Severance (2006)

Synopsis: Palisade is a defense weapons manufacturer. Their Easten European division decides to go to some country side resort for a team building weekend. Their bus gets derailed and the gang finds themselves caught in a rebel camp who just happens to hate Palisade employees and they have gone out of their way to create a death traps around the forrest to kill anyone with a orange badge that crosses their turf.

Should You Watch It? It can be argued that this movie has it all. But on the other hand, it's fair to say that this movie is missing a bit of everything. This movie is essentially in two halves. The first half is straight up horror with a bit of comedy mixed it. The style is very much Hostel and The Hills Have Eyes. It also takes a lot of subtle influences from Sixth Sense. This creates a very attractive product until it gets to the half way point. The movie then changes from a horror flick to a action/comedy. This part is pretty interesitng not only because it is so different from the first half but because it's actually really funny. Could have used a better last set piece in the end and a more drawn out ending but it was pretty tight for 1.5 hours.

Things to Watch Out For: It's a horror movie and a comedy. Sometimes it's confusing which one it is first, but one thing it does through out is make references to other horror/action movies. It does this with action, dialogue, and even music! It's all very nicely integrated and it isn't there if you don't want it to be. But if you take the time, the reward is well worth it.

Things You Don't Expect: I guess the biggest shocker other than the split in genre is that this movie is pretty dark. I never thought I would laugh at some of things I laughed at. It made me feel dirty inside but in a good way... sorta. Oh and also the music! It was just really different than other horror movies. The flowery-bouncy motif is through out during the movie and it does well in contrasting the usual dark content. Very interesting style choice.

Final Comments:
Story: 5.5
Direction: 7.8 (Christopher Smith)
Acting: 6.8
Cinematography: 7.5
Music/Sound: 8.6

Final Score: 7.0