Preservation (2015)

Don't listen to the Hype. It's awful

An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.

Like the great film, it's made with a great deal of visible affection both in front of and behind the camera.

Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.

Not an unenjoyable film, just a bit of a pointless one. Preservation takes a well-established horror premise of a camping trip gone awry and, well, does it again. What it has going for it is its cool soundtrack, its nice cinematography and its somewhat interesting characters. Other than that, there's very little to distinguish it from any other slasher film set in the woods. Average.

Right up until the point returning PTSD soldier boy turns his back on the bad guy. Stupid! Lost all credibility. Then when the husband does it too I went and did the dishes while it played in the background. It's a good example of when movies should be vetted prior to public release. I'm sure it was a stupid producer who forced the decisions, no one capable of the idea of this film: "It's closed! How can they close a state park?" would be so blind as to write those scenes.

I really don't get why makers of films such as these simply ruin it.. Its clear that this is a low budget movie but it had good camera work and decent actors so why ruin it with really bad character building and dialogue and then completely ruin it with completely implausible story events??? I really don't get..sigh!! It was simply ruined by something that normally could make a low budget film shine.. the story and characters! I will give you an example (and i will just ignore all the ridiculous impurities before or after) ..the main characters are supposedly completely lost in a nature park and when the couple (husband and wife) get their first contact (in a rangers cabin) with one of the psychos and at this point they don't know the dog was killed and hung, that the brother was killed nor if they are dealing with murderous psychos or just a bunch of kids that pulled a "lets steal their camping gear" prank on them. So the logic conclusion for them is to say farewell as the husband does the honorable and goes out of the front door to distract the psycho and the wife goes on a supposedly very veryyy veryyy long hike out of that park (they got lost remember?) and climb a treacherous steep cliff to reach the car (for which she just got a 2 second speed course in hot-wiring).. So the event is set in motion. Wife out the back window on her life changing track and husband out of the front door. Some scenes later of husband running and hiding and wife climbing we get to that conclusion.The husband is killed in really stupid conditions and the wife triumphantly reaches the end of her mount everest climb (which was well performed by the way!!) and lays down to have the final and last talk with her husband who speaks his final words.. We then for the first time see that it is actually 3 psychos on bikes and they of course go after her (this is all in continuity)...but what happens? Not even 30 seconds later the three bikers reach the location of the wife and manage to bike up the cliff and reach the wife.. ... ....? Huh? So the way out of the park is a 30 second bike ride on a very clear wide sand road? and this ladies and gentlemen sums up what ruins the movie as the whole movie is like this.Good camera work! Decent Actors! Horrid, HORRIDLY DUMB, script and story... what a shame! and what a waste!

Sometimes, the smallest of twists in the most common of stories, can make all the difference. Preservation is nothing you haven't seen before, as it features three hikers who get lost in the woods and are then hunted, while trying to find their way out. The real difference in this film is who is hunting them and why. To me, the scariest horror films are the ones that are believable. The events of this film could really happen and that is more terrifying than any ghost or goblin that Hollywood can create. Aside from the trip to the woods, there is a back story that features the hikers, making them seem all the more real to the audience. Unlike many similar film, the innocent hikers are people the audience will feel like it knows and they feel like people one can relate to. Preservation also features differences from other similar films, in the methods that the hunted use. How many times have you watched a film and said, "these people are stupid, I would never do that in a situation like this!?" In Preservation, they don't make those mistakes, in fact, they pretty much do everything a reasonable person would do. Finally, the cast is almost entirely made up of newcomers and they are truly terrific. Wrenn Schmidt is the kind of common hero that people tend to love, while Cody Saintgnue is the baby face who could do no wrong. At first I thought this film would be just like every other romp through the woods, but it's so much better than that. The film is extremely realistic and very well written, making it one of those independent films that you want to tell all your friends about.