Ep 188 Severance

It’s the next film in our Countycide season, and today we go down to the woods for a big surprise, with 2006’s “Severance”, from director Christopher Smith. A film in which the arrival of a gang of brutal, sadistic murderers relieves the true horror of an office team-building weekend; Lord Percy steps in something rather nasty; and Danny Dyer provides niche observational humour for all the ‘shroom heads in the audience. Another under appreciated film from the man who brought us high-seas time twister “Triangle”, “Severance”, despite its once ubiquity in secondhand shop DVD racks, seems to have also fallen out of sight, which is a real shame. It has a strong cast portraying believable, genuinely funny, characters (whether the character knows it or not) evoking perfectly that mismatch of work colleagues thrown together outside of office hours. With a genuinely nasty streak and scenes of gore and murder that would be much more gruelling in a straight narrative, and a lovely playful mixing of perspectives; this film should be rightly remembered and embraced by more fans of the fusion of comedy and horror. Watch (or re-watch) to avoid spoilers and join us.