In a Violent Nature (2024)

This film has a unique selling point in that it is seen from the killer’s perspective. Otherwise this is just another slasher film set in the woods. The plot sees a group of annoying young people in the woods and one of them takes a locket hanging by some remains of a tower. This brings the killer rising from the ground and sets his sights on retrieving this. Despite it being a horror film like all good horror films it has a comedic tone which isn't surprising that a horror film could have funny moments but such moments as when the killer throws the beheaded body into a cabinet to break the glass.

There are some great shots there is one where the killer (now with a helmet), walks under water and towards the girl going for a swim in the lake and the camera stays still, it doesn't cut to a shot of something else or the POV of the killer but holds onto that one shot for what felt like an age. There are also a couple of shots where the killer is walking through the woods and we are just following him and there is something that feels like we aren’t supposed to follow him and that adds to the tension I think.

The deaths are quite good which is another essential thing for a good horror film. I’m not the greatest when it comes to gore but there is an appropriate amount of gore and the goriest by far is when the girl doing yoga has her head pulled through her back. Got to admit I’ve never seen that sort of death before. The deaths did have a Friday the 13th vibe to them and not just cause they take place in the woods. But because they are gruesome in their simplicity. 

It is a shame that we do see the killer’s face. It might not be until the halfway point of the film but it's a shame when they do this as I think it provided some mystery up until this point. Don't get me wrong the effects are very good but I would have liked to go through the film without seeing what he looks like.

If I had a problem with the film then its that it slightly runs out of steam towards the end and also the rather abrupt ending did leave me a little disappointed. We do see that the locket put on the gas canister is gone suggesting that this will be the end of the killer’s pursuit. I don’t know if have a big long speech towards the end of your horror film was such as good idea but I suppose it is what it is.

Overall, this was a very good horror film. It does run out of steam towards the end but I thought for the most part it worked very well. The idea of seeing it from the perspective of the killer was a refreshing one and shows that there are still original ideas in horror. People think its easy to set a film in the woods and it is but its harder to make the film interesting an effective and In a Violent Nature pulls this off