“In A Violent Nature instils art-house aesthetics in a hyper-violent setting” Image Courtesy of IFC Films Image Courtesy of IFC Films Slashers aren’t dead, you are. Built upon a bloody pyramid of sequels, prequels and spin-offs, Slasher films had their heyday in the 80s with household franchises like Friday the 13th and Halloween bludgeoning forward into the 21st century with mixed results. The model has been largely unwavering and the tropes scrutinised to death.
The meta-humour of Scream , The Rise of Leslie Vernon and Cabin in the Woods skewed clichés as well as the audience’s perspective with increasing zeal. Today you’re as likely to watch a satire as you are a straightforward slasher, if such a thing exists. In a Violent Nature bids to rework these conventions again, instilling art-house aesthetics in a hyper-violent setting.
Image Courtesy of IFC Films This isn’t a parody though, or post-modern or self-referential. To an extent In a Violent Nature is a willing archetype. The killer an undead, mask-wearing psychopath out for revenge, and his prey could be students, coalminers or campers; they’re fodder.
‘Johnny’, a voiceless Jason Voorhees -clone, is the protagonist. And in an approach somewhere between the Friday the 13th video game and Gerald Kargl’s Angst , the camera follows in third-person as he moves deliberately and callously from one victim to the next. In a Violent Nature is a kill-count at heart.
And although it puts forward a flat and un.