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Severance (15) <!-- none onestar twostar threestar fourstar fivestar -->

Anthony Quinn
Friday 25 August 2006 00:00 BST
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The Office meets Deliverance, as the title implies. Chris Smith's horror trip mixes lost-in-the-woods survivalism with a very English sense of humour, the net result an unsavoury but not unwatchable entertainment.

Tim McInnerny stars as David Brent, sorry, middle manager Richard, leading a team-building weekend deep in Eastern Europe. Abandoned by their coach driver, they find refuge in an old hunting lodge where, too late, they discover its former use as a prison for violent war criminals, some of whom are evidently still at large.

Danny Dyer plays the cheeky toe-rag, Toby Stephens is the cocky salesman, while Laura Harris and Claudie Blakley provide the womanly good sense. The last 20 minutes piles horror upon horror, to diminishing effect, but some of the earlier frights may jolt you out of your seat.

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