Dyer
Laura Harris
Tim McInnerny
Toby Stephens
Claudie Blakley
Andy Nyman
Babou Ceesay
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| Distributor |
| Pathe Distribution |
| DVD Origin |
| United Kingdom |
| DVD Release Date |
| 8th January 2007 |
| Running Time |
| 90 Minutes |
| Number of Disks |
| 1 |
| Certification |
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15
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Reviewed By
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Matt Adcock
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Buy this film
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SEVERANCE (2006)
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Welcome to the latest team-building exercise for the European sales division of Palisade Defence (the multi-national weapons company that really cares about its staff). On this excursion you will get to experience the thrill of bonding with your co-workers in ways I’m pretty sure you’ll have never dreamt of. As well as the usual paintball and brainstorming – there will be some fun additional activities including: Running for your lives from a psychopathic bunch of war-crazed killers intent on murdering every last one of you, and avoiding the numerous hazards such as antipersonnel landmines (Palisade’s finest of course) and some very nasty bear traps… Wait a minute – that’s not in the Health & Safety Manual!
Of course if Palisade had just gone to the Institute of Leadership & Management (ILM) for their management training requirements none of this would have been necessary…Anyway, Severance is pretty much the ultimate slasher/action/comedy film. Think Shaun of the Dead but swap the zombies for evil gun and machete toting nutjobs and you’ll be in the right zone. Severance really delivers in all areas; I was literally blown away by Christopher Smith’s (Creep) insanely enjoyable film. Danny Dyer (The Football Factory) as wide-boy stoner Steve leads the impressive ensemble cast on this amusingly doomed expedition. An ill fated journey which takes in levels of violence that wouldn’t have been out of place in Eli Roth’s Hostel, so be warned, Severance is certainly not for the squeamish.
But this is no mere splatter fest because the makers manage to do something very difficult –have you laughing out loud one moment and genuinely scared the next. Add some very smart and politically astute dialogue, characters that you get to care about (before they die) and some crunching fight scenes and you’re in for a potentially very good evening. Watch out for the ‘rocket launcher scene’, I won’t spoil it for you but it is so audacious that it instantly became my new ‘all time favourite comedy scene ever’!!
I’ll no doubt have to do some sort of penance for whole heartedly endorsing such a twisted and gleefully nasty tale, but I’m afraid that films like this just don’t come along very often. Makers of scary movies the world over should take note of our British talent on display – this is how you make a decent horror/comedy. Severance is without doubt the most dysfunctional, delightful and potentially brain damaging cinematic experience of 2006 – altogether a superior quality film you simply must not miss.
Pathe have ensured that the high standard set by the main feature is maintained right through to the DVD's special features, as a whole host of extras have been assembled to give the viewer a good bang for their buck. Seeing that the disc is packed with goodies, I'll only highlight some of the more memorable extras, so to kick things off we have the entertaining cast and crew commentary which has actor representation in the shape of Danny Dyer, Tim McInnery, Andy Nyman and Babou Ceesay, and also features creative talent such as director Christopher Smith, production designer John Frankish and writer James Moran. Next up is the obligatory 'Making of' featurette (34 Minutes) which focuses on the trials and tribulations of the Hungarian lensed production and, above anything else, shows just how well the cast and crew seemed to have bonded with plenty of goofing around between takes. A 5 minute segment titled 'Being Danny Dyer' demonstrates that this cockney sparrow can't say a single sentence without effing and jeffing to anyone who will listen, still, it makes for great viewing. 'The Genesis of Severance' (5 Minutes) see's screenwriter James Moran talk about the conception and development of the film which was originally titled P45. After the last feature, this next segment should have been called 'The Genesis of a Bus Crash' rather than 'The Coach', but name aside, it's an 8 minute look at the spectacularly poor reliability of the Palisade vehicle and its ultimate demise. Finally we get to the pinnacle of the extra features titled 'Not so special effects' (5 minutes), which is an encapsulation of all the frustration felt by the crew during the rather unorthodox methods employed by the effects team to achieve some of the films more visually challenging moments. Its essential viewing which had be laughing harder than most of the scripted material.
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Score
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8 / 10
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