Salvage (2009) - Filmreview

---

Neve McIntosh faces a new horror in Brit flick Salvage. "Fear cannot be contained"

It would be easy to believe that Salvage was a final episode of popular British soap opera Brookside, set in Liverpool. Not only do the interior sets look untouched like something out of the Mary Celeste but the exterior location, too, was used in filming this low budget horror movie.

Honestly, Brookside itself became so gritty and far fetched by the end of its 21-year run that you could almost imagine anything was possible plot-wise, including a series of horrifying killings at the hands of a mutant. Big spoiler aside, Salvage does have some things going for it besides the famous setting. Starring Neve McIntosh (The Hound of the Baskervilles, Doctor Who) as Beth and Shaun Dooley as Kieran, we arrive at the cul-de-sac as a newspaper boy overhears an argument between an Indian couple. The man, Mr Sharma, sees the boy peering through their window and chases him. The boy flees into the wood behind the close, where he is murdered by an unknown figure. We are then introduced to teenager Jodie (Linzey Cocker) who is expected to spend Christmas with her estranged mother Beth (McIntosh). Brought to the Close by her father, Jodie takes a Key from a flower pot and lets herself in. Who needs a Grinch when you have a terrible mother? The young girl, disgusted to find Beth having sex with a stranger upstairs, leaves the house to seek comfort with a friend across the way. Beth follows but is refused entry by the friend's own mother (played by Coronation Street actress Debbie Rush).

And then all hell breaks loose...

We are now firmly in Phil Redmond (Brookside creator) territory for those who remember the 20th Anniversary of Brookside and its over-the-top siege storylines featuring Terry 'Psycho' Gibson and his antics.

Except... drug dealers are replaced by an unseen killer who terrorises residents and eliminates special force team members sent in to contain the situation. The majority of the film now focuses on Beth and her one-night stand Kieran as they attempt to make sense of sudden developments. Residents are ordered by soldiers to stay in their homes. Beth, however, is more concerned for her daughter, who remains at the friend's house. If there is one positive about Salvage then it has to be Neve McIntosh's strong performance, whose character refuses to give in and wait it all out - instead she remains at the center of this tense thriller directed by Lawrence Gough.

Kieren is convinced they are victims of an al-Qaeda terrorist threat, a suspicion seemingly confirmed by an injured special ops soldier who they bring into the safety of Beth's home. Beth, though, discovers the truth after overhearing the soldier, Akede (Kevin Harvey), on his radio to a colleague. This is where the movie has the potential to deliver further but ultimately fails. The true "threat" is boasted to be the perfect killer, an "uncontrollable" monster. Could this explain why Akede's unit is failing? So, perhaps we're in Alien or Predator territory? No, not really. As the plot reaches its conclusion, so does the thrill. Beth is reunited with her daughter but is attacked by the mutant; the victim of a military experiment, it turns out. Fleeing in terror, daughter Jodie reaches the front garden of the house when the monster goes in for the kill, having followed...

Salvage marked Lawrence Gough's film début in the director's chair, he has since gone on to work on shows like Cold Blood, Hollyoaks, and Atlantis. The feature was also one of three projects chosen for the Digital Departures filmmaking initiative launched in 2007 to celebrate Liverpool's Capital of Culture status in 2008; the other two being documentary Of Time and the City (writer/director: Terence Davies) and film Kicks (director: Lindy Heymann - written by Leigh Campbell - original title: Starstruck). All three projects each secured a £250,000 budget.

McIntosh won two awards for her performance, at the International Fantasy Film Award and Fantastic Fest. It is easy to see why she accepted the part, "I was attracted to the script because Beth is the main protagonist – I’m covered in bruises from all the chasing and clambering. My last job was a film with Joe Fiennes about a Jewish family hiding from the Holocaust, so it’s very different" - Liverpool Echo.

On a personal note, I do wish there had been more screen time between Beth and Jodie, and that more of their relationship had been established. I'm sure McIntosh and Cocker would have given the piece just that extra bit of emotion in an otherwise emotionally charged drama. Thoroughly enjoyable, for fans of horror or Brookside.

Purchase Salvage via amazon.co.uk.

---

Article author: Alwyn Ash

	Follow @AlwynAsh	Follow @1TimesUK

---

Read More

Sherlock Holmes - Memories, my dear Watson

---

Article author: Alwyn Ash
"At the right time, in the right light, everything is extraordinary"

---

---

"It is a capital mistake to theorize before one has data. Insensibly one begins to twist facts to suit theories, instead of theories to suit facts."

What does the Great Detective mean to someone who finds fascination in all things Victorian? As a child I watched "The Baker Street Boys", a British television show written by Richard Carpenter (creator of the popular "Robin of Sherwood" TV drama) and Anthony Read, and first broadcast in 1983, focusing on a gang of children who assist the legendary Sherlock Holmes in several cases, yet end up involved in many more of their own, facing the dangers of the Victorian criminal underworld. Add to this the classic adventures as experienced through the pure genius of English actor Jeremy Brett's performances as Holmes in the popular Granada television series (airing 1984-94) and you have a world of murder, intrigue, kidnapping and blackmail to relish. These types of shows left a deep impression on me to this very day, ghosts of memories that had to be relived through the eyes of an adult. In recent years I have even been fortunate enough to explore the same world via audio, with the fantastic Welsh actor Clive Merrison as the equally great man himself...

I suppose my fascination with Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's character stems from the age in which it is set - a dark and deep history where legends have been born: Jack the Ripper and the Elephant Man, both utterly real and whose own stories have been told many times over. It was a pioneering era of literature, inventions and construction, and gave birth to people such as Alexander Graham Bell and Thomas Edison. London was a thriving city of commerce and yet... the poorer regions ultimately bred poverty and crime, those who could not afford to live robbed and murdered, others resorted to prostitution; it was, indeed, a tale of two cities!

Though there have been newer, fresher takes on the legend of Holmes - think BBC's "Sherlock", created by Mark Gatiss and Steven Moffat; or Robert Downey Jr.'s role as the fictional detective - none have captured the true spirit of the character as seen by Brett or heard by Merrison. Even veteran English actor Peter Cushing never truly encapsulated the part for me (perhaps I am too drawn to Cushing as a loveable grandfather figure after his Van Helsing and Dr Who roles): in my mind Holmes is arrogant and clever, deceitful and ruthless, opinionated and a law unto himself, though he firmly embraces truth and justice whenever possible. I guess your view of the perfect actor is reflected by experience.

If you are open to new possibilities then I am always glad to give a mention to the wonderful people at bigfinish.com, whose own vision is masterfully created in full-cast audios starring Nicholas Briggs - the great detective even takes on an infamous murderer in "Holmes and the Ripper", also featuring Richard Earl and India Fisher. It is always a treat to share this character with so many people clearly as equally passionate. Having researched a little into this subject, I was unaware of another created by Doyle, that of Professor Challenger; I have not, to my shame, ever read "The Lost World", nor any follow-up novel featuring this character.

I honestly believe that if it hadn't been for Sherlock Holmes, I would never have discovered other steps into the murky world of Victorian fiction. I am grateful for this. Another adaptation I must mention is that of "The Hound of the Baskervilles", a 2002 production starring Richard Roxburgh as Holmes, Ian Hart as fellow crime fighter Doctor Watson, Richard E Grant as Jack Stapleton, and the stunning Neve McIntosh as Beryl Stapleton - it was produced by Tiger Aspect productions and directed by David Attwood; sadly a "sequel", "Sherlock Holmes and the Case of the Silk Stocking", again with Hart in the role as Watson but now casting actor Rupert Everett as Holmes, failed to be as promising...

---

Follow Alwyn Ash on Twitter. Image source courtesy of wikipedia.org
(Sidney Paget Strand portrait, 1891). Article © Alwyn Ash 2015.

---

Read More