A couple of ultra-violent kills don’t make up for negligent ineffectiveness with In a Violent Nature, a slasher movie where the singular hook is that the movie is shown from the killer’s point of view. And it doesn’t even do that particularly well.
Written and directed by Chris Nash, In a Violent Nature follows an apparently unkillable zombie dude as he slowly wanders around the woods killing forgettable young people. In one scene, he kills a young woman and then somehow pulls her head back through a hole in her chest. In another, he patiently dismembers a dude using a wood-splitting machine.
The suspense is utterly lacking. Given that the film follows the killer, it would have been nice to have a killer with just a little bit of personality. But more importantly, there are zero thrills, no sense of tension or terror. Since you don’t really get to know any of the innocent victims (coupled with the fact that the characters are blandly written and poorly acted as a result), there’s zero emotional connection to any of them. You don’t care who lives or dies. You don’t really care about anything.
The concept–a slasher film but one that follows the killer–is a good one. If done well. But Nash repeatedly abandons this concept entirely, switching to other perspectives. And when he does stick with the killer, it’s generally a dull affair. There’s no sense of urgency or even an attempt to entertain the audience, aside from the gory murder scenes (trust me, they’d be more satisfying if the rest of the movie wasn’t such a bore).
And the anti-climax is about as bad of a way to end a slasher film as you could hope for. Why Nash opted to end on what feels like a 20-minutes monologue from a newly introduced character, followed by random shots of nature, is just downright baffling. There’s literally no conclusion, no sense of satisfaction. No excitement. Nothing.
In a Violent Nature is not without its moments, but it’s more of an experiment based on a cool concept than it is a fully realized movie. Lacking entertainment value and a real sense of purpose, this is one slasher film you can safely skip.
Review by Erik Samdahl unless otherwise indicated.
