Salvage

SALVAGE comes across as an ultra-low budget variant on the whole 28 DAYS LATER theme, with terrified residents struggling to protect themselves from a rampaging killer whose identity is only revealed in snippets. Sadly, though, it's not much of a film at all, and certainly nothing we haven't already seen time and again, plot-wise. The whole 'container on the beach' aspect of the storyline (and title) is ridiculous and unconnected with the central story, which I imagined would be about thieving residents finding themselves affected by pollution.

Instead, it's the usual home invasion style antics, with a little excitement raised through some shenanigans in the loft, but not a lot. Inevitably, given the lack of money behind the production, much of the (short) running time is spent on people sitting around and chatting despite the air of pervading menace. A shame, then, that the characters are so lacklustre and unbelievable, particularly Neve McIntosh's ridiculous lead, Beth, who spends her entire time running around after an obnoxious daughter who clearly hates her guts.

Shaun Dooley, as McIntosh's comedic love interest, is better, but his character is purely there to give the lead somebody to talk to, so he doesn't get much to work with. The film squanders its money on some cheaply-staged gore effects (already done so many times, would have been better utilised if put towards more scenes of menace) while the regional accents of the Liverpudlian cast members render dialogue completely incomprehensible.

Part of the fun from watching comes from the realisation that this was filmed on the left-over sets from TV's BROOKSIDE, although the film's in serious trouble when the most interest it can muster involves recognising the bloody buildings it takes place in! Throw in a few silly plot twists and you have an entirely superfluous fluff piece that's surely going to be forgotten by all but the most ardent fans of modern British horror. If you want a decent film in this sub-genre, you could do worse than check out Isolation, about genetic experiments on cows at a remote farm.

It's never easy working with a low budget, especially in the horror genre what we often end up with is dreck, poor actors, poor scripts, poor special effects. Fortunately with this Brit thriller, the director managed to avoid the usual pitfalls, the cast was small, but acting was great, the special effects were convincing, and used sparingly. The characters were convincing, and the mother who had to find her daughter at any costs was really well played. The suspense in the movie was the best aspect, the mother and her recent pick up really have a hard time of it in this small cul-de-sac near the beach. Just what was in that trailer washed up on the beach? Overall, I recommend this to all horror fans, another good thing about the movie is it actually keeps you guessing as to just what is going on for quite a while - good job!

When a container washes ashore the residents of a sleepy cul-de-sac are plunged into violence, terror and paranoia. Fenced in by the military, a single mother must overcome all the odds to save her daughter.

I really have little to say about this film. From the description on Netflix, I figured it would be something like "The Host". Maybe I should be glad it was not (unlike many horror fans, I was not a big fan of that Korean attempt at monster movie fun). But this was no prize, either.

While I did not find the story all that interesting, and really not even worth commenting on, I will make one observation: it looks good. Knowing what I know about how the film was shot and edited, I am impressed with just how professional it looks. Sure, I have seen other films look great, too (John Pata's "Dead Weight"), but I hardly expected it here.

I'm rather perplexed by the fact most of the reviews on here go on about the lack of budget, albeit in a positive way. Yes it's not exactly Avatar in terms of spending on effects etc but the cost isn't something that's terribly relevant with this movie. The limited setting - most of the action takes place in a cul de sac - adds to the claustrophobic feeling. And the gore when it comes has the claret flowing with gusto and looks pretty convincing.

I did struggle a couple of times to understand the dialogue - a combination of muffled voices and regional accents - and although on one occasion this seemed to be a pretty key piece of information, in all it was fine.

Definitely worth checking out and I shall be following the director's work with interest

I had heard about this film some time ago, and was quite excited to finally get a hold of it. Based on a single street, a woman has a falling out with her semi estranged Daughter. Not long after all hell breaks loose.

While the film has a relatively low budget, the movie is quite well filmed. The downside is this is far from being an action flick, with little in the way of violence. So it really relies on dialogue to push the film along... This is where things fall apart.

The two gripes I had with this film was inconsistent acting and not being able to hear them! I was constantly having to juggle the volume control, cranking the volume up for talking then having to quickly get it down before the speakers threatened to explode during loud scenes (which this movie loved using low end bass).

Overall i give this a 5 and that is really stretching it.