AlthoughIn A Violent Natureowes an obvious creative debt to theFriday the 13thfranchise, the indie horror movie’s direct connection with the slasher franchise is easy to miss. 2024’sIn A Violent Natureis a slasher movie like no other. Filmed in a style reminiscent of Terrence Malick and Gus Van Sant,In A Violent Natureis a meditatively paced horror that takes place from the slasher villain’s point of view. Great swathes of the movie’s relaxed runtime are spent wandering through empty, quiet woods and across idyllic fields, only for every human encounter to end gruesomely.
ByIn A Violent Nature’s ending, the slasheroffered viewers some of the nastiest death scenes of 2024.The plot is mostly a setup for the movie’s kills, but the few glimpses of the storyline viewers are given borrow heavily from the iconicFriday the 13thseries. Like that franchise,In A Violent Naturefocuses on a masked murderer who died as a child due to irresponsible teens, has superhuman strength, and kills camp counselors violently to avenge his mother. The slasher sees its killer search for a stolen locket, killing everyone in his path.
In A Violent Nature’s Lauren-Marie Taylor Previously Appeared In Friday The 13th Part 2
In A Violent Nature’s Woman Is Played By Friday The 13th Part 2’s Vickie Actor
While even the most casual horror fan could pick up on the elementsIn A Violent Natureborrows fromFriday the 13th, it is a little harder to spot the indie movie’s direct connection to the franchise.In A Violent Nature’s ending sees the final girl, Andrea Pavlovic’s Kris, escape Johnny’s wrath by reaching a road near the deep, dark woods. A passing motorist stops to help Kris and tries to reassure her with a story of a bear attack that happened years earlier.InA ViolentNature,the unnamed woman is played by Lauren-Marie Taylor fromFriday the 13th Part 2.
New 90% Horror Movie Is The Perfect Blueprint For How To Revitalize Friday The 13th
In A Violent Nature’s artistic approach to the slasher genre should serve as the guidelines for revitalizing the Friday the 13th franchise.
Taylor played Vickie inFriday the 13th Part 2who, notably, was not that sequel’s final girl. Jason Voorhees stabbed Vickie in a death that, while violent, was nowhere near as bad asIn A Violent Nature’s brutal kills. Taylor went on to appear in 1982’s slasher movieGirlsNight Outand in two documentaries about theFriday the 13thfranchise: 2009’sHis Name Was Jasonand 2013’sCrystal Lake Memories.In A Violent Nature’s cameo marks Taylor’s first movie role in twenty years, and it is a fitting tribute to her earlier work.
How In A Violent Nature Heavily Compares To The Friday The 13th Franchise
In A Violent Nature Riffs On The Famous Friday The 13th Formula
In A Violent Natureplays withFriday the 13th’s famous formula by re-imagining the abandoned summer camp slasher from the perspective of the killer. TheFriday the 13thmovies rarely focus on Jason Voorhees for long and, since their inception, earned criticism for spending too much screen time fleshing out characters who were doomed to inevitably die.In A Violent Naturesubverts slasher audience expectationsby foregrounding the killer’s point-of-view and proving that, for the most part, his existence is pretty tranquil. This peace only makesIn A Violent Nature’s bloodyFriday the 13th-inspired kills more discordantly shocking and nasty.
This Connection Could Help In A Violent Nature Become A Slasher Franchise
AIn A Violent NatureSequel Is In Development
In aViolent Naturewas always going to be a long shot at becoming a slasher franchise. It is different from other slasher movies thanks to its slower, more meditative pace andits perspective from the killer’s point of view, which can be challenging to watch. However, it is also important to note that the first movie does not dictate what future films will look like, and things could change if the studio wants to make more films based in this world, but in a more commercial manner.
Despite its low box office totals, grossing $4.6 million, it was still a success thanks to its ultra-low budget. Despite that, the studio would need more money to make a franchise viable, and connecting it to classic films likeFriday the 13thcould be a perfect way to ensure bigger success. IFC is making a sequel to the film, with the original filmmaker, Chris Nash, serving as the screenwriter (viaIndieWire). It appears that this will be an IFC and Shudder partnership, which could mean the film will go directly to streaming.
“We knew immediately that this distinctive take on the slasher would enthrall fans and are glad to see the community embrace a new slasher icon in Johnny," said Scott Shooman, head of AMC Networks’ film group. “With the sequel, we aim to prove that Johnny can be bigger, meaner, and his kills can only get more impressive.” This makes the plans forIn a Violent Naturesound a lot likeFriday the 13th, which also changed in its second movie. Connecting the films could be perfect for the franchise’s future success.
In a Violent Nature
In a Violent Nature is a 2024 horror-slasher film written and directed by Chris Nash that premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in 2024. A group of campers in the middle of the wilderness stumble across a fire watchtower and discover a locket buried beneath its charred ruins. However, by unearthing the locket, they’ve invited the wrath of its prior owner and now must survive the rampage of a supernatural killer looking to retrieve his possession.
