Described as "The Office meets Deliverance", which turns out to be wishful thinking, Severance is a blackly humorous romp drenched in blood, set during a corporate team-building weekend from hell.

Writer-director Christopher Smith, who brought carnage to the Underground in his debut Creep, ventures into the great outdoors (the Matra Hills of Hungary) for this equally vicious second feature.

He certainly doesn't stint on the gore, delighting in the agonising deaths of his characters, ranging from a beheading to a human barbecue.

Smith offsets the splatter with humour but doesn't strike quite the right balance, burdening his film with a split personality.

The narrative lurches from high comedy to sickening violence as the ensemble cast is culled one by one.

More often than not, these sharp tonal shifts pull the picture in opposite directions.

Very occasionally, Smith segues smoothly between the two, exaggerating the slaughter to grotesque, cartoonish extremes so we cannot help but laugh nervously at the mounting body count.

The victims are seven employees of international weapons manufacturer Palisade Defence, who are being treated to a luxury weekend just outside Budapest in the company's new lodge, courtesy of president George Cinders (David Gilliam).

The group travels by coach to the lodge, nestled in the Hungarian hills, when disaster strikes. A fallen tree blocks the road ahead and the argumentative driver refuses to take a detour from the main road.

So, the team members, led by officious manager Richard (Tim McInnerny), are forced to disembark and travel the remaining distance on foot with their suitcases.

Richard leads the way with his colleagues - supervisor Maggie (Laura Harris), gung-ho head of accounts Gordon (Andy Nyman), dismissive salesman Harris (Toby Stephens), pacifist Jill (Claudie Blakley), office joker Steve (Danny Dyer) and long suffering assistant Billy (Babou Ceesay) - close behind.

Paying scant attention to their map, the colleagues soon become lost, which doesn't bother Steve in the slightest since he is high on Mexican magic mushrooms.

As they reach the lodge, the co-workers sense that something is dreadfully wrong, and not just with their supposedly first class accommodation. Deep in the forest lurks unspeakable evil and it intends to have their souls.

Severance is far more ambitious than Creep and Smith works closely with the special effects and make-up teams to flood the screen with viscera and copious gristle.

Visually, the film is impressive, building to an overblown finale that manages to offset the dismemberment with a spot of gratuitous nudity.

Dyer's jack the lad has all of the best lines, under the influence of his toxic fungi, while his co-stars suffer their grisly fates with glee.