[REVIEW] "In a Violent Nature" is the 'Nature Documentary' of Nightmares

In a world where it feels like everything in the slasher genre has been done, Chris Nash has swooped in with In a Violent Nature, the new feature from IFC and Shudder. In a Violent Nature flips the perspective and tells the classic cabin in the woods story from the point of view of the killer. The result is a brutal and primarily successful experimental take on a classic formula.

In a daylit forest, we hear voices speaking about a local legend as the camera focuses on some trees. The scene ends when one of the teens takes a gold locket off of the tree, one belonging to a famous killer’s mother. The theft awakens Johnny, a Jason-like undead killer. Thus begins the story of In a Violent Nature.

As a spoiler free review, I will refrain from saying too much about the plot itself, but I will say that we find a familiar group of teens on a trip in a cabin in the woods being stalked by our “protagonist” Johnny. The majority of the film literally follows Johnny as he walks about the woods set to the sounds of nature: bird tweets, crunching sticks and leaves, the wind. There is little to no music that accompanies the film which creates a unique soundscape for a genre that typically makes heavy use of dramatic music. There is no music to rely on to build suspense, so all of the suspense must be built from the action alone, which I argue that it does. 

The title In a Violent Nature points to the fact that the movie is filmed as if it were a nature documentary with Johnny functioning as the predator and the teens as his prey. The mundanity of it all strips away the melodrama of the typical slasher, leaving a much bleaker sequence of events. It’s scarier and represents violence as a common occurrence in a way that I personally have not experienced in a slasher. A slasher can be cushioned in comedy–giving levity to the kills happening on screen, but In a Violent Nature takes the opposite approach–leaving the kills bare for us to process as they are.

Though the film is primarily filled with long sequences of walking as the camera follows Johnny–sequences that can become redundant and boring–I think that the risks that Nash takes are worth the film’s issues. While the critique of inaction is completely valid, I also don’t see another way that Nash’s chosen perspective could’ve worked in the way that it does. Our senses need to re-acclimate themselves to these familiar, yet new circumstances. Though we know based on the slasher formula that Johnny is going to kill these teens, we are also aware that In a Violent Nature comes from a new perspective. This film is purely experimental and in that very nature, there is something new to be gained from experiencing it. 

Slight spoiler ahead: The perspective does switch in the very last scene of the film, but Nash has been clear about his decision to do this. In the press notes, he states that he wanted to give the feeling that Johnny is still present in the scene, even if he isn’t. Criticism of this makes sense, but I continue to hold true to my opinion that as this film is an experiment in subverting what has been known about the slasher genre, playing with perspective makes sense. I was able to get that final sense Nash mentions–the unknown whereabouts of Johnny is scary and it’s an intriguing note to end the film on. 

Along with all of the above, there are some of the most brutal and creative kills I have ever seen in horror within In a Violent Nature. Nash has clearly taken risks in every aspect of making the film and it shows. It’s exciting, it’s gross, it’s alarming–it’s everything we love about slashers in an entirely different language of filmmaking. I can’t wait to discuss it with other slasher lovers after its release and I hope it encourages further experimentation within any horror subgenre.