FILMBRATS - REVIEWS

Richard takes his employees out to the Hungarian wilderness for a weekend of team building and excitement. Little does he know what kind of excitement they’re about to experience. At one point, the bus driver refuses to drive them any further into the woods, forcing the white collar crew to find their way to the rented cabin. Once they arrive, things start going even worse. There’s something very creepy about this lodge and more and more people seem to be getting hurt. A couple of them even ended up dead. But it’s all a coincidence, right? It’s not like there’s someone out in the forest hunting them like wild game.

This is probably the funniest horror movie I’ve ever seen, and legitimately so. Director/co-writer Christopher Smith (“Creep”) hooks you in right away with the perfect blend of horror and comedy. We see people scrambling through the forest, running away from something and into trees. We see girls contemplating whether or not they should take off more clothes to build a rope in order to possibly escape the pit they fell in. We see people die gruesome, gory deaths with great unexpected reactions. Even though you’re laughing, you never get the sense that they’re doing anything but paying homage to the horror genre. You still should rightfully expect the unexpected, and never assume that anyone is safe. There’s a steady stream of blood and gore is available in abundance.

In fact, the comedy makes the horror more effective, because your guard gets let down from the levity the fun and understandably stereotypical characters bring, and then all of a sudden you’re hit with some in your face moment to remind you that their goal isn’t just to make you laugh. But I would still primarily consider this a comedy, because what stands out the most is the humor Smith and co-writer James Moran give to these situations. They recognize the standard clichéd moments and give them new life. They use the conventions to their advantage. Early on, we get the inevitable warning for the group to not go into the woods. However, it’s given by a bus driver who only speaks Hungarian and not even the audience is allowed to know what he says. You can tell its bad, though.

I was also impressed by the various styles the cinematographer (Ed Wild in his feature debut) accomplishes. There’s the main movie, which in and of itself has some interesting shots. There’s a great training video sequence early on, and then there’s also a scene where they discuss what they think the history of the lodge is. I particularly enjoyed the silent movie scene. But really, the good camerawork simply enhances the rock solid script. The dialogue and the interchanges between the characters set the tone for the picture and for each personality quickly and believably. You kind of don’t want them to die, because the dynamic between them all is so fun to watch.

Whereas most horror movies end up being laughably bad, this one is laughably good. The film is able to make you laugh a lot while still staying true to the horror elements of the genre. Not too many movies can claim that. This one also carries the proud distinction of having the best use of Cameo’s “Word Up” ever used in a horror film. They effectively use several greatly inappropriate music choices. That one just happens to be the icing on the pie that you found. “Severance” is like “Cabin Fever” meets “Hostel,” except really, really good.

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