It’s always frustrating when a movie clearly has the right concept behind it but can’t seem to execute it to its full potential. In a Violent Nature, the feature debut from writer-director Chris Nash, falls into this trap in its attempt to breathe new life into slasher films. Nash brings a slow arthouse style to the traditional horror setup of a masked monster killing teenagers out in the woods. However, this time, the audience sees the story unfold only through the perspective of the killer. It’s a bit of a novel approach that might’ve worked a hell of a lot better had the movie committed more to its whole selling point. Yet, despite this frustration, In a Violent Nature still has an undeniable uniqueness that horror fans can greatly appreciate.
In a Violent Nature opens with an unlucky group of young friends coming across the site of an infamous crime in the Ontario wilderness. For a horror movie that’s trying to strip the genre down to its bare bones, it sure does overexplain its lore in the most straightforward way possible, i.e. having a character tell the viewer all about it in a pair of scenes that drag on for a bit too long — but I digress. When one of these young fools makes the genius decision to swipe an obviously important locket that’s been left in memorial at a collapsed fire tower, out from the ground pops the latest attempt to create an iconic new killer.
Thankfully, the main creature’s design is one of the things In a Violent Nature gets very right. Johnny (played by Ry Barnett in an imposing performance) is an undead silent behemoth donned in a creepy old firefighter’s helmet. To Chris Nash’s credit, his monster’s screen presence works exactly as intended. Johnny stands tall as an effectively terrifying movie monster, one that could easily gain his own little cult following in time. When it seems like far too many modern horror films bend themselves over in trying to sell a new creature to an audience, In a Violent Nature makes it look all too easy. All you need is a memorable design, a magnetic screen presence, and some standout kills. And oh does In a Violent Nature have some kills.
Courtesy of IFC Films
Johnny begins a slow but relentless and methodical hunt for the thieves, presumably because he wants his locket back. However, he never appears to be in any particular hurry. I can forgive how much of this film’s hour and thirty-four-minute runtime is dedicated purely to watching Johnny slowly stalk his prey through miles and miles of forest. That’s just how these things go and, in this case, it’s part of In a Violent Nature’s whole angle. It’s hilarious imagining how Johnny’s rampage can be reflective of Jason Voorhees or Michael Myers’ point of view in their own famous slasher movies, quietly stumbling across backdrops and conveniently sneaking up on unknowing teens as they spit out snippets of exposition or corny dialogue. It’s in these moments that Chris Nash’s screenplay excels at finding novelty in its monster-only perspective.
What I can’t forgive, though, is how this film’s desire to create as many gory kills as possible feels completely out of sync with both its concept and its character. Cinematographer Pierce Derks (V/H/S/94) delivers some unique work by continuously placing the camera directly behind Johnny, giving the viewer a sort of 3rd person video game perspective as he treks through the remote wilderness and stalks his victims. Especially with there being no music or score present at all in the entire film, these visuals succeed at creating a certain kind of visceral terror that’s not easy to shake off. This starts off as an engaging enough approach to the material until In a Violent Nature, unfortunately, fails to commit to it, framing the vast majority of its grisly kill scenes with traditional shots and editing.
Most of those kills themselves are wildly graphic to the point of laugh-out-loud exaggeration. This might work in purposefully over-the-top gorefests like the Terrifier franchise, but here they do nothing but confuse the film’s tone and motivation of its central figure. The audience is given no reason as to why Johnny prefers to take his time mutilating or setting up elaborate methods of murder for his victims rather than, you know, keeping his focus on the stolen locket. One kill in particular (all I’ll say is that it horrifically evokes yoga) takes the violence to a fever pitch — the only problem is that it occurs about halfway through the plot and nothing after even comes close to its level of depravity.
There are a few fun ideas throughout In a Violent Nature, yet few of them seem to quite gel with one another. A fresh and engaging take on a worn-out premise runs thin by the end, while the rest is a tonally confused mixture of the slasher genre’s worst tendencies. In an interview with Variety, director Chris Nash pointed out that for one of the film’s key sequences, he wanted to almost “bore the audience” with the amount of grotesque violence on display. He certainly succeeded at that, but probably not in the way that he intended.
There are certainly ways to drive a point home about the banality, and even mundanity, of death and extreme violence. In a Violent Nature gets really close to saying something interesting about these themes with its monster perspective. But when filmmaker Chris Nash completely abandons its killer perspective selling point in the third act, it’s easy to feel largely underwhelmed. In a Violent Nature falls short of its true potential, but there’s still a lot of value in the fact that such a fascinating horror experiment exists at this level. Regardless if it can be classified as ”indie” or “arthouse” horror, its popularity can pave the way for more exciting risks in the genre as a whole. Next time, though, maybe commit more to the bit.
In a Violent Nature premiered at the 2024 Sundance Film Festival. The film releases in theaters on May 31!
Release Date: May 31, 2024.
Directed by Chris Nash.
Written by Chris Nash.
Produced by Shannon Hanmer & Peter Kuplowsky.
Main Cast: Ry Barrett, Andrea Pavlovic, Cameron Love, Reece Presley, Liam Leone, Charlotte Creaghan, Lea Rose Sebastianis, Sam Roulston, Alexander Oliver, Lauren-Marie Taylor, & Timothy Paul McCarthy.
Cinematographer: Pierce Derks.
Production Companies: Shudder Films, Zygote Pictures, & Low Sky Productions.
Distributor: IFC Films & Shudder.
Runtime: 94 minutes.
Rated R.
