You know me at this point. Horror isn’t really my bag. And yet I’ll always have a fondness for a good slasher flick. One of the best films I saw at Sundance this year is a new take on the slasher, In a Violent Nature, which turns the tables by giving us the killer’s perspective as he cuts a bloody path through his victims.
So basically, imagine Friday the 13th totally seen through the hockey mask of Jason Voorhees. In a Violent Nature centers on Johnny, who rises from his makeshift grave to retrieve something that has been stolen from him. Fueled by vengeance, he begins stalking down everyone in his vicinity, including a bunch of vacationing teens, and a sheriff tied to his past.
The film stars Ry Barrett, Andrea Pavlovic, Cameron Love, Reece Presley, Liam Leone, Charlotte Creaghan, Lea Rose Sebastianis, Sam Roulston, Alexander Oliver, and Lauren Taylor, and was directed by Chris Nash in his feature debut.
I like this teaser because it doesn’t reveal too much. I do believe that a less is more approach is the right idea, and it should continue as we get closer to its release. What the film does right is explore the tropes of slasher movies, revealing some things we don’t typically see, from a viewpoint we’ve never seen.
Here’s the synopsis: When a locket is removed from a collapsed fire tower in the woods that entombs the rotting corpse of Johnny, a vengeful spirit spurred on by a horrific 60-year old crime, his body is resurrected and becomes hellbent on retrieving it. The undead golem hones in on the group of vacationing teens responsible for the theft and proceeds to methodically slaughter them one by one in his mission to get it back – along with anyone in his way.
IFC Films will release In a Violent Nature exclusively in theaters on May 31st, followed by a streaming release on Shudder.
