‘In a Violent Nature’ movie review: Unique forest slasher with horror’s greatest kill?
There’s a complete absence of non-diegetic score in Chris Nash’s “ambient” horror movie In a Violent Nature, and while the opening handful of scenes makes this bold decision seem like something of a waste (some thumping techno might have matched wonderfully), it’s only some way into the film that you come to terms with the striking beauty of its Canadian wilderness setting, which itself is brilliantly juxtaposed with the film’s impressive gory violence.
Narratively, there is little in Nash’s film that we haven’t seen already. A group of tipsy, cabin-dwelling teenagers steal a necklace from a grave, raising its inhabitant from its restful slumber to wreak havoc on them one by one. What rises out from the mud and leaves is a hulking menace of a being covered in gashes and dirt, one that trudges through the forest in search of its mother’s pendant.
Eventually, the being arms itself with a pair of logger’s hooks, dons a fireman’s mask and begins to hunt down its prey. So far, so standard for the horror genre, really, but where In a Violent Nature makes itself distinct from previous entries in the slasher horror subgenre is in the way it is shot. Nash frequently uses a from-behind, third-person shot to show the being taking each step through increasingly beautiful natural landscapes, achieving a kind of video game aesthetic.
This choice certainly pays off in terms of aesthetics, but it also has a narrative and thematic significance. In a Violent Nature possesses no morality; we do not necessarily cheer for the group of teenagers, nor do we like them – in fact, they probably border on the stereotypically annoying. In that light, we long to see the being destroy them in the most brutal of manners, feeding into the sick and intoxicating voyeurism that the horror genre usually provides.
In this light, the film is ultra-satisfying, and Nash details some genuinely brilliant and inventive kills, always bloody, gory, and unique. One such kill may very well be one of the greatest in the history of horror: shocking, hilarious, and eternally memorable. Over-the-top violence has a meaning here, though, and we learn that the being is, in fact, somewhat infantile in its mental capacity.
Another particularly gruesome kill sees it hammer away at a decapacitated corpse for a humorously extended amount of time, to the point that it becomes clear that violence is simply a form of play and curiosity, perhaps as the film’s title suggests. Nash uses all the hitherto accepted conventions of the slasher horror and throws in a quasi-supernatural raising-from-the-dead curse for good measure, but its archetypical qualities don’t detract from its unique approach to style and production choices.
On occasion, In a Violent Nature threatens to drag. Still, these moments either serve to remind us of our own thirst for blood when it comes to watching a horror movie, or actually help to build tension, particularly considering the film’s finale, which brilliantly toys with the quiet ambience of its setting and the violent expectations of the genre itself.
Nash’s film is brave, and where it follows the typical conventions of its subgenre, it takes bold risks with telling a story that has been told a million times before. With some of the best and most gory horror kills seen in a long time and an aesthetic that can occasionally promote a sense of nature-induced calm, In a Violent Nature is a fascinating take on the modern slasher.
