Preservation (2014 film)

Plot summary

Hoping to escape their own troubles, Wit (Wrenn Schmidt), her husband Mike (Aaron Staton), and his brother Sean (Pablo Schreiber) decide to head out into a secluded forest preserve on a hunting trip. Mike is hoping that this will help Sean deal with his PTSD while Wit is hoping that she can rekindle her sagging relationship with Mike, who seems to be more interested in spending time on his cellphone than with her. Once they reach their destination the trio is undeterred by signs proclaiming that the preserve is closed and they continue on with their vacation unabated. The already strained atmosphere is made even worse when they wake up the next morning to discover that someone has stolen all of their belongings and marked each person's forehead with a big black "X". As the trio tries to deal with their existing stresses and the new fear of being hunted, they begin to turn on one another.

Cast

Reception

Critical reception for Preservation has been mixed to positive and holds a 58% score on Rotten Tomatoes. Dread Central and Fangoria both praised the movie, and Fangoria commented that it "largely succeeds as a swift and scary survival thriller." In contrast, Slant Magazine and Film School Rejects both panned the movie overall, with Film School Rejects writing "The cast does good work, the cinematography is attractive and even the score delivers, but while the direction is (mostly) fine Denham’s script throws it all away through a non-stop assault of horror movie 101 cliches and inanity."