Salvage (2009)

Salvage is a great British gem of a horror movie, that obviously pays homage to the early horror master George Romero films. Besides the community trying to figure out what’s going on – military sharpshooters everywhere, both civilians and military meeting gruesome deaths, horrific screams from someone or thing on the loose – the story also develops two very interesting relationships. The mother Beth (Neve McIntosh), has a strained, if you can even call it that good, relationship with her teen daughter, Jodi (Linzey Cocker), mainly brought on by mom’s many casual affairs. She’s divorced with custody given to Dad, Peter (Alan Pattison), and currently having an affair with married Kieren (Shaun Dooley). She hardly knows Kieren’s name, however, they get closer as the terror develops in an interesting relationship. Beth’s whole focus though is to find and rescue Jodi from whatever is out there.

There’s loads of violence, blood, and terror but the real story is a mom desperately trying to redeem herself by frantically becoming responsible and loving as she makes every effort to get to her daughter while terror strikes from all corners.

Although the film does initially have a vaguely similar feel to recent paranoia thriller “At Your Door”, it moves quickly from building unease into inexplicable chaos and murder as violence erupts. The film rattles along at a good pace, and the frequent scare scenes help to keep the viewer entertained and engaged.

The cinematography, with dark colors and flashes of gore, definitely remind me of George Romero, as does the opening scene with the ill fated paperboy (Kyle Ward), and definitely the somewhat unexpected closing scene. I believe the acting by everyone, especially Neve McIntosh, is excellent – you can really feel the tension and terror these people are experiencing as the horror develops. To me, this is one of those movies that seems too short and could easily have been maybe half hour longer with even more character development subplots.

All and all, this is a brilliantly fun little film from the UK that I seriously hope gains a great following here in the states. So…if you’re looking for a really good suspense/horror movie,with great performances, good plot and some gore…this is definitely a MUST see.

Salvage is a great British gem of a horror movie, that obviously pays homage to the early horror master George Romero films. Besides the community trying to figure out what’s going on – military sharpshooters everywhere, both civilians and military meeting gruesome deaths, horrific screams from someone or thing on the loose – the story…