A National Guard training exercise becomes a primal horror experience as its members must fight against mutated enemies in the harsh desert terrain. The film introduction gives an immediate sensation of horror that came from past franchise events while establishing sections for survival while foreseeing possible deaths. From the first scenes the audience experiences a combination of loneliness with fear which serves to pull them deep into the dangerous wilderness while danger looms nearby.
From the very beginning the film develops its core threat through putting together the elements of abandoned camp discovery combined with the distress signal. The story turns to follow the members of the rescue team while they operate completely isolated amid hostile surroundings. Throughout the movie the viewer witnesses mutant aggression intensify because the mission originally promised nothing but good. The main tension of survival horror films originates from how the characters must battle against impossible odds.
The uncertainty about what produces the mutants together with their unclear reasons behind their actions reduces the genuine terror potential of this film. Visual brutality appears to function as the central element in the film design rather than developing characters and studying psychological fear. The action-focused narrative delivers satisfaction to fans of that genre but possibly weakens the overall effect of the horror genre. The movie depends on delivering genuine feelings of horrifying isolation and dread instead of quantity of graphic violence. A lack of deep psychological exploration in the plot would leave the film appearing superficial and excessive.
