Review of Salvage (2009) by Ross H — 08 Aug 2010

In a world where big budgets are the norm for cinema, I find it is usually the case that horror films with very small and limited budgets tend to be the better films in the genre. Though there have been many great big budget, major studio backed horror films, the majority of the horror films I like tend to be independent ones. Though not nearly as great as other indie horror flicks, Lawrence Gough's Salvage is a fantastic no-budgeter that packs one hell of a tense and scary time.

The movie takes place on Christmas Eve. Unbeknownst to the neighbors living in a cul-de-sac in Liverpool, a sinister force has just washed ashore. Jodie (Linzey Cocker) has just been dropped off by her father to spend time with her estranged mother Beth (Neve McIntosh), but their meeting isn't the best it could have been, and Jodie runs across the street to stay with a neighborhood friend. Immediately after this, a military team storms in, quarantines the area off and tells everyone to stay in their homes.

There are two things that made this film as creepy as it is. First, the monsters of the film are infected humans who have been transformed into mindless killing machines. They move fast and kill anyone they see. Secondly, there are the on edge soldiers trying to contain the outbreak who pose almost as equally a dangerous threat to the people of this neighborhood. So when Beth tries to get out of her house and make it across the street to her daughter, the journey rarely gives a moment where you can relax.

I wish there were more horror films like Salvage these days. Here is a film that has great and realistic characters that are actually people we can connect with. Beth's motherly instincts are a perfect catalyst for the character to put her life on the line to get to her daughter. And the film handles it rather well, taking the troubled parent trying to redeem themselves story-arc and doing something new and unusual with it by placing it in a horror film setting.

Salvage is a great blend of gory, grisly mayhem with some heartfelt moments of family drama. And the film presents itself in a rather realistic fashion, showing how people might actually react to a situation like this instead of the film relying on tried and not so true cliches of the genre. Salvage is briskly paced, packed to the brim with scares, acted wonderfully and beautifully filmed.