I'd like to think that, after watching as many films as I have, I'm a little better than Joe Average at discerning what the filmmaker was trying to aim for with their final product. Be it absurdity, biting social commentary, gross-out value, or pretty much anything, once I figure out what the filmmakers were aiming for, my opinions of the film start to fall into place much easier. How successful were they at conveying their ideas to us? Did the movie affect me? Did it frighten/disturb/amuse/annoy me? Will it have the same effect on a wide audience?

All of these questions were completely thrown out the window with my viewing of David Lee Stewart's Confinement. What started out as a simple riff on The Most Dangerous Game transmogrified into a film so over-the-top, I genuinely can't tell if it's meant to be serious or tongue-in-cheek. Regardless of its intent, Confinement proves to be rather entertaining bit of Z-grade trash.

Peter (writer/producer/director/digital FX supervisor David Lee Stewart popping yet another hat onto his skyscraping stack), a sports equipment salesman from Charlottesville, VA, wakes up one morning not in his comfy bed, but in the woods, his pajamas swapped out for blue hospital-style scrubs. After wandering for a few days, he starts to meet other people trapped in the woods with him, from the scrawny (but oddly cute) China to the batshit-insane cannibal Derek. Slowly, they piece together what has happened to them: they are all confined into a section of the woods by an energy barrier (one of many cheap but moderately effective digital effects in the movie) for hunters who want a human trophy for their collection. Led by Peter, the victims trapped in Confinement rally together to fight back against their pursuers and escape.

Where other movies like Surviving The Game or Bloodlust played off their subject matter in a fairly serious fashion, or attempted to inject a little social awareness into the proceedings, Confinement suddenly hits its stride about 1/3 of the way through, becoming so over-the-top and absurd that it becomes almost lovable in its genuinely odd tone. Between its weird characters, dubious effects, goofily choreographed fight scenes, and almost non-stop mugging for the camera, one can't help but smile. When a nameless sword-wielding hunter drew his blade against Peter, I smirked. When Peter teetered at the edge of one of the least threatening waterfalls ever committed to film, I snickered. When Peter gets stabbed, his resulting grimace forced belly laughs out of me hard and fast. Even if Mr. Stewart was attempting a serious film, it's completely lost to the almost non-stop flood of goofiness.

However, some of the movie's more serious moments have their sparkle as well. Dudley Sauve, who plays Wystand, the head of the hunting operation, throws out a phenomenal performance. Instead of scenery-chewing like many of the actors, his deadpan delivery and Max Von Sydow looks (it's almost uncanny) help convey the best performance in the film. Also worth mentioning is a thoroughly creepy, incredibly well-executed sequence involving dozens of robotic children stalking China through the woods. Stewart mixes an eerily effective child actor with some pretty slick digital cut-and-paste effects to bring the scene to menacing life.

Shot on DV, Confinement looks pretty good, especially considering that 90% of the film is shot in natural light. The dark scenes are unbearably murky, but again, therein lies the limitations of DV and natural lighting. Audio is crystal clear, although there are a few painfully obvious moments of overdubbed dialogue. All in all, a pretty decent presentation for a pretty decent flick. It's not going to replace Surviving The Game in my heart anytime soon, but you could certainly do far worse.

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