The Doctor is a lifelong fan of learning and I enjoy taking deep dives into research. Having said that, I am equally at ease with someone else doing the legwork and freeing me to pursue my various leisure pursuits. TNCC chairman Cade is a natural leader and himself a fan of research, and he often finds ways to motivate The Doctor when I would rather be sampling wines from Oregon’s Willamette Valley while watching various sporting events. Therefore it was late of a sweltering summer evening when Cade suggested to me that I take on In A Violent Nature, a campground slasher movie albeit one with a very different approach. Well, I grew up on Jason Voorhees and Crystal Lake, so I am a sucker for a slasher-in-the-woods movie and no arm twisting was required. Let us begin.
THE FILM – IN A VIOLENT NATURE (2024)
A rusted piece of pipe or an iron bar – the object is never clearly explained, and it ultimately doesn’t matter – is wedged into the ground in a dilapidated lean-to somewhere deep in the woods. Several characters are overheard off-camera making reference to a local legend known as the White Pines Slaughter. One of the unseen dipshits removes an old medallion from the pipe before departing, an act that proves unfortunate as the medallion had been serving as a protective talisman. Our killer then literally pulls himself up from out of the ground, Voorhees-ian in build and dress and general cranial scarring. The camera follows him, and this is what separates In A Violent Nature from other films of this ilk. It’s not a direct, John Carpenter POV, but rather a point of view from a few yards behind the slasher as he traipses through the surrounding countryside and to a nearby dwelling not far from the road… and we continue to stay with him. After dispatching his first victim, a redneck game poacher who no one is going to miss, the killer stomps back into the woods.
In A Violent Nature does not employ the stay-with-the-slasher viewpoint 100% of the time but it comes fairly close, and that viewpoint serves as our ground level guide throughout the movie. Early on the filmmakers have established that the cinematography is going to play a major role in our level of enjoyment. Some may find this approach off-putting, but I loved it. Maybe you never wondered what the every day experience was like for Jason Voorhees – I have, of course – but In A Violent Nature is going to give us an interpretation. We see how Jason – er, Johnny – responds to the various stimuli that he encounters, be it cars passing on the road blasting loud music or a campfire surrounded by young would-be party animals. The camera angle changes for the campfire scene as we are treated to slow, continuous rotations around the young partiers which turns out to be our only close look at them. One of them regales his friends with the story of the White Pines Slaughter and the legendary Johnny, the slow-witted kid who was bullied to the point of accidentally being killed and now he supposedly roams the woods. Sound familiar? Of course it does, but what’s wrong with that? Nothing, says I. The Doctor has always wondered why more slasher films released in the last 20 years haven’t relied on a derivative backstory or aesthetic so I applaud In A Violent Nature for unabashedly taking that route. This film knows its audience and what we want.
Following the campfire scene, we return to Johnny and his viewpoint for the vast majority of the film’s remainder. I cant stress enough how much I personally liked this tactic; I think it forces the viewer to stay more involved as we move along with Johnny and experience his responses. We literally see what he sees, whether it’s a young woman taking her shirt off or Johnny’s next victim lighting a smoke while standing next to a tree. In a traditional campground slasher film the audience would be with the young woman in her room on the second floor of the lake house as she converses with a horny suitor; in this case, we instead view her from Johnny’s position outside the house and just beyond the tree line. Does Johnny reveal any sort of character? No… but in this more intimate association we do witness the wheels turning behind Johnny’s visage and perhaps, dare I say it, even something of a hidden personality? I don’t mean to suggest that he suddenly breaks into a tap-dance or cracks a smile, but by staying with Johnny we are able to see something of a thought process. Jason Voorhees and Michael Myers did have their own personas, after all, thickly veiled as they might have been.
And the Voorhees and Myers personality tropes are on full display with In A Violent Nature. How do these guys always get where they are going by merely walking? Well, Johnny shows us the way. Walking briskly and knowing the quickest route by which the crow flies can work wonders. Sexy young ladies decide to gallivant on a creaky wooden pier on one side of the lake and Johnny is on the other side when he espies them… how does Johnny get there? By taking the straight route, of course.
As one might reasonably expect from a film titled In A Violent Nature, the proceedings are not for the squeamish. One kill in particular is extremely gruesome but they almost all employ varying degrees of gore. I would say that this is unnecessary but of course I decry many norms of modern society. This aspect of the film probably could have been toned down a little without taking anything away from the overall enjoyment, but the effects are well done and so I doubt any real slasher film fan will register a complaint.
The scenery is fantastic. Sometimes during the night or the waning twilight it can be difficult to see everything but then a source of light will appear to bring clarity. As for the performances, there is little that can be said either way; with this film, it is the filmmakers themselves – Director, Cinematographer, Editor and so on – that are the real stars of the picture. This is no slight against the actors. For all I know they might be quite good, but they do not get much of a chance to display any ability. In a way, this approach douses a bucket of fetid water all over the “Final Girl” mythology. The last character standing in this movie doesn’t make it that far due to any cunning or chutzpah; from Johnny’s view, we learn that the last character standing is due to mere coincidence and nothing else. Johnny doesn’t have a pecking order. As with his screen predecessors Michael and Jason, Johnny’s chronology of mayhem follows a line of “whoever gets in my way.” Granted, with characters like Laurie Strode of Halloween and Sidney Prescott of Scream there was a backstory that singled out these characters, but Johnny – and Jason Voorhees, who Johnny is obviously based on – isn’t looking for vengeance against any specific person. This provided a philosophical construct that The Doctor definitely appreciated.
Here’s the rub… if, like The Doctor and TNCC Chairman Cade, you have repeatedly enjoyed 80’s slasher movies over the years then I think you will love the artistry and inventiveness of In A Violent Nature. On the other hand, for those who never cared for the slasher sub-genre of horror movies, well, who cares what they think. As always, my friends, The Doctor wishes you all a clean bill of health.
