Severance (film)
Encyclopedia
Severance is a British
comedy horror
film, written by James Moran
, directed by Christopher Smith
, and starring Danny Dyer
and Laura Harris
. In 2009, media interest in the film was revived following the alleged copycat murder
of a UK teenager.
) and two women running through the woods. The women fall into a large pit trap
while George is caught by a snare. As he hangs helplessly, a masked man approaches and disembowels him with a knife.
What is later revealed as some days prior to this, the European Sales division of Palisade Defence military arms corporation are on a bus to a team-building weekend at a "luxury lodge" in the Mátra
Mountains of Hungary
. When a fallen tree blocking the road halts the bus's progress, the driver refuses to to take a dirt road through the woods and, after an argument, drives off leaving the group to walk the remaining distance to the lodge.
Eventually the group reaches the lodge, which is old and in serious disrepair, but the manager Richard (Tim McInnerny
) convinces the weary but tired group to enter. Inside, Harris (Toby Stephens
) discovers a file cabinet full of cryptic Palisade documents, written in Russian. The group discusses the documents, leading Harris to relate a story he'd heard about the lodge: the lodge was previously a mental institution, and in the early XXth century a Palisade-made nerve gas was used to clear it out after the inmates took over. Jill (Claudie Blakley
) responds with the story she'd heard: the lodge was a "reeducation center" for Russian war criminals, and after an escape a Palisade-made nerve gas was used to clear escapees out of nearby buildings. Both mention a lone survivor who swore revenge on Palisade. Steve (Danny Dyer
) starts to tell his own story about the lodge's past as a clinic staffed by busty nurses when he finds a human tooth in the meat pie the group is eating for dinner. Chastising Gordon (Andy Nyman
) for serving a pie he just found in the kitchen, everyone goes to bed.
That night Jill sees someone looking into the lodge from the trees. Though nobody is found outside, everyone but Richard agrees that they should leave the lodge. The next morning Richard grudgingly sends Harris and Jill to the top of the hill to call the bus driver back, on the condition that the rest participate in a team-building game of paintball
. Reaching the hill, Harris and Jill find the bus abandoned and the bus driver dead in a nearby creek. Back at the lodge, the game of paintball has just finished when Gordon steps into a bear trap. After several failed attempts by Steve and Billy (Babou Ceesayu) to pry the trap open, Gordon's left leg is cut through completely under the knee. Harris and Jill arrive in the bus, load everyone in and head back for town. On the way, a spike strip
is thrown in front of the bus, which causes it to crash. Harris is thrown clear of the bus in the crash, and is decapitated by a masked killer with a machete
. Jill is captured and tied to a tree, then gagged, doused with gasoline and burned alive. The rest discover Harris's body, prompting them to head for the lodge to hide for the night.
While Steve and Maggie (Laura Harris
) smoke, a masked figure "quietly" grabs Gordon and carries him into the basement. Discovering Gordon's absence and a newly opened door, the four head into the basement which leads to an underground prison. Through one door Billy and Maggie find the now-dead Gordon who has had the Palisade logo carved into his torso and a now-unmasked killer who fires a shotgun
at them. The two hide in a nearby cell, where Billy dies from a chest wound. Steve hides on the second floor while Richard escapes out the back into the woods. While the killer searches for Steve, Maggie sneaks up on him with a large knife she took from the prison in the basement, but she falls through the rickety floor. The killer and takes aim at Maggie, but, at the last second, Steve saves her by impaling the killer through the back. The killer falls down and becomes lodged in the main level floor, and Maggie takes his shotgun and shoots the killer in the head.
Maggie and Steve exit the lodge believing they are safe, but discover that a group of several more armed, Russian-speaking killers are awaiting them outside. Maggie shoots one before he can fire on them, and the two run into the woods. They come across Richard, who has stepped on a Palisade-made land mine
and cannot move without detonating it. Richard guides Maggie and Steve through the minefield. The killers know that the area is a minefield and do not enter; they use a fallen branch to pass over the minefield close to Richard and torment him with insults and stones as they pass overhead. Accepting his situation Richard does his best to save the others and steps off the mine, killing himself and two of the killers in the process. Steve and Maggie come to another lodge, the real Palisade lodge. Inside they find their boss George, who is partying with two escorts Steve ordered via the Internet earlier. George brings out a prototype missile launcher and fires it at the approaching killers, but the missile locks on to a passing commercial jet instead, destroying it. The five run into the woods, leading to the events shown in the beginning of the film.
Maggie is snared, then about to be molested by a killer, but manages to kill him with a rock. Steve encounters two and is beaten and stabbed, but kills them both with a knife and a submachine gun
. Maggie is chased by the remaining, flamethrower
-wielding killer into an abandoned prison camp, filled with crates bearing the Palisade logo. While avoiding the man, Maggie breaks her leg, but is saved when one of the escorts, rescued by Steve, shoots the man with Steve's submachine gun. Steve, Maggie and the escorts make it to a rowboat on the shore of the nearby lake, and as they paddle off to safety Steve jokingly quips, "Foursome?"
based on 85 reviews and a score of 62 out of 100 on Metacritic
. Peter Travers
of Rolling Stone
commended Smith's "mischievous blending [of] The Office with Friday the 13th
", awarding the film three stars out of four. Peter Bradshaw
of The Guardian
gave not such a positive review, saying, "It is being billed as Deliverance
meets The Office -- a tellingly misleading description," giving the film only two out of five stars.
reported that the murder of a 17-year-old student from Norfolk
was allegedly based on a scene from the film. According to the BBC news report, "Norwich
Crown Court
was told how Simon Everitt, from Great Yarmouth
, was tied up and petrol poured down his throat before he was set on fire. Simon's body was found in woodland at Mautby
in June 2008." Jurors at the trial of Jonathan Clarke and two other co-defendants were played a scene from Severance and told that, when Mr. Clarke had watched the DVD, "he made a comment to this effect: 'Wouldn't it be wicked if you could actually do that to someone in real life?'" On 29 May 2009, the trio were convicted of Everitt's murder.
".
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
comedy horror
Comedy horror
Comedy horror, also known as horror comedy, is a literary and film genre, combining elements of comedy and horror fiction. The comedy horror genre almost always inevitably crosses over with the black comedy genre; and in some respects could be considered a subset of it.The short story "The Legend...
film, written by James Moran
James Moran (writer)
James Moran is a British screenwriter for television and film, who wrote the horror-comedy Severance. He works in the horror, comedy, science-fiction, historical fiction and spy thriller genres.-Breaking in:...
, directed by Christopher Smith
Christopher Smith (director)
Christopher Smith, is a British film director and screenwriter.- Career :His four most prominent pieces of work are Creep, Severance, Triangle and Black Death. Smith was last working on a movie based about the UK children's book series CHERUB...
, and starring Danny Dyer
Danny Dyer
Danny Dyer is an English actor, media personality, and chairman of Greenwich Borough, a non-League football team.-Biography:Daniel John Dyer was born in Custom House, an area of East London, to Antony and Christine Dyer...
and Laura Harris
Laura Harris
Laura Elizabeth Harris is a Canadian actress.-Early life:Harris was born in Vancouver, British Columbia, the daughter of school teachers. She began acting in radio dramas and animation series when she was five years old. As a child Harris was educated at Crofton House School and attended college...
. In 2009, media interest in the film was revived following the alleged copycat murder
Murder
Murder is the unlawful killing, with malice aforethought, of another human being, and generally this state of mind distinguishes murder from other forms of unlawful homicide...
of a UK teenager.
Plot
The film opens with George (David GilliamDavid Gilliam
David Gilliam is a Canadian born film and television actor, who first appeared on screen as Alice in popular Clint Eastwood film Dirty Harry He recently appeared in the Oscar winning Slumdog Millionaire as Clarke in 2008, and as George in UK comedy-horror Severance in 2006.He has also had parts in...
) and two women running through the woods. The women fall into a large pit trap
Trapping pit
Trapping pits are deep pits dug into the ground, or built from stone, in order to trap animals.European rock drawings and cave paintings reveal that the elk and moose have been hunted since the stone age using trapping pits. In Northern Scandinavia one can still find remains of trapping pits used...
while George is caught by a snare. As he hangs helplessly, a masked man approaches and disembowels him with a knife.
What is later revealed as some days prior to this, the European Sales division of Palisade Defence military arms corporation are on a bus to a team-building weekend at a "luxury lodge" in the Mátra
Mátra
Mátra is a mountain range in northern Hungary, between the towns Gyöngyös and Eger. The country's highest peak, Kékestető , belongs to this mountain range....
Mountains of Hungary
Hungary
Hungary , officially the Republic of Hungary , is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is situated in the Carpathian Basin and is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine and Romania to the east, Serbia and Croatia to the south, Slovenia to the southwest and Austria to the west. The...
. When a fallen tree blocking the road halts the bus's progress, the driver refuses to to take a dirt road through the woods and, after an argument, drives off leaving the group to walk the remaining distance to the lodge.
Eventually the group reaches the lodge, which is old and in serious disrepair, but the manager Richard (Tim McInnerny
Tim McInnerny
Tim McInnerny is an English actor. He is known for his role as Percy in Blackadder and Blackadder II, and as Captain Darling in Blackadder Goes Forth...
) convinces the weary but tired group to enter. Inside, Harris (Toby Stephens
Toby Stephens
Toby Stephens is an English stage, television and film actor who has appeared in films in both Hollywood and Bollywood. He is best known for playing megavillain Gustav Graves in the James Bond film Die Another Day , Edward Fairfax Rochester in the BBC television adaptation of Jane Eyre and Philip...
) discovers a file cabinet full of cryptic Palisade documents, written in Russian. The group discusses the documents, leading Harris to relate a story he'd heard about the lodge: the lodge was previously a mental institution, and in the early XXth century a Palisade-made nerve gas was used to clear it out after the inmates took over. Jill (Claudie Blakley
Claudie Blakley
Claudia "Claudie" Blakley is an English actress.Her father was Alan Blakely, a member of the 1960s pop band The Tremeloes, and her sister Kirsten Blakley is lead singer of the indie band Little Spitfire. Blakley trained at the Central School of Speech and Drama...
) responds with the story she'd heard: the lodge was a "reeducation center" for Russian war criminals, and after an escape a Palisade-made nerve gas was used to clear escapees out of nearby buildings. Both mention a lone survivor who swore revenge on Palisade. Steve (Danny Dyer
Danny Dyer
Danny Dyer is an English actor, media personality, and chairman of Greenwich Borough, a non-League football team.-Biography:Daniel John Dyer was born in Custom House, an area of East London, to Antony and Christine Dyer...
) starts to tell his own story about the lodge's past as a clinic staffed by busty nurses when he finds a human tooth in the meat pie the group is eating for dinner. Chastising Gordon (Andy Nyman
Andy Nyman
Andy Nyman is an English actor and magician.Nyman first came to note with his performance as a hard nosed director in Musical! and then as Keith Whitehead in the cult film of the Martin Amis novel, Dead Babies...
) for serving a pie he just found in the kitchen, everyone goes to bed.
That night Jill sees someone looking into the lodge from the trees. Though nobody is found outside, everyone but Richard agrees that they should leave the lodge. The next morning Richard grudgingly sends Harris and Jill to the top of the hill to call the bus driver back, on the condition that the rest participate in a team-building game of paintball
Paintball
Paintball is a sport in which players compete, in teams or individually, to eliminate opponents by tagging them with capsules containing water soluble dye and gelatin shell outside propelled from a device called a paintball marker . Paintballs have a non-toxic, biodegradable, water soluble...
. Reaching the hill, Harris and Jill find the bus abandoned and the bus driver dead in a nearby creek. Back at the lodge, the game of paintball has just finished when Gordon steps into a bear trap. After several failed attempts by Steve and Billy (Babou Ceesayu) to pry the trap open, Gordon's left leg is cut through completely under the knee. Harris and Jill arrive in the bus, load everyone in and head back for town. On the way, a spike strip
Spike strip
A spike strip is a device used to impede or stop the movement of wheeled vehicles by puncturing their tires...
is thrown in front of the bus, which causes it to crash. Harris is thrown clear of the bus in the crash, and is decapitated by a masked killer with a machete
Machete
The machete is a large cleaver-like cutting tool. The blade is typically long and usually under thick. In the English language, an equivalent term is matchet, though it is less commonly known...
. Jill is captured and tied to a tree, then gagged, doused with gasoline and burned alive. The rest discover Harris's body, prompting them to head for the lodge to hide for the night.
While Steve and Maggie (Laura Harris
Laura Harris
Laura Elizabeth Harris is a Canadian actress.-Early life:Harris was born in Vancouver, British Columbia, the daughter of school teachers. She began acting in radio dramas and animation series when she was five years old. As a child Harris was educated at Crofton House School and attended college...
) smoke, a masked figure "quietly" grabs Gordon and carries him into the basement. Discovering Gordon's absence and a newly opened door, the four head into the basement which leads to an underground prison. Through one door Billy and Maggie find the now-dead Gordon who has had the Palisade logo carved into his torso and a now-unmasked killer who fires a shotgun
Shotgun
A shotgun is a firearm that is usually designed to be fired from the shoulder, which uses the energy of a fixed shell to fire a number of small spherical pellets called shot, or a solid projectile called a slug...
at them. The two hide in a nearby cell, where Billy dies from a chest wound. Steve hides on the second floor while Richard escapes out the back into the woods. While the killer searches for Steve, Maggie sneaks up on him with a large knife she took from the prison in the basement, but she falls through the rickety floor. The killer and takes aim at Maggie, but, at the last second, Steve saves her by impaling the killer through the back. The killer falls down and becomes lodged in the main level floor, and Maggie takes his shotgun and shoots the killer in the head.
Maggie and Steve exit the lodge believing they are safe, but discover that a group of several more armed, Russian-speaking killers are awaiting them outside. Maggie shoots one before he can fire on them, and the two run into the woods. They come across Richard, who has stepped on a Palisade-made land mine
Land mine
A land mine is usually a weight-triggered explosive device which is intended to damage a target—either human or inanimate—by means of a blast and/or fragment impact....
and cannot move without detonating it. Richard guides Maggie and Steve through the minefield. The killers know that the area is a minefield and do not enter; they use a fallen branch to pass over the minefield close to Richard and torment him with insults and stones as they pass overhead. Accepting his situation Richard does his best to save the others and steps off the mine, killing himself and two of the killers in the process. Steve and Maggie come to another lodge, the real Palisade lodge. Inside they find their boss George, who is partying with two escorts Steve ordered via the Internet earlier. George brings out a prototype missile launcher and fires it at the approaching killers, but the missile locks on to a passing commercial jet instead, destroying it. The five run into the woods, leading to the events shown in the beginning of the film.
Maggie is snared, then about to be molested by a killer, but manages to kill him with a rock. Steve encounters two and is beaten and stabbed, but kills them both with a knife and a submachine gun
Submachine gun
A submachine gun is an automatic carbine, designed to fire pistol cartridges. It combines the automatic fire of a machine gun with the cartridge of a pistol. The submachine gun was invented during World War I , but the apex of its use was during World War II when millions of the weapon type were...
. Maggie is chased by the remaining, flamethrower
Flamethrower
A flamethrower is a mechanical device designed to project a long controllable stream of fire.Some flamethrowers project a stream of ignited flammable liquid; some project a long gas flame. Most military flamethrowers use liquids, but commercial flamethrowers tend to use high-pressure propane and...
-wielding killer into an abandoned prison camp, filled with crates bearing the Palisade logo. While avoiding the man, Maggie breaks her leg, but is saved when one of the escorts, rescued by Steve, shoots the man with Steve's submachine gun. Steve, Maggie and the escorts make it to a rowboat on the shore of the nearby lake, and as they paddle off to safety Steve jokingly quips, "Foursome?"
Cast
- Danny DyerDanny DyerDanny Dyer is an English actor, media personality, and chairman of Greenwich Borough, a non-League football team.-Biography:Daniel John Dyer was born in Custom House, an area of East London, to Antony and Christine Dyer...
as Steve - Laura HarrisLaura HarrisLaura Elizabeth Harris is a Canadian actress.-Early life:Harris was born in Vancouver, British Columbia, the daughter of school teachers. She began acting in radio dramas and animation series when she was five years old. As a child Harris was educated at Crofton House School and attended college...
as Maggie - Tim McInnernyTim McInnernyTim McInnerny is an English actor. He is known for his role as Percy in Blackadder and Blackadder II, and as Captain Darling in Blackadder Goes Forth...
as Richard - Toby StephensToby StephensToby Stephens is an English stage, television and film actor who has appeared in films in both Hollywood and Bollywood. He is best known for playing megavillain Gustav Graves in the James Bond film Die Another Day , Edward Fairfax Rochester in the BBC television adaptation of Jane Eyre and Philip...
as Harris - Claudie BlakleyClaudie BlakleyClaudia "Claudie" Blakley is an English actress.Her father was Alan Blakely, a member of the 1960s pop band The Tremeloes, and her sister Kirsten Blakley is lead singer of the indie band Little Spitfire. Blakley trained at the Central School of Speech and Drama...
as Jill - Andy NymanAndy NymanAndy Nyman is an English actor and magician.Nyman first came to note with his performance as a hard nosed director in Musical! and then as Keith Whitehead in the cult film of the Martin Amis novel, Dead Babies...
as Gordon - Babou Ceesay as Billy
- David GilliamDavid GilliamDavid Gilliam is a Canadian born film and television actor, who first appeared on screen as Alice in popular Clint Eastwood film Dirty Harry He recently appeared in the Oscar winning Slumdog Millionaire as Clarke in 2008, and as George in UK comedy-horror Severance in 2006.He has also had parts in...
as George - Sándor Boros as Coach driver
- Juli Drajkó as Olga
- Judit Viktor as Nadia
Reception
The film currently holds an approval rating of 65% on the film critic site Rotten TomatoesRotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is a website devoted to reviews, information, and news of films—widely known as a film review aggregator. Its name derives from the cliché of audiences throwing tomatoes and other vegetables at a poor stage performance...
based on 85 reviews and a score of 62 out of 100 on Metacritic
Metacritic
Metacritic.com is a website that collates reviews of music albums, games, movies, TV shows and DVDs. For each product, a numerical score from each review is obtained and the total is averaged. An excerpt of each review is provided along with a hyperlink to the source. Three colour codes of Green,...
. Peter Travers
Peter Travers
Peter Travers is an American film critic, who has written for, in turn, People and Rolling Stone. Travers also hosts a celebrity interview show called Popcorn on ABC News Now and ABCNews.com.-Career:...
of Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone is a US-based magazine devoted to music, liberal politics, and popular culture that is published every two weeks. Rolling Stone was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner and music critic Ralph J...
commended Smith's "mischievous blending [of] The Office with Friday the 13th
Friday the Thirteenth (1933 film)
Friday the Thirteenth is a 1933 British drama film directed by Victor Saville and starring Jessie Matthews, Sonnie Hale and Muriel Aked. The film depicts the lives of several passengers in the hours before they are involved in a bus crash.-Cast:...
", awarding the film three stars out of four. Peter Bradshaw
Peter Bradshaw
Peter Bradshaw is a British writer and film critic. He was educated at Cambridge University, where he was President of Footlights.Bradshaw is a film critic for The Guardian...
of The Guardian
The Guardian
The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
gave not such a positive review, saying, "It is being billed as Deliverance
Deliverance
Deliverance is a 1972 American thriller film produced and directed by John Boorman. Principal cast members include Jon Voight, Burt Reynolds, Ronny Cox and Ned Beatty in his film debut. The film is based on a 1970 novel of the same name by American author James Dickey, who has a small role in the...
meets The Office -- a tellingly misleading description," giving the film only two out of five stars.
Copycat murder
On 28 April 2009, the BBCBBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
reported that the murder of a 17-year-old student from Norfolk
Norfolk
Norfolk is a low-lying county in the East of England. It has borders with Lincolnshire to the west, Cambridgeshire to the west and southwest and Suffolk to the south. Its northern and eastern boundaries are the North Sea coast and to the north-west the county is bordered by The Wash. The county...
was allegedly based on a scene from the film. According to the BBC news report, "Norwich
Norwich
Norwich is a city in England. It is the regional administrative centre and county town of Norfolk. During the 11th century, Norwich was the largest city in England after London, and one of the most important places in the kingdom...
Crown Court
Crown Court
The Crown Court of England and Wales is, together with the High Court of Justice and the Court of Appeal, one of the constituent parts of the Senior Courts of England and Wales...
was told how Simon Everitt, from Great Yarmouth
Great Yarmouth
Great Yarmouth, often known to locals as Yarmouth, is a coastal town in Norfolk, England. It is at the mouth of the River Yare, east of Norwich.It has been a seaside resort since 1760, and is the gateway from the Norfolk Broads to the sea...
, was tied up and petrol poured down his throat before he was set on fire. Simon's body was found in woodland at Mautby
Mautby
Mautby is a civil parish in the English county of Norfolk. The parish comprises a largely rural area along the north bank of the River Bure, and includes the small villages of Mautby, Runham and Thrigby...
in June 2008." Jurors at the trial of Jonathan Clarke and two other co-defendants were played a scene from Severance and told that, when Mr. Clarke had watched the DVD, "he made a comment to this effect: 'Wouldn't it be wicked if you could actually do that to someone in real life?'" On 29 May 2009, the trio were convicted of Everitt's murder.
Reference to Dr. Strangelove
Mentioned in the film, the CRM-114 land mine is a reference to the CRM-114 radio discriminator in Dr. Strangelove. Severance and Dr. Strangelove both end with the song "We'll Meet AgainWe'll Meet Again
"We'll Meet Again" is a 1939 song made famous by British singer Vera Lynn, and it also may refer to:* We'll Meet Again , a musical starring Lynn that includes the song...
".