IN A VIOLENT NATURE (2024) * ½

Someone foolishly removes a necklace from a gravesite and accidentally resurrects a bald killer named Johnny (Ry Barrett).  Before long, Johnny is shuffling through the forest and offing anyone stupid enough to get in his way (mostly young people partying at a lakeside cabin). 

In a Violent Nature has an intriguing idea.  It’s a slasher film almost exclusively told from the slasher’s (over the shoulder) point of view.  It feels like it’s trying to show the audience what your average horror movie killer would be up to when he wasn’t busy sneaking up behind people and butchering them. 

As it turns out, the answer to that question, more often than not, is walking.  Slowly.  Most of the movie is devoted to Johnny walking through the woods, around people’s homes, onto their campsites, etc.  I mean there’s no getting around the fact that 3/4 of the running time is just Johnny walking.  There’s a reason why they cut this shit out of most slasher flicks.  In fact, some of the long walking scenes are accompanied by nature sounds, which kind of makes it feel like an ASMR video.  That is to say, you may find yourself drifting off to sleep during these portions of the picture. 

While the idea behind the movie is inventive, there just isn’t enough inventiveness on screen to make it work.  Yes, the scene where Johnny shoves a victim’s head through her own stomach IS pretty inventive.  That’s about where the fun begins and ends though.  Ultimately, In a Violent Nature needed more kills of this caliber if it wanted to justify the long, lifeless passages.  While some of the kills are gory, they ultimately just seem pointless.  (Like the scene where Johnny whacks a guy with an axe more times than Lizzie Borden ever did.)

Maybe I’d feel differently if Johnny had some sort of personality or at the very least felt like an original character.  However, he is clearly just meant to be a Great Value brand of Jason Vorhees, a fact the filmmakers really don’t try to hide.  Because of that, it almost feels like one of those Jason fan films expanded to feature length.  While this might have played fine for a half-hour or so, the premise is just too thin to support an hour-and-a-half running time.  (Plus, that fucking final car ride scene goes on forFUCKingever.)