REVIEW: In a Violent Nature [2024]

Rating: NR | Runtime: 94 minutes
Release Date: May 31st, 2024 (USA)
Studio: IFC Films / Shudder
Director(s): Chris Nash
Writer(s): Chris Nash

It’s the only thing holding his soul at rest.

It’s an interesting thought experiment: What if we made a slasher from the perspective of the monster doing the slashing? Rather than following the unsuspecting coeds camping in the woods only to hear and see things in the shadows, we follow behind the “creature” as he lumbers along and spies through windows in search of his next kill. We don’t therefore need to worry too much about how idiotic the victims are as they get picked off one by one. They’re merely prey. The experience is thus less about hoping anyone survives and more about how unrelentingly gruesome the next attack might be.

Here’s the thing, though. We do need to care about something to stay invested. Otherwise, it’s just a snuff film devoid of rhyme or reason regardless of whether writer/director Chris Nash instills some semblance of plot via the origin mythology of this beast. Yes, we pity Johnny (Ry Barrett) and what happened to him, but that doesn’t inherently mean we want to condone his animalistic drive to seek revenge by mutilating every living being in his path. Especially not if the crime that seems to be motivating him (retrieving his mother’s stolen locket) proves little more than a catalyst for carnage rather than a potential end game.

In a Violent Nature becomes a chore as a result. Quiet sequences of Johnny from behind, skulking around the woods until a voice or noise stops him to divert towards his next victim. The screams are short as he sneaks up with his drag claws and axe, the flesh ripping and contorting in ways that ensure most of the gore arrives after his target is already dead. Then off he goes to the next one. And the next one. Until finally the third-person camera perspective shifts onto one of the coeds (Andrea Pavlovic’s Kris) instead for a final scene consisting of more dialogue than the rest of the movie combined, superficially wrapping everything beneath a “theme” of nature being uncontrollable.

Horror fans will get excited by the graphic nature of what Johnny does to these campers. It’s not enough for me to recommend the film due to its laborious pacing and empty aesthetic, but I also won’t deny its effectiveness. From a quick but brutal bit of decapitation at the mouth to a drag claw yoga session that makes good on the clichéd quip of shoving a body part through another, the blood flows freely before its shown coagulated on Johnny’s hand in close-up. I simply wish it didn’t feel so clinical due to our inability to invest in anything but the violence. Without an emotional connection, it becomes little more than an effects reel.