‘In A Violent Nature’ Review – Take Your Slaughter to Work Day
In a Violent Nature is written and directed by Chris Nash — whose film credits include the on-set creature effects supervisor of Psycho Goreman and the director for the ridiculous and nauseatingly great Z for Zygote segment in ABCs of Death 2.
Nash’s latest slasher film is a stereotypical film from the genre with a different perspective. In a Violent Nature offers the serial killer point of view since three-fourths of the film is the film’s killer, Johnny (Ry Barrett), slogging through the woods.
Most slasher films leave the audience wondering how the killer can appear somewhere so quickly when he typically moves slower than a sloth stuck in a puddle of molasses. In a Violent Nature gives the audience a glimpse into the murderous preparations.
The killer’s snail-like pace is almost like camouflage. Since he’s in no rush, he doesn’t draw attention to himself. He blends into tall grass and barely makes a sound. No one sees or hears Johnny until he is close enough to kill.
An intriguing aspect is that a cinematic killer typically wouldn’t know where a potential victim would run off to if they had a car or some speedy getaway. In a Violent Nature touches on that a little bit. Sometimes, the bait gets overzealous when trying to tempt a potential bite.
The film is Friday the 13th, with the names changed. A group of twenty-somethings awakened an unstoppable killer that was only put to rest by a necklace that belonged to his mother.
Outside of Johnny’s back story, In a Violent Nature has no character development. Dialogue is unimportant nonsense, apart from the tale of the White Pine Slaughter and the ranger (Reese Presley) who previously put Johnny in the ground.
As you watch Johnny stomp around in the dirt, you may write off In a Violent Nature as a boring film. However, Chris Nash has crafted a one-of-a-kind methodical nightmare. The kills are spread out as we see how Johnny gets around while he stumbles upon various weapons scattered throughout the campgrounds.
The actual kills in the film are reasonably inventive. The film features a gnarly hacksaw kill followed by the dragging of its mostly headless corpse, an impressive drowning that is mostly silent, a gruesome drag hook kill that is insanely grotesque and one of the most memorable kills in a horror film ever, and an axe to the face kill with so many repeated blows that it has to be in the hundreds.
The slasher concept in this film has a simple premise with a complicated execution. The attraction is never leaving the killer’s side. The writing of everything outside of that feels purposely juvenile.
You’ll be convinced that these people were annoyingly written because killing them off gives you a therapeutic sensation rather than feeling any sympathy towards them whatsoever.
The last 15-20 minutes of In a Violent Nature are bizarre. The majority of the film isn’t slow-moving, but every little action feels stretched out as far as it can possibly go, and the ending is no different.
There is a sense of hope with the surviving victim and an attempt to explain why Johnny could be so brutally bloodthirsty. But the film throws all that buildup away for a visual gag that offers a more elementary explanation.
In a Violent Nature is an experimental horror film that arguably works and executes a viciously unique vision. The audience spends over an hour as a serial killer’s wingman and accomplice. It isn’t always riveting, but it’s the slasher genre seen through a fresh pair of blood-soaked goggles.
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In a Violent Nature (2024), IFC Films/Shudder.
PROS
- The kills.
CONS
- Deliberate pace.
- Unusual ending.
- Throwaway writing.
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