Three words guaranteed to turn the blood cold – Team. Building. Weekend. A film simply about reluctant office types trampling around the forest as some dementedly upbeat team leader orders them to enjoy themselves would be harrowing enough. Add a killer picking off the execs in entirely unnecessarily brutal ways and you should have a real screamer on your hands. Well that’s what Christopher Smith is hoping for with his follow-up to 2004’s flawed gore-fest, Creep.

Smith has fused his horror with a generous amount of humour, something conspicuously absent from his earlier film, and, much to his credit, manages to hit just the right balance between the two. His script (co-written with James Moran) boasts some genuinely witty dialogue and darkly funny gags. As this mismatched bunch (a sales team from a weapon’s company interestingly) attempt to bond, they bicker, complain and flirt in an endearingly amusing manner.

And then the blood starts flying.

These unfortunates really don’t die well, bear traps, flamethrowers and hunting knives can certainly make quite a mess in the wrong hands. The ensemble cast subjected to all this nastiness give impressively solid performances, overcoming the limitations of their broad character types (pompous git, subservient nerd, sarcastic intellectual etc). Danny Dyer’s wide boy routine comes perilously close to grating on the nerves but the actor’s considerable charisma ultimately wins through.

 A well-crafted ballsy romp through a variety of horror conventions, Severance is the perfect antidote to the anaemic pap the horror/comedy genre usually serves up.

7/10

Review By Matt Compton