In A Violent Nature

I don’t think I have ever been so equally repulsed and absolutely enthralled by the beauty of a film. It makes me genuinely uncomfortable. That’s what makes *In A Violent Nature* an absolute work of genius. There is an artistic eye behind the lens that captures the simple beauty of nature, like a gorgeous sunset, and then poisons its beauty with a violent image on the lower half. The juxtaposition within the frame emphasizes how horrific human nature can sometimes be.

And that is exactly what this film succeeds in… horror.

I have been begging in my recent reviews over the past year for horror films to be more ambiguous, to hide more details from us because it leaves most of the horrific elements for the audience to fill in themselves, and there is nothing scarier than your own mind. The human brain can conjure up some of the most horrific visuals and, more importantly to cinema, it can allow the audience to make the film more personally scary to them because they replace the blanks with their own fears. *In A Violent Nature* does this so imaginatively, and for more than half of the film, we are in complete darkness about who our main character is.

For the majority of the film, we are unaware of his motives, and as the film goes on, we’re given little hints every now and then. (I just feel the reveal of his face would have worked way better at the end!) Either way, it is super interesting to see this when we usually get spoon-fed everything about a film.

I also find it super interesting that this horrific nightmare of a character is set up almost as a protagonist. If we look at the technical side of storytelling and I were to describe the film to you, you would think that he is the main figure. I really enjoyed this; it gives a Patrick Bateman sort of vibe, and when we hear about the truth of who this murderer really is, you kind of start rooting for him in a way, as he has his Kill Bill moment.

The only real issue I had with this film is that some of the gore scenes look super fake. Believe me, I understand how hard a lot of these scenes are to shoot and that the makeup team would have had such a hard time achieving as much as they did. However, sometimes it would be super obvious that they were using a doll, and it pulls us so far away from the movie, detaching us from the believability they had perfected with all other elements of the film. The backstory is also a little generic in some areas, but it wasn’t that big of a problem since I think they were trying to make it inspired by some of the classics we have seen in the past.

Overall, I can’t help but gush about this film. It’s a must-watch, at least once. The physical horror is definitely something to test you, and it’s guaranteed to make you queasy. There were moments when I found myself watching through my hands, completely engrossed in the film’s terrifying world. It’s an experience you won’t forget.

What did you think? Who is your favourite cinematic villain?