Severance

I guess it says a lot for Simon Pegg and co when any film that comes along that features British actors, comedy and horror is described as being like "Sean of the Dead". I liked that film a great deal and so am instantly sceptical when I see films described in such a way, like this one.

Set in Hungary, the film tells the story of a team from work who get lost whilst doing business and team building for the arms company that employs them. They find themselves in the woods being attacked by victims of nerve gas, made coincidentally by the company they work for. It makes a change from the monsters that we usually get in these films, no zombies this time around!

Whilst I went to the film in a sceptical mind I was pleasantly surprised, the film does have a good balance of horror and comedy; a little gorier on the former and less of the latter however. Bar a couple of scenes I didn't laugh out loud as much as I recall doing with Sean of the Dead.

There was one scene however that I thought was really well done and brilliantly balanced comedy and horror together. One of the group, the little fat geeky chap, comes across a springboard at the side of a swimming pool that you can't see for the leaves covering the area. That's the scene set, now imaging having to watch him jump up and down on the board not knowing what lies under the leaves. I found myself laughing at the stupidity of the guy but was really worried about what would happen if he fell off the board. I'm not going to spoil it here! There is also another scene with a rocket launcher which introduces a nice dose of humour following a lengthy bout of the tension and horror.

Whilst I'm not a fan of wide-boy Danny Dyer, he's really good in this. I did spend quite a bit of time trying to convince myself that the American girl was the one from Scary Movie, but it wasn't.

Definitely worth seeing and you should make the effort if it is still being shown in your area.