hunter albert

As I have stated before, I am no expert when it comes to the history of horror movies. But this year I’ve vowed to start broadening my horizons. I’ve already written reviews for Late Night with the Devil and Arcadian. While both were solid flicks, I haven’t really had my socks blown off this year.

The silent, but deadly assassin is hardly a new idea. Some of the most famous characters in film history include Jason Vorhees (Friday the 13th) and Michael Myers (Austin Powers Halloween). It’s no wonder that they would serve as inspiration for horror movies for decades to come. I’m quite confident that director Chris Nash watched these films countless times and asked a simple question: what would a movie from their point of view be like?

In A Violent Nature takes that narrative perspective. When a group of friends come across a shed, they notice a gold locket hanging on a vertical rusted pipe sticking out of the ground. An unnamed friend mentions an urban legend of a slaying that had taken place in the area and as they joke and wander off, one of the friends grabs the locket. Soon after, the rusted out pipe begins to move and break up the ground. Eventually a hand breaks free and we witness a corpse break out of the earth and come back to life. Over the next 80 minutes, we witness the view point of Johnny as he goes on a killing spree to find the locket that was taken from him.

On paper, I admit that it’s a unique concept. I love the idea of seeing the point of view of a killer and how he plans and executes his kills. Surely that makes for a great movie, right?

Unfortunately not.

For starters, Johnny is non-verbal. Which, given the rotting flesh, is understandable. But that means we see Johnny walk… a lot. The camera is always in lock step behind him, slowly meandering through the forest and towards his unsuspecting victims. When you have a killer that moves slow, it translates to the screen and makes everything drawn out. The film uses quite a few jump cuts to speed up the time of him walking. In one instance near the start of the movie, we see Johnny walk out from the trees towards a barn where a hunter and park ranger are arguing. Unbeknownst to either one of them, this solid hunk of a killer is heading towards them. Nash uses about four jump cuts that make him move up about 20 yards and it still seems like it takes forever for him to get there.

As darkness falls he comes across the group of friends that have taken the locket from him. The friends in question are very unlikable to the point that within 5 minutes, I had no qualms about any of them being killed. Which makes you root for Johnny… but would the film not be more harrowing if the group of people being killed were people you actually liked? If you don’t believe me, go watch Zodiac (2007, David Fincher), which has maybe one of the most disturbing scenes I’ve ever seen (Lake Berryessa murders). When innocent people are completely powerless against someone that is killing them, it sticks with you.

Which brings me to another bummer: the people are absolute morons. If you ask anybody on the street how to kill a zombie, they’ll give you one answer: shoot them in the head. Luckily, our unlikable group of friends do have a gun. And at one point they shoot Johnny in the chest, which causes him to fall the ground. Now, the fact they turn their back to him is forgivable because they don’t know that Johnny can come back to life. But it’s the second scene with a gun that completely pisses me off.

The resident park ranger, who is aware of Johnny and understands that he can come back to life, fires a round into his chest again. As he slowly approaches him with the only two remaining friends alive, I could only think of thought in my mind that almost had me screaming in the middle of a packed theater.

Will somebody please shoot this motherfucker in the head?????

I’m sure there’s some reason for why you can’t shoot him in the head and kill him. But it’s never explained. And once again our dumb strangers pay the price.

In A Violent Nature is an intriguing premise that’s bogged down by it’s own execution. There’s a solid idea for a movie in here, but when the main characters are very annoying and your villain is completely silent–it doesn’t make for an experience where you’re on the edge of your seat.

★★