Salvage

Given the constraints of the budget, this was an excellent hour and a half's entertainment. The lead actors were excellent and the plot was imaginative and original.

It seems to me that those slagging off the film didn't actually understand the plot. Maybe they should stick to the big Hollywood movies that take pains to explain every twist so even the stupid can watch! The advantage of low budget indy films is that the viewer has to make some deductive leaps himself.

I, for one, spent some time in the movie working out exactly what was going on. Was she dead? What was the relationship to the killer? Why was the mother so creepy? But the ending, when it came, was still a surprise.

This is a pretty cool, low-budget film I just saw at Sundance. I have to say that Lauren Currie Lewis is terrific. And sexy-cute. I hate to make make comparisons between actors, but she looks like Alicia Silverstone, but with gobs more talent. The movie itself is pretty entertaining, but I doubt it will find distribution (I hope I'm wrong). Chris Ferry is great as a villain. He totally nails it and I loved hearing him keep calling Claire - it was funny. And the music was great too, evoking a lot of themes you'd typically find in a suspense / horror film. Again, Lauren is totally adorable and sexy. I can't help but feel she's going to become much in demand after this.

When a film truly concentrates on story, story, and oh yeah, story, you don't mind that it isn't big budget. And this film delivers. And don't get me wrong; there IS some gore, and really weird special effects, but never done gratuitously. The tension and the unraveling is what gets you; all in an hour and twenty minutes! But, it is the ending that really delivers. The film keeps delivering these ominous, nightmare-like sequences, always turning back in on itself, until the heinous ending when all the strings are tied up. And you with it. It's literally like someone throws a glass of cold water in your face.

Be prepared to be haunted for a while by a truly great horror classic that is destined to be remembered and spread by word-of-mouth.

Kudos to the Crook brothers; they are gonna deliver some really great films along the way.

Salvage is one of those wonderful surprises that you get when you're a fan of the genre. The film takes several familiar themes, moves along briskly and creepily, and winds up in a very surprising place, and low budget horror seldom surprises me anymore, so good job! It suffers from some typical slasher issues -- the heroine is attractive and likable but she is saddled with an obnoxious boyfriend, some "Hardy Boys Style" investigation that would never happen... but in general this film just plain works. Every time you think you've figured out what is happening and start to "settle in," there is a twist in the road, the leads actors Chris Ferry and Lauren Currie Lewis (who is as hot as the spicy dish that bears her name!) are fine, and overall, I can definitely recommend you check out "Salvage" if you get a chance.

I can't bring myself to write unnecessarily harsh and negative things about this film, but it's definitely a little too ambitious for its own good. With a title like "Gruesome" (at least, in Europe that's what it's called) and a plot summary that mentions a sadistic serial killer, the absolute last thing you expect to see is a psychological thriller that is reminiscent to "Groundhog Day" instead of to "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre". I saw this film amidst a boisterous and enthusiast crowd at the Belgian Horror & Fantasy Festival and needless to say nobody expected to see a psychological mind-exercise that serves a complex network of clues, twists and red herrings that all lead to a supernatural type of denouement that requires quite a lot of puzzling skills. And yet nonetheless, Jeff and Josh Crook surely deserve some respect and admiration for their film, as it undoubtedly holds the potential to grow out and become a modest cult-sleeper hit within a handful of years. The atmosphere is often quite terrifying, the film's structure is engaging to say the least and the climax is more than inventive enough to raise debates & discussions among avid horror fans. The tagline already reveals the premise of the film and immediately clarifies the similarities with the aforementioned 90's classic "Groundhog Day". "What if every day you relived your own murder?". When college student Claire Parker finishes her night shift as a gas station employee and awaits to be picked up by her boyfriend Jimmy, she meets the sinister Duke Desmond, who offers her a ride home in Jimmy's truck. He then brutally attacks Claire and drags her down to the basement of her house. The next morning, she wakes up and the events simply appear to be a disturbingly realistic dream. But all the horrible things happen again and again, indicating Claire is trapped inside an inescapable nightmare. Vague help from people close to her, like a befriended police detective and her own mother, eventually lead Claire to discover the true nature of the nightmarish cycle she's trapped it. I can't tell you too much about the twist at the end, of course, but it's quite staggering. Even though the final revelation raises more questions than it answers and causes you to skeptically play the movie again in your head, it's a horrific and ingenious finale that sticks to you. The pacing is occasionally slow, however, and at some times the confusing plot isn't compelling enough to force you to remain attentive and/or open-minded for new clues. "Gruesome" may not be as gruesome as I initially hoped, but it still features some effective shocks and awry images, most notably the sequences in which the killer savagely beats up Claire and drags her to her final resting place. Lead actress Lauren Currie Lewis is a talented young actress, and even if she doesn't get successful, she can always consider a second career as Alicia Silverstone's stunt double. The facial expressions and voices of the two actresses are almost identical. Chris Ferry's menacing performance as the robust killer is terrific as well. All in all, recommended with caution.