4 out of 5

Director: Christopher Smith

Even though I definitely enjoyed the first Hatchet, Severance is much more the tone I was hoping would be struck in that film – creepy atmosphere with true laughs. While Hatchet has the gore to satisfy us horror enthusiasts, Severance succeeds on a much higher level of skill, with script, setting, and acting – and awesome musical stings – all coming together for a truly inventive horror comedy. We start with some gripping stalker stuff – several people chased through the woods – that prepares the viewer well for where things could potentially lead and also follows one of my rules of good horror: showing a satisfying blood-letting fairly early to let us know you mean business. From here we settle into a crew on a business field trip to a team-building exercise somewhere in Hungary. While the types are all easy to pick out – the druggy funny man, the overeager guy, the sassy chick, etc. – it is to the credit of the script that each person feels real and part of the story proper and not just killer fodder. So they get lost, and find a cabin, and try some team building, and then some killing starts. While the setup is familiar, the payoffs are not, and though Christopher Smith doesnt necessarily over-gore things, theres enough jumps mixed in with the blood to keep this in horror territory. What makes all of this really sing, though, is the dedication to actually making it a good film and not just a romp: Smith uses music and settings to play with expectations of both scenes and characters, and the camera is handled with what you can tell is an attention to what its desired for us to see. A very solid horror-comedy that understands that an actual good movie doesnt have to make sacrifices to fit its genre.