In A Violent Nature Is Reportedly Making Audiences Sick – But Is It Really That Brutal?
Unlike big-budget blockbusters that often depend on famous faces or explosive (and expensive) set pieces to draw audiences into the theater, the horror genre has been thriving for decades with no-name actors, shoestring budgets, and still pulling in huge profits thanks to a quality idea that audiences want to see. If the characters in the film are more than likely not going to make it to the end credits, there's no need to shell out the dough for a household name when they're just going to be killed off.
Fortunately, horror films also frequently inspire unprovoked reactions from audiences that work better than any marketing campaign ever could. A24 struck gold when audience members were reportedly fainting during preview screenings of "Talk to Me," which certainly helped skyrocket the film's popularity and contributed to it becoming the production company's highest-grossing horror film, ever, even surpassing Ari Aster's "Hereditary."
IFC Films and Shudder have now been given a similar gift with their arthouse slasher gorefest "In A Violent Nature" reportedly making audiences gasp and even vomit. Audio that was secretly recorded during the Chicago Critics Film Fest screening allegedly captured folks being extremely freaked out, and reports of someone being so disgusted by the film that they couldn't hold it down and threw up in the middle of the film. But considering that horror movies using over-the-top audience reactions as a form of promotion is one of the oldest tricks in the book, not everyone is buying it. Is "In a Violent Nature" (our review here) as brutal as this footage implies, or is this just some old-school carny promotional manipulation?
In A Violent Nature has incredibly gory kills
"In A Violent Nature" has been mislabeled as a "slasher film from the killer's POV," which isn't entirely accurate. This is not a POV film like "The Blair Witch Project" or "The Taking of Deborah Logan," but a slasher film that follows the slasher villain instead of the teenage victims trying to survive the slaughter. If you've ever wondered what Michael Myers is up to during the scenes when babysitters are smoking weed or walking home from school, "In A Violent Nature" focuses on that story. And for the most part, the slasher named Johnny (Ry Barrett) is just trekking through the woods. Sometimes, "In A Violent Nature" feels like watching a video game walking simulator.
But this intentional pacing is meant to lull the audience into a false sense of comfort, because when Johnny's path finally does cross with a group of friends in the woods — he executes kills that would make Jason Voorhees proud. The walking scenes are ambient and calm, which gives the kills the space to be as over-the-top as possible. One moment in particular — undoubtedly the scene that reportedly made someone barf in their seat — is one of the most creative kills in recent memory, outdoing even the gorehound favorite "Terrifier 2."
Considering how extreme the violence is compared to how disarming the lead-up is, it is a very jarring whiplash for folks who aren't prepared to watch a body destroyed in ways never thought possible. Is "In A Violent Nature" a non-stop bloodbath of gross-out "torture porn?" No, but it is extremely effective in its execution, and will certainly catch some viewers off guard with just how intense the kills get, especially those shot in broad daylight.
Gimmick marketing is always fun
As of publication, the Blumhouse movie about a cursed swimming pool, "Night Swim," is still the highest-grossing horror movie of the year domestically, but horror (honestly, film as a whole) hasn't been performing as well at the box office as usual. There have certainly been modest hits like "Late Night with the Devil" — another film like "In a Violent Nature that was announced as heading to Shudder after its theatrical release window — so leaning into this newfound angle of "a movie so scary it makes people vomit" could certainly help get butts in seats during the theatrical run.
Fortunately, "In A Violent Nature" is a genuinely interesting movie in its approach to crafting a slasher film, and the downright brutal kills more than compensate for the time the film takes focusing on the back of a gigantic dude in a mask with an assortment of weapons just walking around through the woods. Horror is subjective and viewers shouldn't expect to have a similar reaction as the people who audibly reacted or tossed their cookies during a screening, nor should they walk out of the theater feeling disappointed if those things don't happen during their viewing. Instead, horror fans should have fun with a new, inventive slasher with gnarly kills and a marketing campaign that is going to freak out all the normies. But if you're an easily queasy viewer ... maybe skip the Icee before watching the movie ... just to be safe.
"In A Violent Nature" arrives in theaters on May 31, 2024.