Stop me if this sounds familiar: a silent, hulking killer stalks a group of horny College students through the woods and murders them in gory fashion.
Now shift the focalization to the POV of the killer. That’s In A Violent Nature.
It’s clear from the opening moments of writer/director Chris Nash‘s feature directorial debut that the film is doing something different from other backwoods slashers.
The film opens with a static long take of the woods. A few male voices can be heard (offscreen), but aside from a brief reference that one is taking a locket discovered hanging on a tree, it’s innocuous and seemingly irrelevant.
After some time, a man (Ry Barrett) literally digs himself up from beneath the wet foliage in the ruins of a small hut. The face is obscured or he is shot from behind, but the exposed skin looks disfigured and unnatural. Then he sets off walking through the woods in search of the locket, killing anyone who gets in his way, with the camera trailing behind the whole time.
It’s obvious that In A Violent Nature is heavily indebted to the iconography and (slight) narrative of the Friday the 13th films. From the visual aesthetic of its killer, to the camp backstory, to the group of bland and interchangeable students who don’t even seem to be friends, this is basically a F13 film in everything but name.
It goes beyond that, though; In A Violent Nature is pulling from a myriad of 80s slashers. The film’s strength is its elegant simplicity: the plot is minimal, the characters are Red Shirts, and the gore is plentiful. The film is lean and mean.
More to the point, In A Violent Nature an impressive technical feat. Nash, along with cinematographer Pierce Derks, editor Alex Jacobs, and particularly sound designers Tim Atkins and Michelle Hwu, have expertly (re)created the rhythm and cycles that define the best slasher films, replicating the emotional pendulum swing as the film shifts back and forth between brutal kill scenes and extended stalking sequences. The result is an immersive, often hypnotic viewing experience.
The vast majority of the film is composed of long, often unedited, tracking shots of Johnny moving through the woods by himself, accompanied only by the diegetic sound of the forest. At times, it’s rhythmic; at other times it’s a little monotonous, bordering on boring. But that’s the point: to see familiar events from a unique, new-to-us perspective.
That familiarity comes principally from the plot and the group of fresh-faced twenty-somethings who are staying at a cottage in the woods. Over drinks and a campfire, Ehren (Sam Roulston) tells the others about the urban legend of Johnny, a killer whose backstory could be supernatural or historical in nature. It’s a sly acknowledgement of the many Jason Voorhees fan theories, and the hat-tips continue in a sequence wherein the silent killer wades into the lake, as well as when he uses his superhuman strength for what is undeniably one of the best, most inventive kills in years.
Audiences who are familiar with Friday the 13th are more likely to appreciate Nash’s low-fi efforts, though general (horror) audiences will find plenty to like, as well. Not only are several of the kills impressively rendered (credit Michael W. Hamilton for the stunning practical FX), but the film feels fresh and plays like a big swing.
If the film has one drawback, it is the meandering denouement. At 94 minutes, In A Violent Nature isn’t a particularly long film, but the final few minutes feel like Nash’s attempt to end his film on a mythic territory. It’s unnecessary (and frankly indulgent) in a way that the rest of the film isn’t, which makes it all the more glaring. Snipping a few minutes off the last scene would have ended the film on a much stronger note.
Despite this, In A Violent Nature is well worth checking out. With brutal kills, immersive sound design, and nods aplenty to Friday the 13th, this is one of the most original horror films of the year. 4/5
In A Violent Nature is out in theaters May 31. It will stream on Shudder in 2024.