In a Violent Nature – Film Review
Reviewed by Harris Dang on the 18th of July of 2024
Umbrella Entertainment presents a film by Chris Nash
Produced by Shannon Hanmer and Peter Kuplowsky
Written by Chris Nash
Starring Ry Barrett, Andrea Pavlovic, Cameron Love, Reece Presley, Liam Leone, Charlotte Creaghan, Lea Rose Sebastianis, Sam Roulston, Alexander Oliver, Timothy Paul McCarthy, Lauren-Marie Taylor
Edited by Alex Jacobs
Running Time: 94 minutes
Rating: CTC (Check the Classification)
Release Date: the 1st of August 2024
In a Violent Nature tells the story of a bunch of rowdy, rambunctious teenagers who are on a weekend camping trip that is packed with drinking, frolicking, and campfire stories. During their trip, they venture into the burnt remains of a fire tower and find a gold locket. Unbeknown to the rest of the group, one of them pockets the locket, which causes an undead being to rise from the ground. Not one to take a ruined sleep lightly, the being trudges into the forest and slowly targets the teenagers one by one until the gold locket is returned to him.
By the looks of the synopsis, In a Violent Nature resembles your prototypical slasher. Cheap, cost-effective locations? Check. Archetypal characters revolving around sex, drugs, and alcohol? Check. Preponderous backstory? Check. Gallons of blood and gore? Check. The final girl concept being fulfilled? Check. But as with films like Scream (1996), the rules of the slasher film can be bent. Or the rules can be broken and reconstructed with films like Tucker and Dale vs. Evil (2010). In the case of In a Violent Nature, the very rules of the slasher film are flipped.
In a Violent Nature is the feature-length film debut from Chris Nash, whose most famous work is a short film called Z for Zygote, which was part of the anthology film ABCs of Death 2 (2014). His approach to storytelling is always taking the road less travelled. His attempts at suspense and tension do not come from storytelling that is confronting but is more cerebral. In his latest film, the genre thrills are no longer upfront. The storytelling catharsis is no longer immediate. The characterisations are no longer recognisable.
Yet it is that type of genre subversion that lends In a Violent Nature an understated, lingering sense of beauty and eeriness. Much like Jordan Peele’s film Nope (2022), In a Violent Nature examines our irrational need to satiate our curiosity and how it can also lead to our impending doom. In a prototypical slasher, the audience is expected to scream for or at the wellbeing of the characters as they are being attacked because we either sympathise with them or we cannot stand them and want them to suffer.
However, In a Violent Nature tells the story through the being’s point of view. Our sense of security and familiarity with the genre goes off the rails when we feel a sinking feeling of inevitability that no matter how hard we try to associate with the victims, doom prevails. The audience knows what is coming. Yet the meditative pacing, the disassociation of any relatable character, the dearth of emotional manipulation, the claustrophobic feel of the letterboxed aspect ratio are all storytelling techniques that lend the film a certain surprise, a foreboding power that immerses you in and stays with you.
And much like Z for Zygote, Nash is not afraid to thrown in the buckets of blood and gore. The violence is still overstated like a prototypical slasher should be. But aside from the remarkable invention of said kills (one standout kill involves a hook and a yoga practitioner), it is the cold, harsh presentation that makes the violence powerfully felt and not something to savour for our bloodlust. This leads to the film’s outlook on the aftereffect of violence, which comes into play superbly in the film’s ending. It subverts our expectations on how violence affects survivors as it lingers in their minds, particularly in the case of the conception of “the final girl”.
In a Violent Nature will not be for everyone, as it is too cerebral and wilfully obscure with its genre intentions to fully cater to horror fans. However, if one were to go along with its daring, hypnotic, and subversive approach they will find plenty to savour, provoke, and challenge here.
Summary: If one were to go along with its daring, hypnotic, and subversive approach they will find plenty to savour, provoke, and challenge here.
4
Strong
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