Nerds That Geek Movie Review – ‘Severed: Forest of the Dead’

Written by Scott Edwards 

As scientists continue to move forward, there are plenty of things that will never be known when it comes to what they are experimenting upon. Everyone has their own field and are striving to take their research to the next level and hopefully they are abiding by the rules that are put in front of them and keeping it in the lab until it is safe to unleash it on the public. I have seen small body parts, extra-large vegetables and a new breed of rat grown, and all to make the world a better place, but there are plenty more experiments happening that the public will never know about until they are cleared and released on the public, for better or worse.

Tyler is loving his current situation, feeding off of his father’s success. As his father is concerned about the betterment of his company, he wants to see his son take it over one day and even though Tyler does not want the responsibility right now, he has to listen to what his father is saying. While the lumber company is doing well, even reforesting the areas that they have been chopping down, they still get picketed by the forest activists and it is causing headaches all around. But the problem is not the activists harassing their employees, it is the activists getting too close to an area where genetic testing is taking place.

Wanting to keep their profits up, the company has formulated a new gene that lessens the grow time of trees by one third. Not knowing what this will really do in the field, they have a couple of scientists keeping track on the growth and making sure nothing out of the ordinary is occurring with their experiment. As Carter and his friend are always in the loggers’ way, they have come across a tree that looks to be fully grown in just two years of being planted. Taking their samples back to the camp, the two discover that there is something wrong with the sap, as the tree is producing too much, but that not being a cause for alarm, they send their findings back to the main lab for further testing and go on with their day.

But there is something deadly wrong with the sap of the genetically altered trees as the lumber jacks find out the hard way. As one man cuts down the test tree, he receives an open wound from his chainsaw and the sap sneaks into his system causing him to go mad and try to attack/bite anyone around him. Not knowing what is happening, the logger’s leader, Mac, gathers up his prized men and tries to get to safety. Back at the office, the lack of communication from the lumber camp has them worried and to make sure nothing is wrong, Tyler is sent to investigate. Finding nothing but death at the camp, Tyler encounters one of the infected, but is saved by one of the survivors and brought to their safe house. But that is just the beginning as they need to get out of the infected area before being bit, or worse, get locked in.

What makes this movie special to me? The corporate America aspect of how the decisions are made based upon what is the best for the business. Knowing how this works on many levels, it puts a big smile on my face to see how it could play out in real life. With everyone in the office worrying about the stock prices dropping and the news getting out about a failed experiment, they don’t care about what they caused or that their employees are trapped. Watching as the president of the company has to cope with not being able to try to save his son is just sad, but that is the only care that anyone has for the people that are trapped in the field. I would hope that the loss of human life would come into consideration if an experiment like this ever went wrong, but if it was not sanctioned by the government, I highly doubt that anything would be done. Stay Scared.

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