Common Sense Note
Parents need to know that this bloody horror-comedy isn't for kids. It's full of explicit, grotesque violence and outrageous injuries (decapitation, a severed leg); weapons range from knives, guns, and ropes to missiles, hatchets, and bear traps. Also watch out for naked breasts (and one naked male bottom) and some brief-but-boisterous sex play when the boss cavorts with sex workers. Foul language includes "f--k" and "s--t," and characters smoke (one thin woman who's concerned about her weight opts for cigarettes instead of food) and use drugs, including Ecstasy, mushrooms, and pot.
Families can discuss whether this is a comedy, a horror movie, or both. What is it making fun of? What makes those topics good material for a black comedy? Can you think of other movies and TV shows that mock office politics? What about other movies that combine humor and violence? Is it OK to laugh at bloody wounds and brutal killings?
Common Sense Review
Reviewed By: Cynthia Fuchs
A rowdy horror-comedy combo, SEVERANCE takes dual aim at global arms dealing and mundane office politics. Focused on the Palisade Defence sales team, director Chris Smith's movie is at once gleeful and graphic (the joke extends to a mock Web site extolling the firm's motto: "We're hitting a home run for freedom and giving terrorism a time out!").
Traveling by bus to a retreat in the Eastern European woods, the team cheers their latest pitch for "anti-personnel devices you can rely on" and looks forward to their chance to "find out about ourselves." Just then, they're abandoned by their driver, who's spooked by the scary woods.
Resourceful in spite of their designer suits and Yuppie suitcases, the team members make their way to their appointed lodge. Not expecting to have to endure anything worse than a game of paintball, they soon learn they're under attack by someone using real weapons.
The masked, looming, implacable assailants remain unidentified (possibilities include escaped asylum inmates and war criminals), but the sales team ends up bonding under their extreme duress. Although team leader Richard (Tim McInnerny) does his best to keep his troops motivated, they're soon wobbling between fear and despair, until at last they're inspired by desperation.
No one on the team looks a likely hero: Steve (Danny Dyer) gets high on mushrooms, social-minded Jill (Claudie Blakley) seems like a poor fit for the company, and executive assistant Billy (Babou Ceesay) is African American --- and thus, according to the rules of this spoofy genre picture, doomed.
Though she initially looks wan and self-interested, it's Maggie (Laura Harris, the sweet-looking blond terrorist from Season 2 of 24) who ultimately proves angry and resilient, exhorting her colleagues to fight back ... even when one loses his leg in a bear trap, another is burned alive by a flamethrower, and others are subjected to horrific torture.
While the survivors begin to show gumption, the killers remain dark, lurking, cartoonish incarnations of existential payback for the arms dealers' crass profiteering. The point may not be subtle, but it is fairly satisfying (arms dealers are, after all, pretty easy to hate). Although Severance's lost-in-the-woods terror is a familiar plot premise, it offers clever dialogue, sharp performances, and some outrageous gross-out humor. And while it's not for the faint of heart, it is, in the end, strangely heartening.
Viewers looking for more of this sort of violent genre satire should see Shaun of the Dead, The Hard Word, or the underappreciated Lord of War.
Rate It!
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Sexual ContentSeveral scenes show strippers with breasts exposed; a man's naked behind; sexual remarks (a woman will "ride you like Seabiscuit"); sexual slang ("c--k," "winkie"); joke about a foursome. |
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ViolenceOngoing, very bloody violence includes kicking, hitting, shooting, knifing, decapitating, skinning, burning (by a flamethrower), exploding (landmine under victim's foot), dismembering, and gutting. Villains chase victims through the woods and a dark, scary house; a bus accident leaves broken, bloody bodies; corpses frequently appear in close-up, showing wounds and blood; leg is cut off by bear trap (repeated efforts to free it only mangle it) and stored in mini-fridge; victim spits up blood. Weapons include missiles, hatchets, automatic weapons, hammers, knives, ropes, and machetes. |
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LanguageRepeated profanity, especially "f--k," plus "s--t," "hell," and "bastard." Rude hand gesture. |
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Social BehaviorCorporate team members range from greedy and selfish to sweet and community-oriented; villains remain hidden by masks and are especially vicious. |
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CommercialismThe movie is about a corporate sales team that revels in profiteering. Also, references to Hilton hotels, Bacardi, and Rambo. |
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Drug/Alcohol/TobaccoCigarette smoking, plus drug use (Ecstasy, marijuana, magic mushrooms) that results in delirium. |
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