User reviews

I thought I was watching Groundhog Day. Lauren Currie Lewis was fantastic as the girl who was reliving her murder over and over.

This is like a thinking man's horror film. You really don't know what is happening for a while. Is she crazy? It is obvious that it is not real, but what is going on?

There were some bloody parts, and one really gory scene, but most of it was like a thriller.

This was the real thing without all the special effects - except for the gory part.

Check this one out.

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.

The first thing you should know about "Salvage" is that it's not a typical gore-heavy slasher flick. Although there's gore and at least one really heavy slash (you'll know the one I'm talking about when it happens), "Salvage" is more of a film for the mind along the lines of the quiet thrillers "The Sixth Sense", "The Others" or even going back to the 70s with the likes of "The Wicker Man" and "The Stepford Wives". All of these are films with a powerful, novel concept told without a whole lot of blood & guts but with a heavy punch at the end.

The minute I saw that this film was one of the films selected for the 2018 Sundance Film Festival, I knew to expect something different, and that's indeed what we get. Shot on a super low indie budget of $25,000 (compared to its more famous 2006 box office competitor "Silent Hill" which had a budget of $50 Million), "Salvage" doesn't give us many bells & whistles, no flashy cgi effects, no colossal sets or zombie makeup, and for that reason if you're looking for a mindless popcorn spiller, you might want to look elsewhere and save yourself 80 minutes. However, if you're prepared for a quieter, more thinking type of thriller flick, then this will be perfect.

When I say "thinking type of thriller flick", I don't mean you have to struggle to understand what's happening. Rather, the challenge is in trying to guess *why* it's happening. And I gotta say, the explanation totally surprised and impressed me. It's the kind of ending that makes you think for a long time afterwards.

The cons: Yes, in my title I mentioned that I hated it. This is because at times the film seemed to fight against itself. On one hand it presented itself as a deep, challenging mystery, but this was undermined by a lot of cheap horror flick clichés (the predictable fake scares, unnecessary schlock, and particularly some ridiculously overt sound effects and audio cues. For example there's a scene where a character finds a small trinket that is of significance, which 80% of the audience will recognize immediately, but the audio department decided to hammer it home with a silly "tinkerbell" sound effect as if to say "THIS IS SIGNIFICANT!" Moments like that are peppered throughout the film, and after a while it felt like the filmmakers were treating us like idiots who need tinkerbell sounds whenever something important happens. I suppose the horror genre isn't exactly meant for beard-stroking philosophers, but still, I think the film should have stuck with a subtle, challenging approach which would have been more fitting for the cryptic mystery that is unfolding.

But like I said, the ending really impressed me, and that along with the excellent acting by our main character Claire (Lauren Currie Lewis in her first headlining feature performance) makes this film a great watch. A note about Lauren's acting: she plays a very believable character, confused, terrified, and yet not a shrieking idiot like a lot of horror flick protagonists. She does utter a few great shrieks, especially her absolutely bone-chilling screams during the aforementioned "heavy slasher" scene, but for the most part the power of her acting came in her realistic portrayal of how a normal person would react to these extremely abnormal events happening around her.

I highly recommend this film to anyone who's looking for a mostly-quiet horror flick with a good, philosophical spin. Major props to the filmmakers who pulled this off on such a low budget. For what it aims to do it's truly in league with the best.

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.

The biggest problem with this movie isn't the bad acting nor its small budget. Its the complete lack of realism in the characters behavior. Even if the movie could use its concept as an excuse for the lack of realism, you can't surrender to it. The complete lack of consistency in the characters choices of actions and dialogs makes it impossible. Did I mention the acting? Its really not helping. Its not horrible but it isn't good eider and you simply can't believe in the characters. They come off as very one dimensional. I don't know about you but unless its the kind of movie that doesn't take itself seriously (which isn't the case here), I can't dumb myself down enough to allow myself to believe in a film that lacks so much in character depth, realism and consistency. Another film's big problem is its predictability. The concept is one we've seen so many times before and despite its very small personal twist, isn't used in a way that you can't see where the movie's going almost from the start. Its not unwatchable but it took some effort to pull through.

What can you say about this movie? I liked the plot and story very much and it was different to say the least and i didn't exactly know what was going on until the very end. I have read some of the other reader comments saying they didn't get it. Its not rocket science, you just have to pay attention to whats going on and you need to watch it until the end. Because if you didn't watch it until the end you won't understand it. I don't understand what there isn't to get? Anyway the acting was very good for such a low budget movie, the girl does a good job as the main character and i'd like to see her in other features as well but i doubt she'll get a lot of parts because she isn't Hollywood beautiful, but she is hot in her own way. The villain was good too he was believable. There wasn't a whole lot of gore in this one either, there were a couple of parts that made me squimish though. I'd say check it out, its a very solid rental to say the least.

This film just goes around in circles, and the viewer does not know where they are. At first I thought..mmmmm, could be kinda cool movie this, but it just drags on and on, and eventually you don't know what's going on. The lead female is a good actress and played her role well, and the psycho fella, is creepy, but after a bit you don't really care what happens, because this film just drags on. Shame really, this could have turned out a lot better.

Would say though that the lead female and psycho fella, will have a good career ahead of them , but will they remember this film, for making them known, or for being the film they regret they ever made.

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'm not usually that impressed by independent films because I like my movies glossy and slick but this one stands out because everything takes place against a background of mundane normality. No glamorous instantly recognisable stars or exotic locations in this movie. The cast all look like the guy/gal next door and the locations are authentic small town USA which in itself is like another world to us British viewers. Lauren Currie Lewis is completely believable as Claire the girl who dies again and again in her personal horror groundhog day and despite the clue earlier on I didn't see the twist coming at all. Didn't think much of the actors portraying the cops though, they let down the hard work done by the three main players and the scene in the service station was obviously inspired by Switchblade Romance but overall well done guys, great job - 8/10

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.

I must admit that I was more than intrigued by the synopsis for this movie, especially since it sounded like a horror take on the "Groundhog Day" thing.

However, I just gave up on "Salvage" not even 30 minutes into the movie. Why? Because nothing, and I do mean nothing had happened by then. It was a snoozefest of epic proportions. And I had no desire to keep wasting my time on the movie. If a movie doesn't sink its hooks in pretty early on, then there is just no sense is keep watching it.

From what I saw, that "Salvage" didn't really offer anything worthwhile or interesting to the horror / thriller genre. And the acting that I witnessed wasn't particularly outstanding either.

As for the special effects, well I saw none. So I can't really tell you how they are in the movie. I guess you will just have to suffer through more than I managed to in order to experience the special effects.

I have no intentions of returning to finish "Salvage" because there was nothing that appealed to me here at all.

I am rating "Salvage" two out of ten stars, solely because it did have some adequate production value to it. Kind of an ironic movie title, when there was nothing to salvage here in terms of entertainment value or storyline.

First of all, I don't get it how this movie could get a rating of 5.6 or something.

It's got:

*) A total bullshit story *) Absolute pitiful acting (or trying to act) *) The worst photography I have ever seen *) A soundtrack like it was meant for a total different movie

Oh, and did I mention already that the acting was pitiful??

I thought, after Jeppers Creepers it could not get any worse. I was wrong.

Avoid this one at any cost, you will regret it if you don't !!

First let me say that overall for a low-budget movie the outcome has merit. The plot was catching but it fails to deliver a coherent conclusion.

The story develops in small-city Appalachia. It starts with a very commonplace situation that could be the preamble to a very lame movie, or a promise that better things are coming to justify the beginning. Fortunately, it is the latest.

In this first fragment, Claire -student at day, night gas station mini-market cashier at night- leaves her job and walks to the road to wait for her boyfriend to pick up her -she hasn't a driver's license-. Her boyfriend's truck arrives but driven by an unknown man, despite what, she accepts the ride. As you are already imaging he harassed her all the way until they arrive to Claire's home, and after some suspense -yes you are right again- the stranger kills her. However, wait, right here the plot starts looking interesting. Immediately after the supposed murder the story goes back to the point in time where it started -Claire leaving her job and walking to the road to wait for her ride- except that some details change.

At this point I said "well, this is going to be interesting", and began to guess which was main concept behind the plot. It looked good for some sort of time shifting and/or parallel or alternative realities. The following sequences reaffirmed that idea but at some point they stopped being consistent with any of the ideas I mentioned before. I made an effort to think of a new one that made better sense but couldn't find anyone except the some kind of no so exciting ghosts-spirits limbo, which didn't convince me completely neither.

Lauren Currie Lewis as Claire delivers a very good performance. She has a placid kind of beauty somewhere between Alicia Silverston and a female version of Jake Gyllenhaal (she could be a female "Donnie Darko" too if the film didn't drift into massive confusion) with evident talent for drama.

Sound and music were outstanding with powerful songs by the rather unknown "Devola".

As said before, keep trying.

IF YOU WANT TO WASTE 1HR AND 20 MINUTES OF YOUR TIME GO AHEAD. TOTAL WASTE

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.

This movie is kinda like that good old movie Groundhog Day .. except instead of a groundhog we got a stuck up tease and a serial killer and instead of a delightful comedy we got a somewhat void/so-so horror movie to confuse and bother the casual viewers mind

now we could end the review here but.. i still feel like doing some ranting

i kinda wanna like this movie because I'm normally a fan of twisted plots and horror movies or just twisted horror movies but the thing is that i didn't really get the movie until something like the last minute of it where the whole thing unravels in an extreme burst of an anti-climax

or at least it was for me anyway maybe because i got so bored during the movie since i didn't quite get any of it and the excitement factor was kinda low

a question I'm asking my self now is .. why was this movie ever made ? sure its alright at least in the sense that i've seen a lot worse but really there's nothing much new here

but hey if you need to kill sometime and there's nothing better to watch its watchable just don't expect any great thrills if your a general horror fan

Salvage is the worst so called horror film I've ever seen. There is nothing remotely horrific about it. It doesn't deserve to be in a genre so fine. First of all i don't see how so many people can think this piece of crap such a great movie. If I wrote something as boring and utterly ridiculous as this i would be laughed at and too embarrassed to subject others to the stupidity of it. Second: the acting is terrible and the lead actress is excruciatingly ugly. Third: the story sucks, its been used before, and the excuse that its a cheap movie is no excuse. Read the summery on the back of the case, it reveals the whole story. I do not recommend that you watch this movie unless you have 80 minutes to waste on something that will leave you regretting that you watched it. I feel really bad for those Crooks and the irony of their name. All hail Anthony Perkins!!!!!!!!!