Movie Review: IN A VIOLENT NATURE

By ABBIE BERNSTEIN / Staff Writer

Posted: May 31st, 2024 / 03:32 AM

IN A VIOLENT NATURE movie poster | ©2024 IFC Films/Shudder

Rating: Not Rated
Stars: Ry Barrett, Andrea Pavlovic, Cameron Love, Reece Presley, Liam Leone, Charlotte Creaghan, Lea Rose Sebastianis, Sam Roulston, Alexander Oliver, Timothy Paul McCarthy, Lauren Taylor
Writer: Chris Nash
Director: Chris Nash
Distributor: IFC Films/Shudder
Release Date: May 31, 2024

The horror genre has many subgenres. One of these is the slasher, which has its own collection of sub-subgenres. IN A VIOLENT NATURE seems aimed at those who can differentiate between, say, a HALLOWEEN film and a FRIDAY THE 13^TH.

The new movie definitely falls into the FRIDAY category. Instead of a summer camp, it’s an old mining camp, but there’s still an intellectually-challenged boy who died under tragic circumstances, and is now back as a hulking, masked, indiscriminately vengeful revenant.

However, IN A VIOLENT NATURE feels something like FRIDAY THE 13^TH reimagined as an art movie. There are several distinctive aspects to this. One is how much of the horror takes place effectively in broad daylight. Another is that the only music we hear is what the characters hear: radios and recordings. There are no sonic attempts to amp things up.

But perhaps what’s boldest about IN A VIOLENT NATURE is the pacing. Love it, hate it, or simply find it unusual, the movie ambles through the woods with its undead antagonist Johnny (Ry Barrett), taking its time, with no clear points of acceleration or deceleration. There are what look like color-timing issues, when the environment changes from dark to bright for no dramatic purpose.

Instead of giving us Johnny’s point of view through his mask, director/writer Chris Nash often puts his camera behind the slasher, so we’re walking with him rather than as him. Nash also films several kills in extreme long shot, showing us why even passersby (not that there are any) might not notice what’s happening.

While there’s an enormous amount of violence and hardcore splatter, anything resembling a plot doesn’t begin until about the halfway mark, when the remaining characters realize they’re in danger.

Most of the actors give credible performances, with Andrea Pavlovic, Reece Presley and Lauren Taylor delivering some standout moments.

Because of the unfamiliar approach to pacing and much more, we actually do become curious about what will happen next. Within the strictures of its sub-subgenre, IN A VIOLENT NATURE has the courage to try some new things.

Exposition comes out early and easily, as essentially a campfire story, and we don’t need to know much more. Still, IN A VIOLENT NATURE illustrates the problem with having characters who are unaware for too long. Unless we come to care for them deeply (and here, we don’t), we’re not especially invested in their survival; when they’re not investigating anything, a little random chat feels stretched out.

Gorehounds who are strictly in it for that aspect should be happy with IN A VIOLENT NATURE, but other viewers may be very ready for Johnny to stop strolling through the trees by the time he does.

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