Titreenp SERIOUSLY. This is what the crap Hollywood still puts out?

ReaderKenka Let's be realistic.

Married Baby Just intense enough to provide a much-needed diversion, just lightweight enough to make you forget about it soon after it’s over. It’s not exactly “good,” per se, but it does what it sets out to do in terms of putting us on edge, which makes it … successful?

Fulke Great example of an old-fashioned, pure-at-heart escapist event movie that doesn't pretend to be anything that it's not and has boat loads of fun being its own ludicrous self.

Nigel P It's nearly Christmas and in an English cul-de-sac, things briskly go from bad to worse. Young Jodie (Linzy Cocker) has come to visit her wayward mother Beth (Never McKintosh) and finds her in bed with an unknown man (Shaun Dooley); stomping away to the neighbour's house, there's then a raging argument in the street as she begs for her daughter to come home. In the middle of this, a helicopter overhead signals the arrival of a squad of military men in combat uniforms who promptly shoot the antagonistic Asian neighbour. Terrorism? Quarantine? Who knows? In one of several unexpected twists, we then stay with Beth for the bulk of the story, as revelations about the true nature of events slowly come to light. She becomes almost feral as she survives death time and time again, and only when she at last finds Jodie cowering in the darkness of her neighbour's is there cause for hope.SPOILER – a genetic experiment gone wrong has produced a number of deformed killers, all of whom have been destroyed – all but one. To keep the situation a secret, a squad of military men swarm and evacuate the cul-de-sac, killing anyone who has discovered the truth. As often proves to be the case, the human beings who have caused the problem are also the cause of the death and destruction 'necessitated' by the need to keep it a secret. The briefly seen creature is not someone you can feel sorry for – a gurgling, screaming rampant, mindless killer.Without giving anything further away, there is no happy ending to this, as young Jodie's screams usher in the closing credits. The stark mood of ruthless killing and suburbia turned into a hell-hole is effectively showcased and nothing is every predictable. This is a hidden gem of economic story-telling. Happy Christmas!

daggersineyes I found this by accident. I was actually trying for another movie of the same name and got this by mistake. So you can imagine how confused I was for the first half hour or so. Eventually I realised it was a completely different flick but I didn't mind at all.This movie was well paced and suspenseful - keeping my interest all the way through, with the exception of some rather redundant and pointless chatting between the two main leads about family life (it was a shame they put that in because it killed a very good suspense session just when it needed to be amped up). The acting is mostly very good and I had no problem understanding what people were saying (and I'm not British) so I'm not sure why others did. I thought the Director did a great job of capturing that sense of panic & bewilderment in the main characters as their neighbourhood suddenly transforms into something completely alien and terrifying for no apparent reason. There were some great scares, some nice action pieces (tho probably not enough) and a some slightly gory bits. The ending was a bit odd to me and I hated the very final scene - it was too over the top and came across as a bit silly. This unfortunately brought the whole movie down a bit. But in general I think this is a decent little thriller and well worth watching despite some flaws in it's execution. Don't be put off by it's low rating on IMDb. This isn't a "classic" or the best horror/thriller movie around but it's one of the better low budget ones and has a lot going for it.

Paul Andrews 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.

innocuous I have to disagree with some other reviewers about the low-budget look of this film. In my opinion, the budget was more than adequate for the story and I gave the film at least one additional star because they did so well on a small budget. I think it looks great.On the other hand, I had some issues with certain aspects of the finished film. One of the most frustrating is that the director, in an attempt to capture maximum realism, often permits the dialogue to drop to very low levels or has the actors speak the lines in a frenzied/excited state. I'm a Yank and, between the sound levels and the accents (to me), it can be difficult for me to hear and understand some of the best and most critical dialogue. Since the DVD version has no subtitles, I had to stop and replay scenes several times to appreciate what was being said. And replaying scenes two or three times is not a good way to get the feel of a movie.Every single plot element in this film has been seen before, too. But I don't think that this is necessarily fatal, since the same thing can be said about virtually every other horror film.Another problem I had with the film was the behavior and composition of the military force addressing the "problem." I've worked a lot with the military and with law enforcement and I am constantly amazed at how often screenwriters write in scenes in which soldiers or officers operate independently. You know...one soldier is sent here to check a house, a single detective is sent to arrest someone dangerous, and so forth. I can tell you with certainty that one thing the military and law enforcement do NOT do is send single people here and there, especially with nobody overlooking the situation or backing them up. Overwhelming force is the rule, especially when the operation is not intended to be covert, as is the case in this movie. (Oh, it IS intended to be covert? Well then, why are the soldiers going door to door giving instructions to the residents? And why are they engaging in free-fire with unsuppressed weapons in the middle of a town?) I also believe that the director showed the "creature" too often. In fact, this would have been a lot better film if they hadn't shown it at all. There still would have been lots of gore and action, but it would have maintained the mystery.So, what's the final verdict? Pretty good acting, good script (in general), not too long, lots of action, and a bit of mystery. I say it's worth your while.