Film Review – In A Violent Nature (2024)

The traditional perspective of slasher cinema transitions from teen victims to the undead monster that stalks them in this ferocious slice of ambient horror.

Johnny is a “Sleeping Animal” buried beneath a dilapidated fire tower. When an oblivious young man steals the dormant beast’s lucky locket he clambers from his leafy grave to become a feral killing machine hell-bent on its return.

Shambling and merciless he hones in on his quarry with methodical brutality. Everyone in Johnny’s vicinity is nothing but forest fodder, to be dismembered in the most inhumane ways possible. 

Low-budget slasher pictures like this are often a fucking chore to sit through. Lazy and cheap, they piggyback on nostalgia and stolen lore to make an artless quick buck. Not so this spiteful and spicy little woodland gorefest. It has technical excellence, a broken filter for screen violence, and a disarmingly simple narrative twist that makes it essential for any horror fan to view.

Director Chris Nash throws us screaming into the blood-filled deep end with scant exposition emanating from overheard conversations and snippets of hackstory. In a decidedly cheeky, not to mention brave, move he has deliberately crafted a film that plays like a late entry in an already established horror franchise that doesn’t exist. This is just one of the creative tools he uses to subvert genre expectations.

To say it is style over substance is a devout understatement. However, the arthouse elements, superb sound design, flawless editing, and ingenious core premise elevate it from facile to fascinating. For slasher fans, it is all about the kills, and they will not be disappointed. If Terrifier 2 sets a high bar then In A Violent Nature has bounded over it flipping a savaged middle finger.

Nash is a prosthetics effects artist, who gorged on trashy video rentals and unedited late-night movies. As such, he knows exactly what fans crave from a slasher when it comes to hurts and spurts, and he doesn’t disappoint. The stunningly rendered gore comes from the twisted mind of Steven Kostanski- an effects prodigy with strong connections to the maverick film collective Astron 6.

All the kill scenes are splattery and sadistic. However, one hook-based homicide will achieve legendary status. Imagine an intense Mortal Kombat fatality move filtered through the grotesque mind of make up genius Screaming Mad George and it’s crazier than that.

Another vital component of the slasher dynamic is of course the murderous mask. For this particular death orgy,  Johnny opts for the early industrial aesthetic with his take on a 19th-century firefighter’s helmet. Using the Vejan-Bader Smoke Mask as a blueprint the harsh leather is replaced by a softer hessian texture that complements the organic tone of his forest domain and leaves him looking like a stabby steampunk owl from a fucked up Jules Vern novel.

Despite its extreme depictions of cold-blooded slaughter, the most striking aspect of this high-concept homage is its inherent serenity. There is a metaphysical, almost tantric, aura that envelops the murder spree directly at odds with the senseless butchery. It’s a disorientating juxtaposition that renders the film paradoxically tranquil.

There is no soundtrack nor alarming string stabs to build tension or accentuate the carnage. Instead, the film’s soundscape is an ambient thrum of frogs, birds, and insects. As we accompany Johnny on his systematic trudge through the sun-dappled canopies it feels like viewing a Naturewatch webcam for sadists, or Bob Ross painting ‘Peaceful Reflections of Camp Crystal Lake’.

On top of this, Johnny neutralises the vocal cords of many of his victims leaving the kills eerily screamless. Subsequently, we hear every jolting bone snap, juicy flesh tear, and passive death gurgle with stripped-back clarity. This ‘Voorhees unplugged’ subversion of slasher tropes introduces an ASMR element into torture porn that will disgust some viewers and enthral others.

It’s an experimental approach to cinematic violence that, quite frankly, would have attracted censorship as little as a decade ago. How triggering it is to today’s audiences may depend on personal exposure to the visual language of the slasher canon as much as squeamishness. Any fans of the appalling Japanese Ginī Piggu series of  ‘films’, who feel this deranged path has already been trodden, should take heed that the effects deployed here are far superior in their realism.

In another brilliant scene, Johnny takes an introspective breather from his packed slaying schedule to relax under a tree. He removes the hood from his mutilated face in one of the most casual reveals in horror cinema. For a brief moment, he is humanised, before replacing it in the workmanlike fashion of an abattoir line operative called back from a tea break to bolt-gun another batch of hapless cows.

Comparisons will be drawn to the naturalistic transcendence of Terrence Malick much more so than his philosophical and spiritual undertows, yet in my mind, Nash’s dialectic style is far more akin to the anarchic ambiguity of Harmony Korine.

Equal parts hypnotic and stomach-turning In a Violent Nature marks a watershed moment in the progression arc of the modern slasher flick. Its arthouse overtures may prove polarising but its gruesome murder set pieces are primed to be universally iconic.

★★★★

In Theaters May 31^st / Ry Barrett, Andrea Pavlovic, Cameron LoveReece Presley, Liam Leone, Charlotte Creaghan, Lea Rose Sebastianis, Sam Roulston, Alexander Oliver, Lauren Taylor/ Dir: Chris Nash / IFC Films, SHUDDER/ 18

IFC Films Will Release IN A VIOLENT NATURE Exclusively In US Theatres on May 31st.

Altitude Film Will Release IN A VIOLENT NATURE in UK & IRISH CINEMAS FROM 12 JULY.

Due to appear on SHUDDER later in the year.