Filthy Review - Salvage

Salvage (2009)

Review by Jude Felton

As much as I would like to see every film that is released, there are many that slip by due to time restraints or other reasons. One such movie was Salvage, a movie that premiered in 2009 and received its US DVD release the following year, and it is only now that I have had a chance to pop it in the player.

This English movie is set in Liverpool, and was filmed on the old set of the now defunct UK soap opera Brookside, and takes place one Christmas Eve. You wouldn’t know that it was Christmas Eve though as it rarely snows all that much in England, especially not at Christmas, and the houses seem very sparsely decorated. Regardless, young Jodie is being taken by her father to stay with her mother for the holidays, something that isn’t going down to well with Jodie. Upon arriving things go from bad to worse as she finds her mother, Beth, in a less than compromising position.

With this the attention of the story focuses from daughter to mother. Whilst the focus is on Beth, the cul-de-sac on which she lives is suddenly invaded by a heavy(ish) military presence, who in turn demand that they all stay in their houses. The reason for their presence? Could it be a terroristic threat? Or, as the title implies, something to do with a large container that has washed up on a local beach? You work it out. What follows though is a tense and often gory horror flick that manages to keep you guessing.

Taking its cues from several places, probably most notably Night of the Living Dead, Salvage has most of its action take place in the confines of just one or two of the houses. Only occasionally does the movie venture outside. Keeping it indoors though only helps to add to the paranoia and fear of the residents, which them not knowing what is going on.

The movie does move at a fair old pace, only really lagging about halfway through for some, what I thought, slightly unnecessary banter between two of the leads. This served only to give a little more backstory and to add that human factor to proceedings, but all I cared about was what the hell has got the military so pissed off and what is going around causing all the bloodshed.

Salvage is a decent looking flick throughout and the cast are all fairly solid too. I did find that the military fell flat into the clichéd side of things, but what are you going to do? There’s plenty of claret here too to keep the bloodhounds happy. Above all though it is director Lawrence Gough’s ability to keep the tension running throughout that made the movie work so well for me. The running time is only 75 minutes start to the end of the credits, so we nip through the action at a fair clip.

Although Salvage does wear its influences in plain sight it still manages to be a very good little horror flick. It’ll keep you guessing, and even if it doesn’t there is still plenty to enjoy here. Salvage is well worth you giving it a blast.

Salvage is available now through Revolver Entertainment. You can also check out the film's Official Site.