In a Violent Nature

If I had to watch one more shot of the killer walking through the forest, a damn field, or some other picturesque landscape I would have sworn I was watching a 3rd person nature documentary.

I don't mind a film being slow for the sake of tension building or for a great payoff (think Jaws, slow but a HUGE payoff) but this was slow and tedious to the point I thought the director was having a joke at the watcher's expense. It genuinely went on for so long or so repetitively at times I particularly thought I was watching a satirical horror movie. Think of that scene in Monte Python and the Holy Grail where they replay the same scene of a knight running towards you over and over.

There were some original kills (credit where credit is due, the overlook kill was fantastic) but to see other reviews saying that it's horrifying, and the most frightening, gory film they've seen makes me question how much horror the reviewers have actually seen.

It's a more ambient Friday the 13th / Jason film and nothing more.

Walking out of the theater, I passed a man who turned to his wife and said, "Well, we'll never get that time back" and he's absolutely right.

Someone should count how many steps are taken in this movie. Because that's what you're watching half of the time.

This feels like an artistically shot homage to Friday the 13th from the killer's perspective. There are definitely some creative shots & kills in-between the nature walks, although it doesn't justify the 90+ minute runtime.

Makeup and effects were good/great. It's visually compelling throughout.

There is essentially no character development. If anything, the kids mostly come off as unlikable, so there's really no compassion for any of the people getting mindlessly slaughtered.

Worth watching if you're really into slashers & nature documentaries.

You have your good movies and bad movies, and then you have the ones that should have never been made, but unfortunately, in A Violent Nature was made. I would rather drink a cup of bleach than even watch this movie. This movie was the temu version of Friday the 13th. It was a good concept to have a slasher movie that shows POV of the killer. But In A Violent Nature, did not deliver at all. About 95% of the movie was watching the back of the killers head as he was walking. The whole movie went like this: walking, walking, walking, walking, kill, more, walking, walking, walking, walking, walking, walking, walking, walking, kill, walking, walking.. ok, you get it. The plot of the story was so damn stupid and cliché. The acting was atrocious. The kills were horrible, and some dragged out, made no sense. The editing was bad. It was like a 5 year old made this whole movie. This movie could have been cut into a 5 min short movie. Some of these reviews praising this movie are either 16 or younger, or they were paid to write a good review. This movie is not a masterpiece, or going to be a cult classic, or scary, or entertaining... But do you know what would be more entertaining then watching this abomination, if I hit my head against a brick wall instead of watching this trash movie, If i shoved a cactus in my ear, If I swam with a pool of sharks, If I jumped into a volcano, if i swim in toxic waste, if I walked on hot coals barefoot, if I rolled around in little shards of glass and pour rubbing alcohol all over me, if I wrapped barbwire around my legs and ran a marathon... that's entertainment, not this so called rip off, wannabe, non original, horrible acting, terrible script, Nash calls a movie. Chris Nash never needs to direct or write a movie ever. And Shudder should be embarrassed slapping their name anywhere on that movie. Whoever gave the green light for this movie to be released in theaters(or even to be made) needs to not ever have a say in a movie EVER.

Went in not expecting much and that's exactly what I got. Probably 70% of this movie is the same shot repeated over and over again, that shot being us watching the killer from behind walking through the woods at great length with the sound of leaves crunching underfoot.

I'm convinced the storyboard for this movie, on paper, goes something like this: Walk. Kill. Walk. Kill. Walk. Kill. Walk Kill...

Though the walking is about 5 times the length of a kill and save for maybe 2 kills offering a few seconds of goofy fun, the rest are boring.

Other than that the story is incredibly cheesy/lame/unoriginal, the dialogue and acting is entirely subpar, and there's many awkwardly executed scenes. A few long, not convincing, awkward pauses in dialogue or actions, as well as some weird almost confusing sound design at times made it clear pretty early that the story and acting aren't going to be where the movie shines, unfortunately though there was nowhere it shined.

I did my best to not fall asleep while watching but toward the end I really couldn't be bothered to care at all and found myself starting to drift. Can't try and pass off a low budget thriller as unique or original in this case, it's really just a bore.

Disclaimer: this film is only intended for slasher fans. Ones who love the cliches and tropes of the genre and want to see them flipped on their head and played around with. The change of POV, the off camera kills slowly dwindling away until everything in its practical effects glory is displayed with a refusal to turn the camera from anything, and the (in a good way) head scratching ending.

This review isn't to gatekeep this film, it's just to let people know who the intended audience is. I've seen many films where I wasn't the intended audience and the point of the film was lost on me. The early review to this film were very negative so I was bracing for a bad time but was surprised. This is one of those rare love letters to the genre that really requires additional watching of at least the classics to see what the director was going for. Otherwise it's just going to seem like senseless kills and walking around with no substance, where the true substance lies in the established features of the genre itself that it puts its twist on.

Overall a fun time with some genuinely great moments and a must watch for slasher fans.