Severance (2006)

(In French, On Cable TV, September 2019) Sometimes, the only thing to do is to make a mental note to try again later. On objective grounds, I can recognize that Severance is a bit better than most horror movies of its ilk—the premise (in which a corporate retreat deep in the woods falls prey to murderous psychopaths) is interesting, the writing is a bit better than the norm, the direction is good, and there’s enough comedy to avoid complete nihilism. (Ah, that silent film sequence!) On the other hand, I felt almost completely uninvolved during most of the film—perhaps caused by watching too many horror movies in a row, perhaps exasperated by so many other horror movies butchering its entire cast of character, perhaps simply not in the right mood. It doesn’t help that the comedy pales a bit compared to the gory horror—I usually like comedy far more than horror, and any movie that indulges in the tired psycho-with-a-knife stuff better compensate with a lot of better material. There are a few good scenes—I would have like far more of those ludicrously funny moments such as the “stars and stripes” rocket-launcher sequence, or having more characters survive the ordeal. The film would have been more successful as a spoof rather than a true horror film sparing no amount of gore. But that’s not what writer-director Christopher Smith was going for, and so Severance is what it is.