Review: In A Violent Nature – “it looks gorgeous and it’s… kind of chill”

Writer-director of In a Violent Nature, Chris Nash, has done something we’ve never seen in a slasher.

That’s not blowing smoke. In a beloved sub-genre that is not renowned for its freshness, changing the game is a big fucking deal, and it doesn’t happen very often. Wes taking it meta in Scream – with a lot of credit to Kevin Williamson obvs – and Behind The Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon crossing the slice-and-dice flick with Man Bites Dog to create not only a found-footage slasher but also one from the killer’s point-of-view for the first time (waits eagerly to be told in comments that’s not the first time), these kinds of game-changers don’t come along often in a sub-genre we probably love BECAUSE of the films adhering to the rules and formula of masked killer, disposable teens, final girl, sharp objects.

But change the game Nash has. Yes, In a Violent Nature is “just” from the killer’s POV, like Behind The Mask already did, but it’s also 90-something minutes of just being from the killer’s POV, with no talking to camera, no inner monologue, no thinking out loud – just a relentless kill-filled stomping through the woods.

Johnny (Ry Barrett, Cult Hero), our unstoppable killing machine, is brought back to life when some foolish teens steal the locket that was hanging over his grave, keeping him at rest and trapped in the ground. Awakened and annoyed by the theft, big J just starts picking them up and putting them down, hoofin’ it through the park, breaking into a museum to get a mask and weaponry, and marching after the thief and his friends while killing everyone in his way in a variety of cool and grisly ways.

The takes are long, the woods walks go for as long as it takes our undead killer to get from A-to-B in pretty much real-time, it looks gorgeous and it’s… kind of chill? The hikes are nice and cosy, the Ontario woodlands are pretty, there’s birdsong, and rhythmic boots stomping, and to be honest the whole thing would be pretty relaxing if it wasn’t for all the gruesome murders.

The mask, some sort of olde forest fire firefighter helmet, and weapons: two hooks on a length of chain and an axe, are immediately iconic, and the way we are thrown into the story (that feels like a Part 2) with minimal explanation and with details and backstory picked up and overheard on the fly is satisfying as the pieces build up and fit together and we just jump straight into the fun bit.

These kills set-pieces are all brilliantly constructed and accomplished, a seductive skinny dip gone terribly wrong and an already infamous yoga murder that really tests the victims flexibility being massive standouts. The sheer glee you feel from walking with Johnny while he sets things up and waits patiently to execute his plans is a sort of anti-suspense feeling that slasher fans won’t be used to. It feels weird-good to be getting the kicks in a very different way and adds to this near-constant buzz of “this is great, I don’t know where we’re going for a change and I flipping like it” that just doesn’t stop.

An unbearably tense ending that feels designed to frustrate will hit or miss depending on whether you do or don’t like just being given what you want and expect, and hopefully means there may be another film, but… then again, sequels might break the very particular spell that Nash has cast and as much as I loved this one, I kinda hope it is a one—and done.

Like an A24-ification of Friday the 13th, In a Violent Nature is a special slasher that every horror fan needs to see.

In a Violent Nature is currently on general release in the UK.