All independent films have to have a unique hook if they want to get noticed, that is simply how the game is played. In the case of the lower budget end of the scale, being able to use cheaper locations is going to be a major boon to any filmmaker. If you mix this with the fact that the zombie subgenre of horror is so overflowing with movies that it’s hard to be original, you’ll be able to get a better appreciation of Severed than if you simply viewed it as an independent horror movie. The creativity of the story and its setting is solid and even thought there are plenty of shortcomings, it’s also got some twists to make sure that it isn’t a total rip off of every single other zombie movie you’ve seen.

In fact, this reviewer would go so far as to say it’s something of a mixture of several different commonly used movie elements. You’ve got loggers out in a remote camp working for a big timber corporation and also out in that pristine wilderness, there are environmental activists or eco-terrorists, depending on which site of the “green line” you happen to be on personally. The basics here are that the lumber company wants to increase timber production and in order to pull this off, they’ve developed a genetic modification technique for the trees that is promising to boost harvesting and thereby increase their profits a whopping 15%. The alteration affects the sap of the trees. 

Of course, genetic modification or not, those activists do not want any logging in the forests they love. They’re putting spikes in the trees so that when the loggers chainsaw their way into the tree, things go awry and the logger is typically killed or terribly injured. This is actually something that does happen to real loggers due to certain real life activist groups. However, the genetically altered tree sap does not typically turn real loggers into the zombies the way it does in this film. The zombies are pretty impressive looking and not quite like the zombies we’re used to. These zombies are more yellow, but other than that pretty standard. To survive their onslaught the characters will need to get rid of their brains because that’s “the only way to kill them.”

Pretty standard stuff all around, but this reviewer appreciate the unique outdoor setting and interesting way of handling a zombie infestation. While Severed is most likely not going to win any awards for high dazzle special FX, it’s got a good bit of gore in there for fans of the goopy stuff. The story lags a touch, but that’s to beg expected and after all, if you pop this one into the DVD player here’s hoping what you wanted was interesting zombies, not an Oscar winning performance by a billion dollar cast. 

If you’re looking for an interesting twist on the standard zombie fare, this is certainly a flick you’ll want to add to your collection. It’s got plenty to offer in interesting visual settings, particularly for those of us who appreciate wilderness areas.

Plus, you know there’s gonna be chainsaws!