In A Violent Nature

Its fairly predictable that there will be consequences when a locket is removed and something in the ground starts to stir.

And that is the case with In A Violent Nature. There’s the group of friends on a trip to the forest, a creepy campfire story, survivors of previous encounters, the final girl and naturally the killer.

All present and correct however writer/director Chris Nash has decided to take a much more stylised perspective, that of the killer. He has the camera following the hulking Johnny (Ry Barrett) a few paces behind as he hunts down the people who have disturbed him.

And there’s no rushing about its slow and methodical hunting. He’s helped in his cause by illegal animal traps that snare his quarry, an ability to breathe underwater and is unkillable.

What is also a breath of fresh air is that while there are some very nasty kills, a few are seen from distance as in a swimming murder. Nash has taken a lot of care with the shooting mixing the trudge of the killer with long shots of him observing victims at the lake and a body rolled down steep bank, which is actually very disturbing.

Nash also employs a technique of dual action in the fore and background within the frame, as well as off camera conversations and arguments. Here the sound design is key and very effective. Achieving a sense of detachment from the actors to the sequences of Johnny just walking through the forest; his lumbering footsteps in tune with the forest noises.

The acting is solid. The characters are there just as victims and killer fodder, with very little depth, though there is a running story to the end. Only Johnny is developed in any way and that’s just to establish his motive.

That’s par for the course in stalk and slash films which keeps them moving from kill to kill at a fair pace. Here Nash – with his debut feature – has foregone that element to a certain extent having Johnny just trudging on relentlessly.

The academy ratio, choice of perspectives and wealth of ideas gives In A Violent Nature the appearance of an extended experimental student film. There are times when it feels repetitive, one paced and there’s little in the way of tension.

In the grand scheme of things those are minor issues in a film where the director has tried to be innovative and do something fresh within the strictures of a long-established horror sub-genre. And by and large he has done so.

In A Violent Nature will be available on Shudder on 13 September 2024.