Now playing in UK cinemas is the Canadian horror movie In a Violent Nature. Written and directed by Chris Nash, the film stars Ry Barrett and Andrea Pavlovic and follows the story of a silent killer as he traverses the woods picking off victims.
In the movie, a zombie-like killer named ‘Johnny’ is disturbed from his resting place in the wilderness. He then sets off on a killing spree.
Told predominantly from the perspective of the killer, and taking inspiration from the Friday the 13thmovie series, In a Violent Nature has an intriguing concept, yet is a flawed movie. It’s intriguing due to its focus on the ‘monster’, but it’s flawed because it fails to utilise this story-telling technique in a captivating or satisfying way.
What could be the catalyst for something unique and imaginative quickly becomes dull and repetitive, resulting in a plodding piece about a killer stomping through the woods. Oh, there is a death here, a death there, but there are also lengthy scenes where nothing really happens.
A few minutes of wandering around is fine, but the sheer amount of time devoted to this element of the film is ridiculous. After a while this becomes less like a movie and more like one of those eight-hour ambient YouTube videos designed to send you off to sleep or calm your dog during Bonfire Night.
On the plus side, Johnny is suitably menacing and the film has some beautiful shots. I imagine everyone involved in the production is a big horror fan, especially writer/director Chris Nash, and this certainly comes across in the tone and staging of the picture.
The film also has some decent kills, so the potential is there. This alone fills it with a sense of goodwill, and throughout its 90-minute runtime I certainly wanted it to win me over, but alas it did not.
There have been countless slasher movies over the years and arguably the most consistent element of the genre is the focus on the victims rather than the killer. There’s a good reason for this – silent killers don’t tend to be all that interesting when given too much screen time.
In a Violent Nature seems to overlook this issue and it’s a huge stumbling block.So, while In a Violent Nature gets recognition for attempting something different, it ultimately falls short for not figuring out what to do with its core concept.
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