UNIVERSAL CITY, Calif. — “The Hunt” is back on. Only this time Universal Pictures has designed a radically different marketing campaign for the violent film, which is ostensibly about liberal elites who kill conservative “rednecks” for sport.

Before “The Hunt” was shelved last year in the face of criticism, Universal had started to market the film as something it was not: a relatively straightforward horror flick. Now the studio is hoping that an unusual marketing tactic — forthrightness — will protect “The Hunt” from blowback before its release on March 13.

A new trailer, released on Tuesday, does not try to boil down “The Hunt” to a single, salable genre, which is the way Hollywood usually approaches films. Instead it presents “The Hunt” as it is — an absurdist satire that leaves no side of the political divide unscathed and is equal parts comedy, horror and thriller.

“Not one frame was changed,” Jason Blum, who produced the film with Damon Lindelof (“Lost,” “Watchmen”), said in an interview. “This is exactly the same movie.”