Share this
This review was made possible by an early screening of In A Violent Nature. In A Violent Nature is currently playing in select theaters.
Calling all slasher fans! There’s a new supernatural serial killer in town running rampant through the woods by the name of Johnny. In A Violent Nature was written and directed by Chris Nash who flips the script on typical horror movies by placing the main point of view on the killer himself.
Johnny rises from his grave after a locket is removed from a collapsed fire tower that served as his tomb. Now his 60-year old vengeance is unleashed on a group of friends vacationing in the woods. Do we learn about the significance of this locket? Do we learn about this group of friends? Not really. The main selling point and driving factor of the movie is right within the title: violent nature.
Yes, the whole point of this movie is an exhibition of some of the most insane and inventive kills I’ve witnessed in recent memory. Johnny is unrelenting and unforgiving. It’s doesn’t matter who you are or what you’re doing, if you cross paths with him you’re dead. While I do applaud the simplistic and out of box approach to only learning about this group from the POV of Johnny, it really is just a gore fest to be a gore fest.
The movie isn’t fully devoid of backstory, we do get a little insight into what happened to Johnny and why he is on a murderous rampage to receive this mystical locket. Over-explaining the supernatural can definitely make some horror movies lose their luster. But I wish this movie in particular met in the middle between that and the lack of explanation that is presented. Regardless, this will be a massive win for horror fans as the blood flows in spades and the 80s horror aesthetic is captured impeccably.
In A Violent Nature excels in delivering some of the most brutal kills in the horror genre that’s only amplified by it’s masterful use of practical effects. But narratively its “show, don’t tell” machination ultimately falls flat. Despite having a horror movie primarily from the killer’s perspective being such an interesting and fresh take, having the victims just be random faces being murdered for seemingly no reason makes it hard to really get invested. But if you could care less about the plot, strap in and enjoy the violent delights.
