443: In a Violent Nature

[00:00:00] 150. Let's get to In a Violent Nature, which is now available for digital purchase and rent. It is written and directed by Chris Nash, who hasn't really done a whole lot. This was really one of his first bigger movies.

[00:00:14] It stars Ry Barrett, Andrea Pavlovich, Cameron Love, Reese Presley, not a lot of big names.

[00:00:23] And the synopsis is, when a locket is removed from a collapsed fire tower in the woods that entombs the rotting corpse of Johnny, a vengeful spirit spurred by horrific 60 year old crime, his body is resurrected and becomes hellbent on retrieving it.

[00:00:38] So this one I think was, had a small theatrical release recently, maybe I could be wrong, but I know it's just mainly been on digital. And I didn't even know this movie was coming out until maybe a month ago when one of my coworkers mentioned it.

[00:00:53] I was like, wait, what are you talking about? This POV serial killer film? And I was like, okay, that sounds sort of interesting. And I looked it up and I was like, okay, this is kind of intriguing. And some people were, I think it's kind of wrong.

[00:01:06] I think some people were comparing it to like Terrence Malick, you know, who did Tree of Life and many others, maybe a little bit cinematography wise, but I think that's a bit of a stretch.

[00:01:16] But I was still curious to see because I really like slasher movies and anything that can try and reinvent the genre, do something a little bit different.

[00:01:23] That's not just the same killers over and over again. I mean, it's very inspired by Friday the 13th for sure, but I can appreciate the attempt. And overall, I thought it was okay. Maybe a little overhyped. There are definitely elements that I enjoy.

[00:01:42] I think all the kills are very, very effective. The hook sequence on the cliffside is insane. Definitely one of the most gory, gruesome things I've seen in quite some time. So all the kills are good. The one with the saw, like the table saw, that's effective.

[00:01:59] So all the kills, they do pick their spots and they make you really linger in those scenes and with those people and how it's affecting them. So I think that's all very well done, well directed.

[00:02:11] And I didn't inherently mind just walking behind, you know, a third person perspective watching this killer wander through the trees. I thought that was actually kind of interesting and not that it worked all the time.

[00:02:26] And it does feel too long. It's only 90 minutes, but that was, I guess you could say a bittersweet aspect to the movie where some points I was really, really engaged.

[00:02:36] It looked really good. It was shot well. But then other points I was like, all right, where are we leading to? You know, I don't need to see this guy in real time wander around and kill these people.

[00:02:46] Maybe every so often, but not through the whole movie, which it mostly is. But it was refreshing in how simple it was and it's not really flashy. It's not really pretentious.

[00:02:58] I mean, you could call the cinematography pretentious, but I don't think there's anything wrong with making a serial killer film have good cinematography. But I would say the biggest issue for me is it feels like in the third act, it really runs out of steam.

[00:03:15] The biggest offense by far is so I mean, for the most part, you're with this killer throughout the whole movie, just following him around. And then suddenly it switches to this one character who I won't spoil it, who gets away when the others don't.

[00:03:30] And they go onto the road and they encounter this older woman who picks them up and helps them escape. But there's this really, really long, extended, almost I hate to say it's sleep inducing story that this woman tells about the backstory of this killer.

[00:03:50] And it feels like this Chris Nash guy had no idea how to end this movie effectively because it really just kills the pacing. You're going at a good momentum throughout this whole thing, different locations, different characters.

[00:04:04] And you're just kind of waiting to see what this killer is going to do next. But the moment she gets in this car, it feels like it just comes to a complete ironically, comes to a complete halt.

[00:04:15] The story itself, I feel like after a while, I just completely phased out. It wasn't really interesting. I thought the performance by the actress was it was okay, but kind of boring. Then the victim or the survivor rather, who's listening, she's in complete shock after everything.

[00:04:33] So she's not even reacting to the story. She's just sitting there kind of blank faced. And if it was a minute long story, that's different, but it feels like it goes on forever.

[00:04:44] And I was just really checking my watch. I'm like, how long do we need to know the backstory of this guy? We don't even need to know the backstory. That's in some ways what made it more powerful.

[00:04:55] I mean, I like the little story they tell at the beginning. That's all we needed. We didn't need to know the Texas Chainsaw Friday, the 13th lore of this guy. Like, I don't really care. And so the third act, really a letdown, not really climactic at all.

[00:05:13] And I felt like even the last shot where the survivor is looking out at the woods when they stop at the side of the road, that was just completely unrealistic and kind of lame, the suspense they're trying to build.

[00:05:26] And so you leave, to me at least, I did, left with a bit of a sour taste in my mouth. So if you like slasher films, if you want something a little bit different, if you like quieter, more restrained horror films,

[00:05:40] I think you could do worse. It's not a horrible movie. And there are really violent moments, some really, really great looking shots, some creativity. I like the overall design of the killer with that weird hood bag, whatever you want to call it.

[00:05:55] I think that is a really cool, very unsettling look. And then also when you see him take off the hood and you see the zombified-esque body, that's very effective. So visually, a lot of good strong points.

[00:06:09] So I'll never rag on the movie too much considering it did do something that was impressive for what it is. And I'm considering the budget was very, very small. So that one is a light three out of five.