Do you know what I hate the most about writing today’s blog post? That I have the unfamiliar urge to policing my words, of being mindful of how I come across; not too uptight or guarded, or worse, not too annoying or simple-minded. Suddenly, after eight years of having created marathMARATH, I find myself fearful of my own voice. But fearful of what, exactly?
I have been staring at this untitled and blank Word document for an uncomfortable long period of time. I should be doing something else, something vaguely more productive. My perfectionist side is screaming at me, telling me to get on with it, while its counter is simply silent.
IT IS NOT TOO DEEP!! IT IS JUST A BLOG POST ABOUT A HORROR MOVIE!! GET ON WITH IT!!(…)Although, it is not just any horror movie, is it? It is more than that. I had never seen anything like it and, quite frankly, I lost my freaking mind. Yes, I passionately loved it, yes, but some people hated it, called it pretentious and a waste of time. Could I be wrong? So alarmingly mistaken? Or, could it be that In a Violent Nature (2024) represents a before and after in the genre? Can horror go back to being one-sided? Or, has a door been opened for a new type of storytelling, one that focuses solely, entirely, absolutely, exclusively, yes, completely on the bad guy? The bad guy as the main character, the one who is followed by the camera the whole time, the one you care for? Yes, care for.
And, ladies and gentlemen, that is the crux of my discomfort and apparent fear today: of being judged as problematic for caring about the bad guy… (*ew! passive hybristophilia? as if! what the actual hell*)… hold on, wait a second, what am I even talking about? That is nonsense. I am not problematic. I simply went along with the filmmaker’s vision and intention for his experimental slasher movie – he flipped the script and it worked on me, period.
Phew! That was a close call. I feel so much lighter and clearheaded now… (*guess what the girlies say about writing down your inner thoughts and feelings is true hahaha*)… um, well, it seems that today I am bringing you that ultra fresh, 110%, A++ content so let’s continue with it, shall we?
#spoilers
First things first, you do know what In a Violent Nature is about, right? Well, in the off-chance you do not, let me give it to you straight: it is about an undead slasher villain, Johnny, who is awaken from a supernatural curse when his dead mom’s golden locket is stolen from his own unmarked grave, and so his goal—getting the locket back—begins, and nothing, or no one, will stop him from achieving it.
I was fascinated by the beginning of the movie as it really set the mood in a way that said, Hey, we really do not care about the soon-to-be victims, so we do not even need to look at them while they are talking among themselves, we need to look, however, at the resting place of Johnny which means just dirt and greenery from the woods. So, when one of the soon-to-be victims steals the golden locket from his unmarked grave, fact that gets asserted by a young hand infiltrating the frame, and cowardly leaving soon after, then, and only then, is when the camera moves atop Johnny’s resting place and slowly, in real time, shows him crawling out of the ground. And so, effective immediately, we closely follow him from behind on this unexpected and inconvenient chore of his.
Right away I realized that if someone had returned the locket without any issues or drama, Johnny would not have hurt, okay, killed anyone. He literally did not give a damn about you, he simply wanted his property back, so if you came across his way, he would eliminate you, nothing personal, just business; it could have been you, your friend, their friend, their mom, their accountant, their mechanic, well, you understand what I am getting at… you meant nothing to Johnny.
I found Johnny, the already established main character, quite interesting as he, in the most humanly way possible, resembled a wild animal in its natural habitat, with nothing on its mind except for the instinctual hunt. Sure, legend had it that he was a naive, special-needs kid when he tragically died due to a prank gone wrong at the hands of hateful adults who had a grudge against his greedy father, and wanted to teach him a lesson at the expense of innocent, little Johnny and, heck, long story short, the adults also killed the father after he confronted them about Johnny’s death. Current Johnny, animalistic-like Johhny, might not be the small, ‘slow’ kid he once was, but the supernatural, slow-walking adult version of his eternal vengeful spirit, and I was soooo here for it! (Go Johnny!)
Let me be clear, okay? I need you to understand one thing: my fascination with Johnny was rightfully earned thanks to the astute way the story was presented by the writer and director where facts and objectivity were king, although, to be fair, I am well aware that my being an open-minded person and always having a great appreciation for the art of moviemaking, elevated my watching experience. Wait, hold on, see? I am sounding pretentious now… mmh, let me recalibrate… what I should have said two sentences ago was that I am not your average dude who… alright, never mind, I need to stop digging my own grave.
Johnnyyyyyy. Johnny was supernatural, thus possessed supernatural strength and was masterful when using it against others. Side note, can we all agree that the pretzel-yoga-girl death scene will go down in history as being one of the most gruesome, memorable, and creative deathly attacks ever put together and shot on film? Brilliant, just brilliant craftsmanship.
Another death scene that made me audibly awe in admiration was the Park Ranger’s. When Johnny severed the spinal cord—immediately rendering the Ranger unable to move or talk—and tortured him slowing by slicing him with the industrial wood cutting machine, was the moment when I knew the filmmaker was all in in this experimental slasher movie of his. He broke many unspoken rules and my brain was buzzing with elation and excitement.
What else can I say about In a Violent Nature? That I appreciated the really, really long takes, the walking in the woods in real time during night and day, all the sounds, all the visuals, the original camera angles, the meticulously detailed work put together when marrying the peaceful and relaxing scenes with the horrible realities of life cycles in nature. Because remember, Johnny was an animal-like behemoth with no intrinsic bad intentions, that was why when he finally got back his golden locket, he eagerly returned to his tranquil, solitary slumber six feet under.
(…)THERE!! WASN’T THAT EASY!? In Love and Fear,
—Marath
P.S. Because I have way too much free time on my hands:
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