Preservation

Its pretensions about humans-becoming-animals aside, "Preservation" is still pretty fun, if paradoxically more so before the blood sport begins.

Survival horror is a tough enough genre to pull off; defining the characters within one through tired clichés and boring archetypes only makes it more so.

Like his ill-fated hunting party, Mr. Denham's plans for his thriller don't turn out quite the way he'd hoped.

Christopher Denham's suspenseful survival drama is an ingenious variation on 'The Most Dangerous Game.'

A violent yet agreeably goofy throwback to the survival-in-the-woods genre, with shades of Southern Comfort, Deliverance, and even The Blair Witch Project.

Preservation finds itself fracturing into two halves. Both are moderately effective yet their contrast hinders us from staying invested without being jolted by their artifice.

Preservation ultimately falls prey to a screenplay that grows more and more idiotic as time progresses.

If you've seen the Spanish 'King of the Hill,' the denouement will come as no surprise. Still, the basic situation is so primal, what young filmmaker wouldn't want to attempt a knockoff?

Fans of backwoods horror won't be disappointed by Preservation, but more mainstream audiences are likely to be a hard sell.

Preservation is a great survival action movie, and I'd love to see Wrenn Schmidt become the new badass heroine.

Denham's film has the anxieties of post-9/11 America firmly in it sights, asking what kind of example the nation's recent history of violent adventurism abroad has set for the next generation of boys with toys.

Chockablock with instances of characters not shooting, running, attacking, or sneaking away when they can or should, this thriller comes off like the world's most rigged game.