In a Violent Nature

In a Violent Nature is a 2024 Canadian slasher film written and directed by Chris Nash, and starring Ry Barrett, Andrea Pavlovic, and Lauren-Marie Taylor. Described as an "ambient slasher", it follows a mute killer who is accidentally resurrected from his grave in the Ontario wilderness by a group of teenagers, whom he then begins stalking and murdering. The events depicted are largely observed from the killer's perspective.
In a Violent Nature premiered in the Midnight section of the Sundance Film Festival on January 22, 2024. The film was released theatrically in the United States and Canada by IFC Films on May 31, and was released on the streaming service Shudder later in the year. Opening on 1,426 screens, it marked IFC Films's widest theatrical release to date, and grossed $3 million in its first week. It has received positive reviews from film critics.
A group of friends - Kris, Colt, Troy, Evan, Ehren, Brodie, and Aurora, discover a locket hanging on the remains of a fire tower. One of them, Troy, pockets it. Moments later, the corpse of Johnny rises from the ground. Enraged, he begins his search for the locket and walks through the woods. He pauses at the sight of a rotting fox corpse and hears a nearby argument between two men, one of whom set the traps that killed the fox. Johnny walks into the man's house, where he sees a necklace that he mistakes for his locket, triggering a brief memory of his father. The homeowner soon returns, but is horrified by Johnny and runs away. In the woods, he gets his leg stuck in his own bear trap and is killed by Johnny. Later, Johnny hears a car in the distance and pursues it.
Johnny approaches the group of friends sitting around a campfire, drawn to their location by the sound of gunfire made by the group discharging their own gun into the woods. Troy compliments Kris, his girlfriend, and snidely asks Colt for his agreement, implying Colt's unrequited favor of Kris. Ehren recounts the legend of Johnny's death, which he heard from an uncle who once lived in the area. Decades prior, Johnny, the developmentally delayed son of a local merchant, was tricked into climbing the fire tower for a "bag of toys", only to find someone waiting at the top to scare him. He fell from the tower to his death, which those involved covered up by making it look like it was a death by misadventure. When Johnny's father learned the truth, he confronted the person responsible, and was killed in a brawl which was ruled as self-defense. According to legend, two series of murders decades apart were attributed to Johnny's vengeful spirit. After the story, the group takes a selfie, unknowingly photographing Johnny in the distant background. Later that night, in their cabin, Troy and Kris argue over their treatment of one another in front of the group earlier in the evening, with Troy expressing his dislike of Colt. Ehren steps out of his cabin and is killed by Johnny with a drawknife. Johnny then drags Ehren's body to a nearby park ranger office, using the body to vandalize display cases and obtain their contents: dragging hooks, an axe, and an antique firefighter mask.
The next day, Johnny comes across Aurora and Brodie on a lake dock, as Brodie is expressing her romantic interest in Aurora. Brodie wants to swim, but Aurora leaves to practice yoga. As Brodie swims in the lake alone, Johnny submerges in the water and drowns her. He then pursues Aurora, who is standing near a cliffside practicing yoga. Johnny kills her with his dragging hooks, before throwing her mutilated body off the cliff.
Later, Troy, Colt, Kris, and Evan argue regarding whether their friends are actually missing or just absent of their own accord, with Troy doubting any suspicious circumstances including the presence of Johnny in the previous night's photo. As the argument escalates, Troy throws the group's car keys into the woods. Johnny sets down his axe to pick up the keys, playing with an attached toy car keychain in a childlike manner, removing his mask and revealing his disfigured face. Colt discovers Johnny's axe, and Colt and Kris drive off to the ranger station on an ATV. Johnny is triggered by overhearing Troy's disparaging mention of Colt's dead father, and kills Troy and Evan after being shot by Evan. Colt and Kris return shortly afterward, having found Ehren's body at the park ranger station, but flee at the sight of Johnny. By nightfall, Johnny approaches the station, where the ranger is explaining to Colt and Kris that the locket—now revealed to be worn by Kris—is what keeps Johnny's soul at rest. The ranger momentarily subdues Johnny by shooting him, but Johnny paralyzes the ranger as Colt and Kris flee. Johnny kills the ranger by dismembering him with a log splitter.
Johnny pursues Colt and Kris and overhears their plan to lure him to the fire tower and kill him. Colt attempts to distract Johnny to trap him, but Johnny kills him with an axe. A shellshocked Kris leaves Johnny's locket hanging on a gas canister and flees into the woods. She accidentally injures her leg, but by dawn manages to limp to a nearby road. A woman in a pickup truck stops and offers to drive her to a hospital. In an attempt to reassure Kris, the woman recounts how her brother, a game warden, survived a bear mauling in the same woods decades prior. The woman notices that Kris's bleeding has worsened and stops the truck, insisting that she put a tourniquet around the injured leg. Terrified, Kris begs her to keep driving and peers into the woods, waiting for something to appear. Elsewhere, the left-behind gas canister is missing Johnny's locket.
Filming initially took place in the Kawartha Lakes area of Central Ontario, Canada, in 2021, but Nash later recalled that the locale "just felt like it wasn't hitting the right note for us". The film was ultimately shot in Algoma District, Ontario, near Sault Ste. Marie.
Commentators have drawn comparisons between In a Violent Nature and slow cinema. Nash drew inspiration for the film's style from the Gus Van Sant-directed films Gerry (2002), Elephant (2003) and Last Days (2005), which Nash characterizes as "slower, more methodical, more deliberate and follow characters through a scene." Nash cited the work of director Terrence Malick as an influence. Nash was also inspired by the Austrian horror film Angst.
In a Violent Nature emphasizes static long take shots, and features no musical score but has a soundtrack including the following songs featured in the film: Lessons Not Learned (The 1980 Damascus Missile Explosion) – Jess Lane Tin Foil Hat – Jupiter Marvelous A Death in the Family – Vistavision Black Flies – Tracy Newman Bursting At the Seams – Vistavision Suite for Cello No. 6 in D Major, BWV 1012: II. Allemande – Johann Sebastian Bach High – Peter Landi Lover Boy – Techno Westerns Endless Night – Holy Motors The Black Fly Song – Tracy Newman. "We always wanted to treat this almost like a nature documentary," Nash said of the film's stylistic approach. "It's lulling you into a sense [that] the danger isn't quite there. When you see tourists getting really close to bears, they're just like, 'Oh, no, look, it's not doing anything. It's fine.' And then all of a sudden, the bear just turns around and charges at you. You're way too defenseless and you just have no idea that they're capable of this much power and brutality."
Nash has said that he chose to shoot the film in Academy ratio because "that's how I watched all the slashers as a kid on VHS... That's the slasher aspect ratio."
In a Violent Nature had its world premiere on January 22, 2024, at the Sundance Film Festival, as part of the festival's "Midnight" program. An outdoor promotional screening was held on New York City's Governors Island on May 18, 2024, with actors Ry Barrett, Andrea Pavlovic, and Lauren-Marie Taylor in attendance. The film was theatrically released in the United States by IFC Films on May 31, 2024. It was released digitally on June 28, 2024, and was released on the Shudder streaming service on September 13 to coincide with Friday the 13th. It was released in the United Kingdom by Altitude Film Distribution on July 12, 2024.
IFC Films released In a Violent Nature in North America on May 31, 2024 on 1,426 screens, marking the widest opening release of a film for the studio. It earned $410,000 in Thursday night previews. It went on to gross $2.1 million at the North American box office during its opening weekend, marking the second-best opening for IFC Films after Late Night with the Devil. By June 21, 2024, the film had earned $4,192,513 at the box office.
On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 78% of 179 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 6.6/10. The website's consensus reads: "As single-mindedly focused on mayhem as its demonic monster, In a Violent Nature serves up a deliciously disgusting feast for gore aficionados." Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 68 out of 100, based on 26 critics, indicating "generally favorable" reviews.
Variety's Dennis Harvey wrote that the film's "stripped-down approach to a familiar gist has a distinctiveness that is impressive, and is sure to please fans who are always up for a new slasher film—but wish most of them weren't so interchangeable." Cheryl Eddy of Gizmodo called it "a fascinating artistic experiment and genre fans should definitely give it a look. But it may also make you wish you were watching a traditional slasher—for something more fun and entertaining, may we suggest Friday the 13th Part 2?—instead." Jeannette Catsoulis of The New York Times praised the film's "dreamlike" atmosphere, concluding: "Nash has attempted an ambitious blend of art house and slaughterhouse whose rug-pulling ending will polarize, even as its moody logic prevails."
Michael Gingold of Rue Morgue wrote that the film's style "isn't quite a reinvention of the form, but it creates a different and very effective kind of tension." David Ehrlich of IndieWire gave the film a grade of "C", writing that the film "derives its semi-hypnotic power from the disconnect it creates between the sheer movieness of what happens and the somnambulant nonchalance with which it all goes down. The effect is interesting in theory, but largely unsatisfying in execution (pun very much intended)."
In a list published on June 20, 2024, Variety ranked In a Violent Nature the best horror film of the year thus far, with writer William Earl noting: "Amid the outrageous kills and crisp camerawork lies a sharp satire laced with empathy, beauty and genuine fear."
In July 2024, a sequel, In a Violent Nature 2, was announced at San Diego Comic-Con 2024.