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Directed by Lawrence Gough. Starring Neve McIntosh, Shaun Dooley, Linzey Cocker, Dean Andrews. Horror, UK, 81 min.

DVD release date 22nd March 2010 - £12.99 BUY NOW.

It's Christmas Eve in your typical suburban close and teenager, Jodie, is being dropped off by her father to spend Christmas with her estranged mother. Unfortunately things don't get off to a good start, as Jodie walks in on her mother, Beth, enjoying the final thrusting moments of a one night stand. After storming out, she goes to stay at a neighbouring house, leaving her mother outside begging her to return. At this point, things take a decidedly unusual turn and Beth and her neighbours find themselves fighting the military, an unseen evil and, perhaps most surprisingly, their own pre-conceived ideas of themselves and the world around them.

Giving as little away as possible is tricky when reviewing Salvage, as several key points have to be ignored if the first time viewer is to fully enjoy the film. I was lucky enough to walk into this with no idea of what was coming and trust me, it is by far the best way to approach this one. The cast are uniformly excellent, notably Shaun Dooley (of Eden Lake) and McIntosh as Beth. Just as I was drawing up a list of complaints about stereotypical characterisation and one dimensional characters, the film’s creators pulled the rug out from beneath me – are all single mothers “dole scum”? Is little Britain right to be scared of the Asian family next door? Of course not, and this film supposes there are innumerable other things, both political and physical, that perhaps we should be worrying about instead.

Make no mistake, this isn’t a kitchen sink drama by any stretch of the imagination. During its brief run time this cheap little British film throws in enough jumps, scares, twists and gore to fully justify both its horror genre tag and its BBFC rating. Although by no means excessive in its bloodletting, it certainly dishes up the red, red krovvy when the situation merits it. It isn’t perfect – the “epic disaster in a microcosm” film has been done several times before – but it puts characters you care about in an unpleasant enough situation that you genuinely worry for their safety, without thinking “why the hell did you just do that?”. It also offers a genuine threat to its protagonists. Unlike films such as Zombieland, where you know the main characters are all effectively safe from the get-go, absolutely no-one is guaranteed to survive this downbeat little flick. Salvage isn’t up to the standards of Eden Lake, isn’t as vicious as Mum and Dad and certainly isn’t as visually stunning as 28 Days Later. What it is though, is a wonderfully creative and well made low budget shocker that is precisely what we should all be supporting. If films like this succeed, hopefully the funding for other projects by the likes of Lawrence Gough will continue to be delivered.

Wifey wholeheartedly agreed…

This little Liverpudlian independent film is exactly what a good British horror should be: smart, scary and slightly subversive with a nice grounding in reality. It's a great package produced for peanuts, and well worth the admission fee.

The story is top notch, turning an almost Brookside-esque setup (incidentally it was actually filmed on the old Brookside estate) into a genuinely frightening tale where single mum Beth morphs into a female Rambo, utterly determined to get her errant daughter back even if it means facing the armed forces on her doorstep and the other menace that washed up on the nearby beach. The script and acting are razor sharp and the gentle twists on the characters and set up are very cleverly played out. Shaun Dooley's Kieran, playing the one night stand who overstayed his welcome, gives a particularly smart nod to our modern day obsession with terrorism, as does Beth’s reinvention of the single mother stereotype.

It's hard not to spoil the plot with much more of a review but this film really does have it all - script, acting, jumps, smarts and real heart. Perhaps Liverpool isn’t too bad after all!

Bonus material: Interviews with cast and crew, Behind the Scenes and Commentary option.

Alex & Sarah Chambers.

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