Gruesome

The first thing you should know about "Salvage" is that it's not a typical gore-heavy slasher flick. Although there's gore and at least one really heavy slash (you'll know the one I'm talking about when it happens), "Salvage" is more of a film for the mind along the lines of the quiet thrillers "The Sixth Sense", "The Others" or even going back to the 70s with the likes of "The Wicker Man" and "The Stepford Wives". All of these are films with a powerful, novel concept told without a whole lot of blood & guts but with a heavy punch at the end.

The minute I saw that this film was one of the films selected for the 2018 Sundance Film Festival, I knew to expect something different, and that's indeed what we get. Shot on a super low indie budget of $25,000 (compared to its more famous 2006 box office competitor "Silent Hill" which had a budget of $50 Million), "Salvage" doesn't give us many bells & whistles, no flashy cgi effects, no colossal sets or zombie makeup, and for that reason if you're looking for a mindless popcorn spiller, you might want to look elsewhere and save yourself 80 minutes. However, if you're prepared for a quieter, more thinking type of thriller flick, then this will be perfect.

When I say "thinking type of thriller flick", I don't mean you have to struggle to understand what's happening. Rather, the challenge is in trying to guess *why* it's happening. And I gotta say, the explanation totally surprised and impressed me. It's the kind of ending that makes you think for a long time afterwards.

The cons: Yes, in my title I mentioned that I hated it. This is because at times the film seemed to fight against itself. On one hand it presented itself as a deep, challenging mystery, but this was undermined by a lot of cheap horror flick clichés (the predictable fake scares, unnecessary schlock, and particularly some ridiculously overt sound effects and audio cues. For example there's a scene where a character finds a small trinket that is of significance, which 80% of the audience will recognize immediately, but the audio department decided to hammer it home with a silly "tinkerbell" sound effect as if to say "THIS IS SIGNIFICANT!" Moments like that are peppered throughout the film, and after a while it felt like the filmmakers were treating us like idiots who need tinkerbell sounds whenever something important happens. I suppose the horror genre isn't exactly meant for beard-stroking philosophers, but still, I think the film should have stuck with a subtle, challenging approach which would have been more fitting for the cryptic mystery that is unfolding.

But like I said, the ending really impressed me, and that along with the excellent acting by our main character Claire (Lauren Currie Lewis in her first headlining feature performance) makes this film a great watch. A note about Lauren's acting: she plays a very believable character, confused, terrified, and yet not a shrieking idiot like a lot of horror flick protagonists. She does utter a few great shrieks, especially her absolutely bone-chilling screams during the aforementioned "heavy slasher" scene, but for the most part the power of her acting came in her realistic portrayal of how a normal person would react to these extremely abnormal events happening around her.

I highly recommend this film to anyone who's looking for a mostly-quiet horror flick with a good, philosophical spin. Major props to the filmmakers who pulled this off on such a low budget. For what it aims to do it's truly in league with the best.

When a film truly concentrates on story, story, and oh yeah, story, you don't mind that it isn't big budget. And this film delivers. And don't get me wrong; there IS some gore, and really weird special effects, but never done gratuitously. The tension and the unraveling is what gets you; all in an hour and twenty minutes! But, it is the ending that really delivers. The film keeps delivering these ominous, nightmare-like sequences, always turning back in on itself, until the heinous ending when all the strings are tied up. And you with it. It's literally like someone throws a glass of cold water in your face.

Be prepared to be haunted for a while by a truly great horror classic that is destined to be remembered and spread by word-of-mouth.

Kudos to the Crook brothers; they are gonna deliver some really great films along the way.

Salvage is about a killer that gets his just deserts. The cover made me a little uncomfortable, so it took me a while to pick it up. It starts out with the star, a typical teen age girl trying to start her life after high school. She has a job and a boyfriend with a truck and she also goes to college. As the movie rolls along you get little hints about what's going on. But the same day keeps repeating with bad results that only she can remember. Flashbacks and visions get so confusing it starts to detract from the movie until they begin to let the secret loose. A good pertinent sound track that wasn't overpowering as some low budget films tend to do. A nice twist at the end makes it an unusual film well worth seeing.

This is a pretty cool, low-budget film I just saw at Sundance. I have to say that Lauren Currie Lewis is terrific. And sexy-cute. I hate to make make comparisons between actors, but she looks like Alicia Silverstone, but with gobs more talent. The movie itself is pretty entertaining, but I doubt it will find distribution (I hope I'm wrong). Chris Ferry is great as a villain. He totally nails it and I loved hearing him keep calling Claire - it was funny. And the music was great too, evoking a lot of themes you'd typically find in a suspense / horror film. Again, Lauren is totally adorable and sexy. I can't help but feel she's going to become much in demand after this.

I'm not usually that impressed by independent films because I like my movies glossy and slick but this one stands out because everything takes place against a background of mundane normality. No glamorous instantly recognisable stars or exotic locations in this movie. The cast all look like the guy/gal next door and the locations are authentic small town USA which in itself is like another world to us British viewers. Lauren Currie Lewis is completely believable as Claire the girl who dies again and again in her personal horror groundhog day and despite the clue earlier on I didn't see the twist coming at all. Didn't think much of the actors portraying the cops though, they let down the hard work done by the three main players and the scene in the service station was obviously inspired by Switchblade Romance but overall well done guys, great job - 8/10