One of the year’s most extraordinary filmgoing experiences must surely go to Chris Nash’s In a Violent Nature. Taking the basic premise of “Friday the 13th seen from Jason’s perspective”, this unique slasher turns the entire genre on its head, and has more to say between the long stalking shots through the woods than it may first let on.
If the idea of the killer’s point of view is hardly new – 80’s classics such as Gerald Kargl’s Angst and John McNaughton’s Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer captured the chilling nightmare of a demented murderer’s mind so effectively – what In a Violent Nature manages, is to take that same principle and apply it to the typically less nuanced slasher genre. And Nash’s approach differs from that of his predecessors. Whereas Angst and Henry were uber-dark character studies that wallowed in the minds of their antagonists, repelling viewers at an arms length, In a Violent Nature acts much like it’s camera often does – slightly over the shoulder, being carried along so to speak, but equally within the modern era of third-person video games, a suggestion that we in fact are the willing participant, playing along.
That’s a horrifying concept, but one that Nash manages to evoke through the patience of the filmmaking, and the truly sadistic nature of the violence. It’s been a long, long time since I have seen a film this effective with its set pieces. Sure, the recent Terrifier series has proved successful with a large contingent of hardened horror fans with it’s over-the-top violence and silent Art the Clown icon, but In a Violent Nature operates on an entirely different level to the gleeful, icky practical effects of Damien Leone’s (soon to be) trilogy. For instance, the direction immediately plays on the predictability inherent in slasher films. We’ve all been there – the two teenagers sneak off into the woods giggling, then a branch snaps and we all roll our eyes saying “here it comes…”. Here, there’s none of that – the notion of being too smart for the shocks is completely neutralised since that is not the conceit of the film. Yes, this is going to happen, and you know it will happen because you’ve been with the killer for the whole ride.
The best example of this perhaps comes in the form of film’s least graphic moment of violence. As our killer steps out from the trees overlooking a lake, he sees two young women joking around across the other side. Slasher fans the world over will be telling themselves this is a sequence we’ve seen play out a hundred times, and yet, not like this you haven’t. It’s not only the willingness to flip these preconceived notions on their head that is so impressive, but the effect it has on the experience of viewing the film. Rather than second-guessing when the ghoulish figure will rise from the water à la Friday the 13th, we just wait, knowing all along.
Gone are the days of a brief flinch at the latest creative Savini effect, this creeping assault of the senses is a very different kind of power.
Fear not though, gore hounds. In a Violent Nature certainly lives up to its title. This is not only some of the best practical work seen on a horror film in quite some time, the sequences themselves are as are drawn out and patient as the rest of the film. These moments can be deeply unsettling and somehow at times even darkly comic (at the risk of spoilers, I’ll just say “yoga enthusiast learns new stretch”). The fact that Nash doesn’t betray the tone of the rest of the film when it comes to these moments of brutality is testament to his skills as a filmmaker. It would have been so easy to fall into the trap of losing the sense of quiet, unnerving dread at the service of a cheap, sudden burst of violence, but Nash manages to preserve that cold, clinical evil as much in the murders as he does in the stalking through the trees. This might be the films hidden secret. The approach to the killings is so methodical and maniacal at the same time, it only adds to that feeling of viewer participation to a point where the viewing becomes effectively uncomfortable. Gone are the days of a brief flinch at the latest creative Savini effect, this creeping assault of the senses is a very different kind of power.
On a technical level, the film is about as good as anything seen in the horror genre over the past decade. The look and feel is often counter-intuitively beautiful. The last word of the title is just as significant as the third. Nash creates a dreamlike atmosphere for the killer to maraud in, the sound design full of the natural world living around this looming presence of death, baked in gorgeous sunshine as much as he is cloaked in the darkness of the night. And when it is time to serve up some flesh, Pierce Derks’ cinematography could have been lifted wholesale from The Burning or Sleepaway Camp.
The idea that In a Violent Nature could very well work as an extension of one of these franchises only elevates its greatness. I was struck halfway through by the idea that this actually just was, for arguments sake, Friday the 13th Part V. As someone who once watched seven (films) in a one-day marathon, it’s safe to assume I love Jason and his yearly slaughters, but the idea that Paramount would ever have thought to take one of those entries in this direction is a fascinating notion.
Of course, Nash has been fairly open about how his influences range far broader than the 80’s heyday of machete wielding monsters. Alongside the more obvious nods to past slasher greats, the clearest reference would most likely be Gus Van Sant’s Death Trilogy, and Nash does appear to take a little from each of Van Sant’s films – the confused wander of Gerry, the sinister tracking of Elephant and the aching tragedy of Last Days.
Those nods to Van Sant throughout come to full fruition in the final, staggering sequence. The last 15 minutes of the film are just about as brilliantly conceived an ending to a horror film since the existential dread of The Thing. Composed of one long drive and conversation, it brings the entire film around, not so much offering an explanation as simply pinpointing the absurdity and randomness of the world around the characters. There is so much in the final words, but its the manner in which Nash holds the viewer on a knife-edge, how he turns that viewer participation right on its head. What was perversely a comfort blanket when riding the shoulder of a killer is now a state of confusion and real terror. Without answers, without reason, it takes the final girl moment of so many past influences and, just as has been the case throughout the entire film, looks upon it from a different angle, proving that the horror genre is well and truly still alive and very much unexplored.
A patient and particular gem, a brutal and brilliant horror film.
In a Violent Nature is playing at Select Cinemas Nationwide & Video on Demand
In A Violent Nature is available on Apple TV
Joe’s Archive – In A Violent Nature (2024)
Discover more from The Geek Show
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
