Severance (2006)

Director:

Christopher Smith

Writers:

James Moran (screenplay) and
Christopher Smith (screenplay) ...

Release Date:

25 August 2006 (Ireland)

Genre:

Comedy | Horror | Thriller

Tagline:

Another bloody office outing.

Plot:

A team-building weekend in the mountains of Eastern Europe goes horribly wrong for the sales division...

Plot Keywords:

Team Building | Eastern Europe | Pie | Bitten In The Neck | Lodge

Awards:

4 wins & 1 nomination

Cast

Toby Stephens	...	Harris
Claudie Blakley	...	Jill
Andy Nyman	...	Gordon
Babou Ceesay	...	Billy
Tim McInnerny	...	Richard
Laura Harris	...	Maggie
Danny Dyer	...	Steve
David Gilliam	...	George
Juli Drajkó	...	Olga
Judit Viktor	...	Nadia
Sándor Boros	...	Coach Driver
Levente Törköly	...	Lodge Killer
János Oláh	...	Flamethrower Killer
Attila Ferencz	...	Head-squish Killer
Bela Kasi	...	Headbutt Killer

Also Known As:

P45 (UK) (working title)
Severance - Ein blutiger Betriebsausflug (Germany)

MPAA:

Rated R for strong bloody violence, language, drug content and some sexuality/nudity.

Runtime:

96 min | Canada:90 min (Toronto International Film Festival)

Country:

UK | Germany

Language:

English | Hungarian | Russian

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital EX

Certification:

UK:15 | Ireland:18 | Switzerland:18 (canton of Geneva) | Switzerland:18 (canton of Vaud) | Singapore:NC-16 | Germany:18 | France:-12 (with warning) | Malaysia:(Banned) | USA:R | Finland:K-18 | Argentina:18 | Norway:18 | Portugal:M/16 | Italy:VM18 | South Korea:18 | Australia:MA | Canada:13+ (Quebec) | New Zealand:R16 | Netherlands:16 | Italy:VM14 (DVD)

Filming Locations:

Hungary

Company:

Dan Films

Trivia:

The actor who plays the irate bus driver, Sándor Boros is a Hungarian stunt driver, and it is he who drives the bus during the crash scene. In the DVD featurette Crashing a Coach (2007) (V), director Christopher Smith goes into detail about how the crash scene was staged, and in it, he points out how the Hungarian stunt team were "less concerned with health and safety issues" than British stunt teams. Smith explains that for the crash scene, the stunt coordinator told Boros to drive at 35mph, but Boros felt this wouldn't produce a good enough scene, so he hit the stunt ramp at 50mph, producing a much more spectacular crash than Smith wanted. As it was a one-time only shot, this newly spectacular crash forced a hasty rewriting of the screenplay, as due to the severity of the crash, the characters now needed to be substantially more injured than was originally planned. Smith was also amazed that the only safety equipment Boros used during the scene was a seat belt and a motorcycle helmet. Indeed, during the stunt, Boros was knocked completely unconscious.

Goofs:

Continuity: When everyone gets off the coach after it stops at the fallen tree, dark vehicle tracks have appeared in front of the coach which weren't there in previous shots.

Quotes:

Coach Driver: [cursing in Hungarian] ... Bob Marley! Bob Marley!

Movie Connections:

Referenced in I Really Hate My Job (2007)

Soundtrack:

Már Minálunk Babám

Funny, scary, clever and even moving

I was a big fan of Chris Smith's previous film Creep and had heard this was even better so I had high expectations going in. They were completely surpassed by this superlative slice of hilarious horror action.

The way the film combines humour and horror is skilled and the script is smarter than average for the genre. The film works better as a comedy and there are some absolutely precious comedy moments that I won't detail here as I don't want to spoil any of them. Suffice to say that the audience were busily quoting them and some of the better of the fantastic lines of dialogue after the screening. I feel people will be quoting some of these lines for years!

On a more serious note, there are some seriously scary scenes in the picture and even a couple of deaths of some of the more sympathetic characters that are actually quite moving.

The cast is also perfect, none of them put a foot wrong. Laura Harris completely kicks ass as the heroine.

I sorta want to see a sequel but heaven knows where they'd go with it.

Overall, I loved the film - it's made by a writer and director who are genuine horror fans and it shows. They're also both very talented.