Salvage

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!

A great addition to the flavour-du-jour domestic danger sub-genre (cf. Right At Your Door, The Strangers, Ils) as a small Scouse (that's Liverpool, non-UKers) neighbourhood finds themselves besieged by a mysterious murderous malcontent.

This features all one could hope for from such a movie - flawed (jut like us) yet likable (er, just like us) characters (take note Eli Roth), suburban slaughter, a threat more hinted at than seen, with a side-order of allusions to domestic terrorism and sinister soldiers skulking to add some spice.

I caught this flick a sweltering screening at the Edinburgh International Film Fest but if there's any justice in this bad old world then it'll be at a cinema near you in the not too distant!

Salvage do has his pro and contra's. I would like to choose in between. it takes a while before it starts (20 minutes) and due it's short time that's a bit too long. The first 20 minutes we start to know the personalities then suddenly things go from wrong to worse. A container washes ashore with some hidden secrets. The army is supposed to solve the problem but they can't do it. It's the twist in the story that makes the first 20 minutes a bit of a waist of time. Even the part were they are telling each other why they are cheating is a bit too long. Luckily, the blood is in tact and the slaughtering is sometimes brutal and even gory. A good effort to try to make a weird story but lacks sometimes of suspense.

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.

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.