Fear Friday ~ I Think I'll Pass On The Role Playing, Thanks.

Welcome and enjoy another Fear Friday here at the Laughing Vixen Lounge blog. Our September theme of "Into The Woods" continues with a lesser known British film from 2006. It is a snarky blend of horror and comedy as a company team building weekend goes horribly wrong. Just one more good reason to stay out of the woods!!! Enjoy!

Every Friday at the Laughing Vixen Lounge Blog is Fear Friday. Fear Fridays are a celebration of all films spooky. Horror is a very broad genre and the Lounge loves it all. Each Friday you will find a review of a different film. These can range from Classic Horror (black and white and cheesy),  Thrillers (suspense, jumps and a good mystery), outright Horror (chop chop, slash slash, die die) and anything else in between.

So pop some popcorn, kill the lights and enjoy tonight's selection. And please, share your comments on the film. Bad or good let me now what you thought of it. And now, my little ghouls and dolls, the Laughing Vixen Lounge Blog is proud to present this week's film.


September - Into The Woods

Fear Friday - Severance

Tagline - Another bloody office outing.
             The Company Is Making Cutbacks.


Written and directed by Christopher Smith (Creep and Triangle) and released on August 25, 2006 by Pathe Distribution (rated R). On a team building weekend in Eastern Europe, a group of co workers find themselves stranded in the woods and fighting an unknown evil.

A group of co workers are sent on a team building weekend in the woods of Eastern Europe. When a fallen tree keeps the bus from their destination the team leader suggest a detour. The bus driver yells his disapproval at this idea in a language that no one understands. The team leader insist and the bus driver leaves them all on the side of the road to make it the rest of the way on their own.

Our group arrives at what is clearly not the "luxury lodge" they are meant to be staying at but do not seem bothered enough to worry too much. After some snooping through the place everyone starts to settle in. Around the dinner table the characters tell not 1 but 3 stories of strange things that have taken place in the woods. It does not take long until very bad things start to happen.

From the moment our group encountered the fallen tree the classic horror film setup was started. We all know that tree did not get there by itself. No one needs to understand what the bus driver is saying to know it's a warning. And we all know that the cabin is no luxury lodge! But these are the things that add to the fun of a horror film. If the people in them were smart we would not have a very long movie. This is a British movie that is full of sly, snarky humor and part of that humor is that they are a bit oblivious to what is going on around them.

Like any good horror film we also have our standard setup, back story and foreshadowing tale this time around the dinner table instead of the campfire. We get 3 different versions of what just might be lurking around out in those woods and why it wants to take out these people.

While this is a comedy horror do not be fooled. It is a full on horror film that is filled with much blood and violence. It can be a bit slow in spots but I found it overall to be an interesting watch. I found much of the humor to be funny and much of the violence and gore to be brutal. But that is what the film is going for. Think the Office meets Deliverance set somewhere in the woods of Hungary.

Severance should be available on most DVD services and currently available to rent on Amazon streaming.


Take a look at the original trailer.


Some trivia about the movie.
1. The logo for Palisades Defence - more or less a square with one corner missing - is a sly hint at the company's way of doing business: by "cutting corners".
2. The casting process lasted four months because director Christopher Smith wanted the perfect people for the parts.
3. The CRM-114 'Platoon Buster' land mine is a reference to the CRM-114 radio in Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964). The same song is also used at the end of both films.