Salvage is set in Liverpool in England & starts on Christmas Eve as the fourteen year old Jodie (Linzey Cocker) is dropped off at her mother Beth's (Neve McIntosh) place in a peaceful little cul-de-sac to spend Chritmas there with her. However after a big argument Jodie storms out & disappears insides a neighbors house, Beth is annoyed & things get even worse when fully armed special ops from the army surround the close & cut it off, they prevent any communications from getting in or out & warn the residents to stay inside or risk being shot. Scared & confused Beth just wants to get to her daughter Jodie but soon realises that something big is going on, something that the special ops will do anything to keep quiet...
This British production was directed by Lawrence Gough & was produced to celebrate Liverpool's title as EU City of Culture in 2008 which just sounds bizarre to me, anyway what we have here is a horror thriller that tries to pile on the tension & suspense but never ends up being anything particularly special. The script starts off like a typical thriller as everyone thinks terrorists are on the loose & the events seen are very vague with no explanation behind them other than guesswork from the character's but then it shifts into monster film mode for the final twenty minutes or so. Salvage has quite a few similarities with Aliens (1986) actually, the base under siege setting, the mother daughter relationship that drives the character's & the presence of a slimy monster who wants to kill everyone as well as the special ops army unit sent there to kill it. The first hour or so is fairly forgettable actually, I mean the script does an effective enough job of building tension & suspicion & keeping you guessing but it never really goes anywhere & I personally didn't like the character's or the setting that much which obviously didn't help. There are a few problems with the script, it's never explained why these heavily armed special ops unit couldn't kill one single mutant monster when a badly injured woman with a poker can or why Sharma was covered in blood when threatening the army unit with that meat cleaver & I just felt there wasn't enough explanation behind what was going on. The script manages to capture the character's quite well & they end up feeling like proper people & the downbeat ending (taken from The Night of the Living Dead (1968)) may not satisfy everyone. The script was partly inspired by an actual real life incident when the container ship MSC Napoli was beached on Branscombe Beach in Devon during 2007 & local residents flocked to the scene to steal whatever they could find! I remember it being widely reported back then in the media although having said that the actual container on the beach has little relevance in Salvage & doesn't play a great part in proceedings.
Salvage was filmed on the disused sets from the old soap opera Brookside (1982-2003) which finished a few years ago but is still well remembered over here. The setting was instantly recognisable even though much of the film takes place in a house which to be honest could have been anywhere. There's a bit of gore but not too much, there's a slashed throat & some blood splatter but not much else. The monster looks alright even if it's only seen very briefly. The film is well made with quite frantic camera movement when needed & there are a couple of nice jump scenes here especially the first time you see the monster as someone unexpectedly shines a torch in it's face.
Filmed on Merseyside in Liverpool here in the UK this obviously had a low budget but it doesn't really show expect for the intimacy & claustrophobic nature which both work in the films favour to be honest. The acting is good, there aren't many people in it but the performances are good.
Salvage is a watchable British horror thriller that tries to keep you guessing & tries to crank up the tension but with little in the way of a pay-off expect standard monster film clichés it perhaps doesn't make the most of the careful build-up. Not a bad film I suppose but I wouldn't call it a great one either, worth a watch but don't expect a classic.
This British production was directed by Lawrence Gough & was produced to celebrate Liverpool's title as EU City of Culture in 2008 which just sounds bizarre to me, anyway what we have here is a horror thriller that tries to pile on the tension & suspense but never ends up being anything particularly special. The script starts off like a typical thriller as everyone thinks terrorists are on the loose & the events seen are very vague with no explanation behind them other than guesswork from the character's but then it shifts into monster film mode for the final twenty minutes or so. Salvage has quite a few similarities with Aliens (1986) actually, the base under siege setting, the mother daughter relationship that drives the character's & the presence of a slimy monster who wants to kill everyone as well as the special ops army unit sent there to kill it. The first hour or so is fairly forgettable actually, I mean the script does an effective enough job of building tension & suspicion & keeping you guessing but it never really goes anywhere & I personally didn't like the character's or the setting that much which obviously didn't help. There are a few problems with the script, it's never explained why these heavily armed special ops unit couldn't kill one single mutant monster when a badly injured woman with a poker can or why Sharma was covered in blood when threatening the army unit with that meat cleaver & I just felt there wasn't enough explanation behind what was going on. The script manages to capture the character's quite well & they end up feeling like proper people & the downbeat ending (taken from The Night of the Living Dead (1968)) may not satisfy everyone. The script was partly inspired by an actual real life incident when the container ship MSC Napoli was beached on Branscombe Beach in Devon during 2007 & local residents flocked to the scene to steal whatever they could find! I remember it being widely reported back then in the media although having said that the actual container on the beach has little relevance in Salvage & doesn't play a great part in proceedings.
Salvage was filmed on the disused sets from the old soap opera Brookside (1982-2003) which finished a few years ago but is still well remembered over here. The setting was instantly recognisable even though much of the film takes place in a house which to be honest could have been anywhere. There's a bit of gore but not too much, there's a slashed throat & some blood splatter but not much else. The monster looks alright even if it's only seen very briefly. The film is well made with quite frantic camera movement when needed & there are a couple of nice jump scenes here especially the first time you see the monster as someone unexpectedly shines a torch in it's face.
Filmed on Merseyside in Liverpool here in the UK this obviously had a low budget but it doesn't really show expect for the intimacy & claustrophobic nature which both work in the films favour to be honest. The acting is good, there aren't many people in it but the performances are good.
Salvage is a watchable British horror thriller that tries to keep you guessing & tries to crank up the tension but with little in the way of a pay-off expect standard monster film clichés it perhaps doesn't make the most of the careful build-up. Not a bad film I suppose but I wouldn't call it a great one either, worth a watch but don't expect a classic.