In a Violent Nature – REVIEW

It’s always nice to see something new emerge in a genre of movies that’s really done the same thing for a while. Sure, we like the same things in a movie once in a while, but I personally like a new, ambitious swing in a genre that’s had a proven formula for a long time. We all know about slashers at this point, especially the iconic ones. Halloween, A Nightmare on Elm Street, Scream, The Texas Chain Saw Massacre… they’re all etched into horror history. For this movie I’m talking about here, though, it’s mainly a riff on Friday the 13th and its icon, Jason Voorhees. In a Violent Night is a new “ambient slasher,” as described by writer-director Chris Nash. What does that mean? I’ll get into that in the next paragraph, but just the premise alone just made me so excited for this.

A group of teenagers are having fun out in the wilderness, specifically in Ontario for this movie. I usually don’t spoil things and that won’t change here, but they unwittingly unleash an undead killer named Johnny, a vengeful spirit that’s fueled by a horrific crime that happened to him a long time ago. His release sets Johnny on a killing spree. Does that sound familiar? It’s totally fine if you think that, but there’s a certain thing that would set this apart from a good amount of horror movies right now. For the most part, you don’t see the group of teenagers: we see about 80-85% of the movie from the killer’s perspective, wandering through the woods and eventually finding the teenagers, in which he goes to pick them off one by one, as is what happens in most slashers. That idea on paper is golden. A slasher movie where we follow the killer in a Resident Evil-style third-person camera? It’s pretty fantastic, and for the most part, it really does stick the landing. I’ve also seen Nash say that Terrence Malick’s films were a big influence for the movie, and while I’ve only seen The Tree of Life, I could connect the dots on what Nash was going for. A big creative choice here is not including any sort of score, so the entire movie is mostly soundtracked by the sounds of the woods and Johnny’s monstrous footsteps crunching on leaves. It felt oddly calming in a strange sort of way before one of the goriest kills I’ve ever seen in a movie occurs, and the cognitive dissonance of it was entertaining to witness.

I know that’s just the ideas and not exactly the filmmaking, but In a Violent Nature is a very pretty movie to look at. I’m not sure how much was natural lighting and how much was used with equipment, but the lighting really stood out in either regard. There aren’t a bunch of nighttime scenes, but they all look beautiful. I’m also a sucker for a beautiful sunset, and there’s a great one of those about halfway into the movie where we see Johnny’s many bits of walking through the woods (there’s a lot of that). The writing and overall story, though, is thin. I’m going to assume that it was the goal to flip the traditional “sleepaway camp” slasher tropes into a new lens, so if this was intentional, Nash did a good job in that regard. The only thing I can say I actually disliked was the presentation in a few scenes. Most of the scenes with Johnny walking through the woods feel like they’re being shot by a nature documentary crew and it was honestly very cool, but a lot of the more violent scenes are shot like any regular movie. I think it should’ve committed to the ambient side of the “ambient slasher” phrase, but it didn’t make or break the movie as it is.



Although I think it’s a very specific audience, I really enjoyed In a Violent Nature. If you’re into very weird horror movies, this is definitely something you should check out. Even if you’re remotely into horror, I’d suggest giving this at least a shot for the sake of something new in a subgenre that’s been practically done over and over again. I’m sure someone who doesn’t like this would call it “Ambien horror,” but this was just my jam. By the way, if no one’s said “Ambien horror” yet, give me credit for that one thing.

♡

In a Violent Night is now playing in limited release and will likely be available for digital purchase/rental within the next month or two. It will also be available to stream on AMC+ and Shudder later this year.