In fact, the same marketing strategy was used with "Saved". Limited release to build up "buzz" and "word of mouth". It didn't work. The hard truth about "Saved" and "Bareback Mountin" is that these are films with a narrow, limited audience confined to the bluest of blue areas.
That proves absolutely nothing. The limited-release strategy is not some new thing used by "Saved," but one of the basic rollout strategies used for decades. So saying one other movie tried this and it didn't work is useless--it's not worked hundreds of times, but it's also worked very well hundreds of times.