To be sure, this is far from the first film to attempt such a deconstruction. Two examples from this century are 2006\u2019s Behind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon<\/em> and 2011\u2019s The Cabin in the Woods<\/em>, but the slasher\u2019s popularity (and profitability) in the early \u201980s inspired several parodies along with all the other bandwagon jumpers. Movies like Student Bodies<\/em> (1981), and Pandemonium<\/em> and Wacko<\/em> (both 1982) shared marquee space with the Friday the 13th<\/em> and Halloween<\/em> sequels they were spoofing. And that\u2019s not to forget Brian De Palma\u2019s Blow Out<\/em><\/a>, which opens with a merciless skewering of slasher conventions, chief among them the camera adopting the killer\u2019s point of view, which is often soundtracked by their racing heartbeat and\/or labored breathing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n One way Nash sidesteps the ingrained expectations from half a century of slashers is by not shooting anything from the POV of his unstoppable killer. This is Johnny, who is awoken from a ten-year slumber by the theft of the locket that neutralized him at the end of his previous massacre. In a typical slasher, the protagonists would be the kids who picked the wrong weekend to go camping\/hiking\/what-have-you, but In a Violent Nature<\/em>\u2019s protagonist is Johnny \u2013 and not just because the camera follows him wherever he goes. He also wants something and has to overcome various obstacles to get it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In Johnny\u2019s case, what he wants is his locket, revealed to be a family heirloom by a cleverly integrated flashback to when it was given to him by his father. (\u201cYou\u2019ll always be our little boy, John,\u201d the father says, and this couldn\u2019t be more accurate in light of the man-child he grows up to become.) So what\u2019s preventing him from achieving his goal? For starters, he doesn\u2019t know where the locket is, although he\u2019s certain it hasn\u2019t gone far. (A supernatural revenant he may be, but Johnny does not have a homing beacon that leads him to it.) This is the reason why Nash spends so much time following him from place to place. Without knowing who took his most prized possession, he has to go searching for it, and is prepared to get his steps in while doing so.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The first place he tries is his former home, which is occupied by a poacher (but not for much longer). From there, he makes the rounds of the cabin where the primary group of victims is staying, the ranger station where his old nemesis works, and the surrounding environs, picking off whoever has the misfortune to cross his path. Johnny also makes a point of acquiring the vintage leather firefighter mask on display at the station along with the tools of his trade, which he puts to very creative use. In this sense, Nash\u2019s key collaborator is Psycho Goreman<\/em> director Steven Kostanksi, who, as prosthetic makeup effects lead, helps him pull off some of the most gnarly screen kills in recent memory. (There\u2019s a reason this had to go out unrated.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n Another way Nash signals he\u2019s after something different is by forgoing a score. In most slashers, the music alerts the audience to the killer\u2019s presence, but since Johnny is always present, that would be redundant. Nash also leaves out nearly every dialogue scene that Johnny isn\u2019t around to overhear (with one major exception that has proved divisive). So while Johnny eavesdrops on the scene around the fire where one camper regales the others with the story of \u201cThe White Pines Slaughter,\u201d he misses when the presumptive final girl notices the strange figure on the periphery of the group photo they take right after. Suffice it to say, that is not the last she sees of him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Now that In a Violent Nature<\/em> has found a streaming home on Shudder, it will continue to reward those patient enough to adjust to its deliberate pace. It\u2019s not designed to be everyone\u2019s cup of tea, but that\u2019s the beauty of working on this scale, which allows filmmakers to take risks and go out on a limb in search of something audiences haven\u2019t seen before. In this, Nash succeeds. As for those who complain about how much walking there is, they have evidently never seen a B\u00e9la Tarr film. There could have been a lot more walking.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In addition to Shudder, \u201cIn a Violent Nature\u201d is available for <\/em>purchase or rental<\/em><\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/crookedmarquee.com\/stage8\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/violent2-1024x576.jpg\")
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