In a Violent Nature

Did You Know?

• A sequel, In a Violent Nature 2, was announced at San Diego Comic-Con 2024, with principal photography beginning in Canada in September 2025.
• Ry Barrett returns as Johnny in the sequel, alongside new cast members Lucas Nguyen, Olivia Scriven, Laurie Babin, Fionn Laird, Donald MacLean Jr., and Evan Marsh.
• Peter Kuplowsky and Shannon Hamner were announced as producers for the sequel, with Nash returning to write the screenplay.

Plot

Seven friends—Kris, Colt, Troy, Evan, Ehren, Brodie, and Aurora—find a locket dangling from the remains of a fire tower. Troy takes it. Immediately after, the buried body of a serial killer named Johnny rises from the ground. Furious, Johnny searches the woods for the locket. He overhears a hunter and a park ranger arguing. Entering the hunter’s home, Johnny spots a necklace he mistakes for his own, which triggers a brief memory of his father. The homeowner returns, sees Johnny, and tries to flee, but is caught and killed.

Johnny is drawn toward the group by the sound of gunfire they made. Around a campfire, Ehren tells the legend of Johnny. Years ago, Johnny—the developmentally delayed son of a local merchant—fell to his death from the fire tower after a prank went wrong. People tried to cover it up, but Johnny’s father learned the truth and was killed when he confronted one of those responsible. The murders that followed were blamed on Johnny’s vengeful spirit. That night, Johnny kills Ehren. He uses Ehren’s body to break into a park ranger office, stealing weapons and an antique firefighter mask.

The next day, Johnny kills Brodie in the water near a lake dock, then Aurora at an overlook. Later, Troy, Colt, Kris, and Evan argue about their missing friends. The fight escalates, and Troy throws the car keys into the woods. Johnny retrieves them. Colt goes into the woods to find the keys but instead picks up Johnny’s dropped axe. He brings it back to the others, who keep arguing about strange events. While playing with the keychain, Johnny hears Troy insult Colt’s dead father. Enraged, he walks toward the group just as Colt and Kris drive off toward the ranger station. Johnny injures Troy with the axe. Inside a cabin, Evan sees this, runs out, and shoots Johnny before he can kill Troy. Evan and Troy flee into the woods, but Johnny regains consciousness, chases them, and kills both.

When Colt and Kris reach the ranger station, a park ranger investigating the scene notices the locket around Kris’s neck. He explains the locket keeps Johnny’s soul at rest. At that moment, Johnny emerges from the woods, attacks, and kills the ranger with a gas-powered log splitter. Colt and Kris escape.

Production

Critics have linked "In a Violent Nature" to the slow cinema movement. Director Chris Nash modeled the movie's look after Gus Van Sant's "Gerry," "Elephant," and "Last Days," which he described as slower, more methodical, and more deliberate, following characters through scenes. He also pointed to Terrence Malick's work and the Austrian horror film "Angst" as influences. The film relies on static, long-take shots. Nash explained they wanted to treat it almost like a nature documentary, lulling viewers into thinking danger isn't present, comparing it to tourists getting close to bears who seem fine until they suddenly charge with brutal force. He chose the Academy ratio because that's how he watched slashers on VHS as a kid, calling it the slasher aspect ratio. Instead of a traditional score, the film uses ambient forest sounds. Nash said this choice keeps an objective viewpoint and stops the music from steering the audience's emotions.

Release

In a Violent Nature first screened on January 22, 2024, at the Sundance Film Festival, where it was part of the Midnight program. On May 18, 2024, an outdoor promotional event took place on Governors Island in New York City, featuring actors Ry Barrett, Andrea Pavlovic, and Lauren-Marie Taylor. IFC Films handled the theatrical release in the United States, which began on May 31, 2024. A digital release followed on June 28, 2024, and the film arrived on the Shudder streaming platform on September 13, 2024, timed to Friday the 13th. In the United Kingdom, Altitude Film Distribution released it on July 12, 2024.

For its North American opening on May 31, 2024, IFC Films put the movie on 1,426 screens, the widest release the studio had ever given a film. Thursday night previews brought in $410,000. Over its opening weekend, it earned $2.1 million at the North American box office, which was the second-best opening for IFC Films, trailing only Late Night with the Devil. By June 21, 2024, the film had accumulated $4,192,513 in box office revenue.

Critics offered mixed reactions. Dennis Harvey of Variety noted that the film's minimalistic take on a familiar concept has a notable distinctiveness and should satisfy slasher fans who tire of interchangeable entries. Cheryl Eddy of Gizmodo described it as a compelling artistic experiment worth a look from genre enthusiasts, though she suggested viewers might ultimately prefer a traditional slasher like Friday the 13th Part 2 for pure entertainment. Jeannette Catsoulis of The New York Times highlighted the film's dreamlike quality, writing that director Nash attempted an ambitious fusion of art house and slaughterhouse, with a divisive ending that still follows its own moody logic. Michael Gingold of Rue Morgue observed that the style does not reinvent the genre but generates a different, highly effective tension. David Ehrlich of IndieWire gave the film a C grade, explaining that its semi-hypnotic power comes from the gap between the sheer movieness of events and the somnambulant nonchalance with which they unfold, an effect that is interesting theoretically but largely unsatisfying in practice.