[SIFF ’24] IN A VIOLENT NATURE review

A few years ago, I dragged my wife through Shout Factory’s massive Friday the 13th box set. As we watched each entry, we’d joke about “what is Jason (or Pam or Roy) up to when we’re spending time with his victims instead of a murder?”

In a Violent Nature is the answer to that question. Writer-director Chris Nash (ABCs of Death 2, special effects in Psycho Goreman)  creates a clever turn of a revisionist slasher, presenting a new point of view and making the audience think about how we approach these types of films. To a certain degree at least; in its dark heart, it is still a slasher albeit from a different perspective. It is a unique and fascination experimental slasher, one I mostly greatly enjoyed.

We still find the tenets. A group of jerkish young folks in a cabin. An iconically masked killer stalks them. A lore-heavy backstory (given over a roaring campfire of course), one that indicates this is the third entry in a series. A knowledgeable harbinger of sorts warns our victims. And plenty of gory, inventive kills. Not as many as I’d expect (several are just off-screen, not being a building terror as occurs between big kills, so why hold back) but there are several that can easily enter the annals of the genre. 

The different perspective is the driving notion, or gimmick depending on who you ask, of the film. Instead of following a set of thinly sketched but hopefully distinct enough kids, the viewer is given a mostly over-the-shoulder of the killer. The villain is a resurrected Jason Voorhees-type named Johnny (embodied in body language by Ry Barret. We follow as he tromps, almost randomly, through the woods, coming across his body fodder. What time we have with the standards of the storytelling is told in this manner instead, reversing the “will Jason burst into this scene?” to “what will we learn or tropes to be seen running into the victims?” 

What’s notable in this kills is how it uses the concept to implicate the audience, and thus question our watching. Sticking with Johnny in long, sustained walks (in a sly nod to slasher killer’s apparent ability to teleport, sometimes there are space jumps while the conversation continues without a break) or kills puts us essentially in his shoes. It’s uncomfortable when a film doesn’t cut away from violence. Or just not to leave a character past when we’re used to it. It makes us think “Should we be cheering this?” And since we can hold conflicting views at the same time, we do cheer at the violence “Keep it going!” but also mentally scream “Cut away!” It has a mean streak of pitch-dark humor provided by this method. 

Nash uses interesting twists of sound and visuals to build on the concept. The sound process is a key component, listening to distant conversions, hearing noises filter through the trees, hearing the cracks of branches, the minutia of eerieness in a mostly empty forest. Pierce Derk’s cinematography uses this wilderness to the best effect, creating a neverending hellscape of wilderness. Where escape is impossible. The practical lighting, the dull grey of the daylight woods, the gloom of emergency lights in the dark, and the glow of the campfire extending just enough past the victims, lend a realness, continuing the uncomfortableness, and setting a “find Johnny” game in the times where the camera follows the other characters.

The whole mostly works, especially at the moment, but there are cracks when stepping away. As a film, separate from the gimmick, there is an emptiness to the proceedings. If this was presented as a standard slasher, following the protagonists, it’d be a lesser Friday the 13th rip, notable only for a handful of awesome kill sequences. Perhaps on purpose, but a little perplexing from the audience’s point of view, they are so nothing of character that when we re-meet a few as Johnny wanders, I thought they were entirely new victims-in-waiting. But then again, it may be part of the commentary on the standardness of many slashers. 

I also can’t help but wonder who will be drawn to the film. If someone isn’t a fan of slashers, there is nothing to entice as what likely pushes away the sub-genre is highlighted, even if to comment on it. Much of the enjoyment is in seeing the standard from an altered point-of-view, and there is a large understanding to knowing specifically Friday the 13th.  This may not have enough to sustain for the full 94-minute runtime, especially since part of that is the repetitively of sustained shots following Johnny between slaughter points. While I ate it up, I can see how this can illicit “this could be a short” feeling for others.

And while I won’t go into the details, the last few minutes drag far past the point of my note above, breaking the rules of the film, excruciating going nowhere with an idea that I cannot even fathom as an “okay I see the point even if it didn’t work.” There is a moment just before this final sequence, that if it went to black, it would be the perfect time and would land the concept just right. Lob off the coda, and the film goes up a full point. This sequence does feature an actress from Friday the 13th part 2 (my favorite), so I guess that’s cool. 

In a Violent Nature is an inventive turn of the slasher subgenre. Fans of deconstructions of what they love will find likely find a lot to love. It’s knowingly darkly funny, but disconcertingly so as will just as much make the viewer uncomfortable. It’s a strange thing to think about – it’s complicated and simple, reveling in violence but also repulsing it. If anything about this interests you, check it out. I can’t wait to see the dialogue as it gets a wider release.

In A Violent Nature is currently on the festival circuit (I saw it at SIFF aka Seattle International Film Festival, but will have a theatrical release and Shudder streaming debut soon.

Other SIFF reviews by Bob: Oddity, Thelma,  I Saw the TV Glow

All of us talk SIFF on the podcast episode devoted to SIFF and Crypticon

And check out Tony’s SIFF write ups at The Sunbreak: In a Violent Nature, The Primevals, Oddity/I Saw the TV Glow/Dragon Superman