Severance

[Mesh]

Move this topic if you get the urge, I just wanted to get the post-o-rama hype machine churnin' for this excellent British horror comedy.  The tone is in that Shaun of the Dead/Slither area, with the morbid jokes inextricable from the gore and horror.  Brit weapons corporate outing to Hungary, bus driver leaves, everyone's stalked by a Jason-type bad guy.  Tight little movie, saw it Tuesday as part of the Chicago International Film Festival.

Aloha, xixax, it's been a long while.....

[matt35mm]

I also saw this recently.  It was pretty entertaining.  Good humor, and a fantastic opening kill.

Not as special as Shaun of the Dead, but a good time at the movies anyway.

[Mesh]

Not as special as Shaun of the Dead, but a good time at the movies anyway.

I'd basically agree with that.  Although Severance is a bit more cruelly, intelligently sadistic to both characters and audience.  And it's more topical: it's full of black humor that's in no way kind or congratulatory to Western hi-tech corporations and their tacit supplier status with extremists of all kinds.  I also love how none of its core characters escaped unscathed; they're all partially guilty and they all get pummelled.

[Neil]

i watched this tonight, pretty damn funny, and i dug the sadistic/funny edge, thought it was in the vain of Shaun of the dead, but didn't affect it at all...also glad they threw in the mushrooms, everyone will get the chance to see this on tuesday, hopefully...

[grand theft sparrow]

I'd like to post, for anyone who hasn't seen the movie yet, that the previous mentions of Shaun of the Dead are grotesquely overstated.  Which is to say that, unless it's stated that Severance is absolutely nothing like Shaun of the Dead in any way whatsoever (filmmakers' country of origin excepted), it's entirely inaccurate.  But you can have fun playing "Count the Kubrick References" while watching.

This movie is what you'd get if you asked Eli Roth to create his own version of The Office.  It's sadly not as funny, not as clever, not as creatively gory and not as scary as it should have been.  The opening sequence was pretty promising as a horror comedy but it deteriorated from there.  I kept waiting for the filmmakers to just go balls-out in the third act but it never happened.

I have problems with these "calling card" movies like this or Undead or Cabin Fever.  It's like they can't be expecting to impress anyone except studio execs with proof that they can see a film through to a finished releasable product and throw in a cool shot or two to boot.  Because at best these movies are only good enough that you don't feel like it was a complete waste of time to watch.