Friday, May 17, 2024

In A Violent Nature - SIFF 2024 Movie Review



The Movie: In A Violent Nature

The Director: Chris Nash

The Cast: Ry Barrett, Andrea Pavlovic, Cameron Love, Reece Presley, Liam Leone

The Story: An ambient horror slasher that methodically depicts the enigmatic resurrection, rampage, and retribution of an undead monster in a remote wilderness.


The Rating: 5 / 10

The Review:
Whenever I hear or read about how a movie is so scary and/or gory that people were throwing up in the theater, I immediately start to have doubts about how good it might actually be because the hype rarely ever pans out. Sadly, this movie is another example of that playing out as, by the end of the movie, I was more confused and disappointed than anything else. Sure, there's a few moments here and there but there were also several very odd decisions made in the story telling process that just ruined the overall experience for me.

At the very beginning of the movie, there is a scene that holds for a long period of time while people off camera sound like they are reading the script for the very first time. And that pretty much sets the tone for the quality of acting across the board in this movie. Yes, I understand this is a shock and awe style horror movie so expectations should be low when it comes to the acting but come on. At least pretend like you're trying to be in character and not just reading lines off a page.

The pacing of the movie is also very methodical and often grinds to a halt because the perspective is from the dead zombie person villain as he plods along from place to place killing everyone in his path. Sure it's fun to see the other side of slasher films but do we really need so much footage of the guy wandering through the forest before he eventually reaches another kill zone? Even the first kill of the movie is a disappointment because it doesn't even happen on screen. I mean, come on!

The only time that stretching things out was a good thing in this film was when it was time for a yoga enthusiast character to meet her gruesome fate. That moment alone made the movie kind of worth watching but then the ending took a very strange and totally unnecessary turn that flat out ruined any sort of good will that the movie had left in it. You know how Tarantino will sit with characters for a long time as they have a totally random yet oddly meaningful conversation and he somehow manages to make it super enertaining? This was like that but not entertaining at all. And then the movie just ended. Like what the heck!

This movie had a lot of potential to be an over the top, bloody gorefest, the type that has audiences cheering and screaming all the way through, but every time I thought it was going to kick into high gear, it would fall short and the whole thing ended up just wandering from one disappointing moment to the next.


To keep track of all my SIFF reviews and festival coverage please go to: TheTwoOhSix at SIFF 2024. Also, visit the official SIFF How to Fest web page for detailed info on how to make the most of your festival experience.

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