Severance

"Another bloody office outing."

2006 1h 36m EN

😐

6.3

MID

🍅

66%

FRESH

👌

METACRITIC

⭐

6.4

IMDB

★6.3TMDB · 694🍅66%Rotten Tomatoes●62Metacritic★6.4IMDB · 42,573

HorrorComedyThriller

Synopsis

Spoiler shield

Seven employees of an international weapons manufacturer are treated to a team-building weekend at the company’s newly built luxury spa lodge. Things quickly go awry as the colleagues find their corporate weekend sabotaged by a deadly enemy.

“Another bloody office outing.”

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Where to watch · US

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Cast

Danny Dyer
Steve
Laura Harris
Maggie
Tim McInnerny
Richard
Toby Stephens
Harris
Claudie Blakley
Jill
Babou Ceesay
Billy
Andy Nyman
Gordon
David Gilliam
George

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Christopher Smith
Writers: Christopher Smith, James Moran
Languages: English, Hungarian, Russian
Countries: United Kingdom, Germany, Hungary

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 8

ERA

Did you know

Released 20 years ago.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 8

WORLD

Did you know

Dialogue crosses 3 languages: English, Hungarian, Russian.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 8

WORLD

Did you know

International production across 3 countries: United Kingdom, Germany, Hungary.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by Christopher Smith, shot by Ed Wild. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Original score by Christian Henson. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Editor Stuart Gazzard shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 8

CAST

Did you know

Danny Dyer and Laura Harris and Tim McInnerny carry the top of the cast.

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

8 / 8

FACT

Did you know

Marketing tagline: "Another bloody office outing.".

MoodPlayr · trivia#08

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Christopher Smith directs. Ed Wild behind the camera. Christian Henson scores. Stuart Gazzard cuts. Runs lean at under 100 minutes. Produced in United Kingdom, Germany, Hungary. Dialogue in English, Hungarian, Russian.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

1Released 20 years ago.
2Dialogue crosses 3 languages: English, Hungarian, Russian.
3International production across 3 countries: United Kingdom, Germany, Hungary.
4Directed by Christopher Smith, shot by Ed Wild. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
5Original score by Christian Henson. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
6Editor Stuart Gazzard shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
7Danny Dyer and Laura Harris and Tim McInnerny carry the top of the cast.
8Marketing tagline: "Another bloody office outing.".
9IMDB entry: tt0464196 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.

The technical file

Cinematography: Ed Wild
Original score: Christian Henson
Editing: Stuart Gazzard
Production design: John Frankish
Costume design: Stephen Noble
Makeup / hair: Jan Sewell
VFX supervisor: Simon Frame
Sound: Joe Henson
Stunt coordinator: Béla Unger
Runtime: 96 min · 1h 36m
Aspect ratio (typical): 1.37:1 (Academy)
Status: Released
Box office: $5,515,163
Original language: EN
Certification (US): R
IMDB: Severance (2006)
Rotten Tomatoes: 66% 🍅 Fresh
Metacritic: 62/100
IMDB rating: 6.4/10 · 42,573 votes
MPAA: R

Awards

3 wins & 2 nominations total

Also by

Christopher Smith

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Selected frames

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Wallpaper

Trailers & featurettes

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Community reviews

What people are saying

John Chard2018-10-27
★ 9/10
Biting British Brutality. Eastern Europe wilderness and the sales division of weapons company Palisade Defence are meant to be having a team building weekend. But once they reach their less than luxurious lodge out in the forest, it becomes apparent they are not alone... We open with a chase that results in a brutal murder, all played out to the wonderful strains of The Small Faces singing "Itchycoo park," it's obvious from this moment that this is no ordinary horror comedy. Comedy as everyone knows is hugely subjective, even more so when it involves horror, some attempts have been roundly accepted such as parody supreme Shaun Of The Dead or nervous titillation in the Evil Dead series, while others are so bad they don't need a mention here. Severance, happily, is as sharp with its humour as one of the knives used in the piece itself, perfectly tuned into the modern world and the bizarreness of it all. What started out as a working script called "P45", where Christopher Smith's film was to be about these "yuppie" types literally team building for a weekend where if they didn't pass the tests they lost their jobs, escalated to a slasher with a wry satirical edge. The characters, as the makers point out on the DVD, are the perfect blend of the archetypal office workers. Each of them can readily be found in any Brirtish office on any given day. The ineffective leader who's wormed his way into the position, the jocular wide boy, the creep, the babe attracting all the sexual attention and on it goes. Each character rich with British office traditions thrust together for one bubbling comedy stew. Enter the central theme of weapons making companies firmly under the microscope and Severance has much to say. As a promo video made by the managing director plays, the irony is absolutely hilarious and sets the film up a treat. Even as the film gets bloody, and it's certainly bloody at times, the smiling assassin nature of the script continues to be bitingly funny. There's reams of clever jokes in the piece, so many in fact that even now after my third viewing experience I'm still finding new stuff. So with that I would urge anyone who has only seen it the one time, and been less than enamoured with the premise, to try again and observe and listen without interruption. There's even self mocking of the genre it belongs in, and this from the director of 2004s culter, Creep. The cast are uniformly strong, from Tim McInnerny's weasel team leader portrayal to Danny Dyer's with type drug taking "cockernee" boy, all playing off each other with smart and mirth inducing results. A fine fine entry in the horror comedy pantheon, one that just gets better and better with each and every viewing. 9/10

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