334: In a Violent Nature (2024)

SPEAKER_06 0:04

Please. Equality, feminism, Biden's America.

SPEAKER_01 0:14

Greetings and salutations, and welcome to Hacker Slash. If you're joining us again, welcome back. What do you want? If this is your first time listening, welcome to the party. We are a horror movie review podcast dedicated to telling you whether a movie is a hack.

SPEAKER_04 0:27

A total joke. A waste of time.

SPEAKER_01 0:29

Or a slash.

SPEAKER_04 0:31

Totally killer, pun intended.

SPEAKER_01 0:32

We believe horror is for everyone, and as such, we're rating these movies with the perspective we've gained from our varying walks of life and the flavors of fear we fancy most. My name is Chris, I'm your friendly neighborhood slasher enthusiast. And this week I'm joined by the Superfly Space Guy Mac.

SPEAKER_04 0:46

Don't wear yourself out in there.

SPEAKER_01 0:48

The classic horror connoisseur Sean.

SPEAKER_04 0:50

Come inside, take a load off.

SPEAKER_01 0:52

And the Scroom Queen Varis. I'm just a gas station girl, Aaron. Fill me up. This week we're back in the theaters to check out a film that earned $2.1 million in its opening weekend. And consider this, it was a limited theatrical release on only 1,400 screens. Before we see what all the fuss is about, though, we have some follow-up.

SPEAKER_04 1:10

Let's follow up on some spooky stuff. I'm really excited because not only last year we had our very first hackerslash community meetup, right? We had people come meet us in Orlando for our celebration of 300th episodes, six years on the podcast. It was such a great turnout. We had a great time.

SPEAKER_03 1:32

Oh yeah.

SPEAKER_04 1:33

And I think we were talking about how we're going to make this even bigger, how we're going to make this even more special. And man, let me tell you, we're going to be celebrating seven years at the podcast, but this year we're going to be at Spooky Empire, the dark side of Comic Con.

SPEAKER_01 1:52

I am so excited for this. I was literally just telling my therapist today and had a whole happy cry session about how meaningful and impactful and how great our meetup and live show was last year. I cannot wait to do it at Spooky Empire this year.

SPEAKER_04 2:06

Oh. It's going to be so good. We're going to have a booth there. We're going to be not only welcoming, you know, listeners, patrons, new listeners, whoever you are, if you're out there, you want to come hang out with us, you want to come look at some cool fucking horror shit at Spooky Empire and hang out with us. We're going to be there. We're going to have a booth. We're going to be talking to people, meeting people. We're going to try to reach out to more people. We're going to try to grow this show. It's going to be fantastic. All of this is happening in Orlando from October 11th through the 13th.

SPEAKER_03 2:41

Nice. Very nice.

SPEAKER_01 2:42

We're still in the planning phase of what we're going to bring to the table, but there will be goodies. There will be merch. But more than that, there are going to be good times and good conversations.

SPEAKER_04 2:50

Heck yeah.

SPEAKER_01 2:51

I'm actually so excited because I got to do Spec Spooky Empire last year. It was the weekend after our live show and our meetup. And during that time, I got to meet Andy Dematic, Nancy Keys, and Danielle Harris. I cannot tell you how blown away I was by all three of them. They complimented my Michael Myers tattoo. I was still feeling pretty good about it. But to see the community at large come together, it is a genuine way of life. And it is so cool to see because there's over like 200 vendors go to Spooky Empire, and their whole livelihood is crafting and making shit for horror fans. It's so fucking cool. You all are gonna love it.

SPEAKER_04 3:33

It's awesome. I cannot wait to see what's there. We want everyone to join us, and if you want to find out how you can get there, you can visit spookyempire.com or we will have a link in this episode's description as well.

SPEAKER_03 3:46

So exciting. Such a cool event. You know, to think about it's like not just a one and done, you come see us and you're out of here. No, we're part of it. Go see everybody else too. Really enrich your horror life.

SPEAKER_01 3:56

Three days of parting is gonna be fucking amazing.

SPEAKER_04 3:59

Absolutely fantastic. Can't wait. And that's our follow-up.

SPEAKER_01 4:03

Well, this week's film wields distinct stylistic choices as it drops us in the POV of a killer carrying out a bloodbath in the Canadian wilderness. While its opening weekend proved to be a box office success, the film's reception has actually been pretty varied, with scores ranging from 84% fresh on Rotten Tomatoes, 6.2 out of 10 stars on IMDB, and 1.9 stars across Google's audience ratings with over 200 reviews. Will our takes be as dynamic and varied as the audience ratings? Well, buckle up and enjoy the ride, folks, because we're about to find out. This week we're talking about In a Violet Nature. What were you all expecting going into this?

SPEAKER_06 4:39

I was personally excited to see this movie. I requested that I be included in this episode because I was hyped for it. And that is mostly because of what I had been seeing on my specific feeds on social, including a clip that I think was designed to promote the film where it was just a black screen. It was a video, but it was the audio of an audience's reaction to a specific kill in this film. And just hearing the range of emotions that that audience went on for this one kill was enough for me to be like, okay, I want to see this movie. I want to see what this is about. So I had pretty high hopes going into this.

SPEAKER_04 5:12

I think that's fair. I was super stoked to see this movie. I remember seeing a lot of stuff on social media. I was watching the trailers. I think I saw it a at least a handful of times just going to other movies. You got a name like In a Violent Nature. I'm expecting this one to be pretty brutal. It was hyped to be one of the best slashers of the year. I was really excited to go into this one, not really expecting a whole lot other than it was going to be violent.

SPEAKER_03 5:40

Yeah, I think when the trailer dropped, I think we saw it when we were watching another movie for the pod in theater. At least that's one of the first times I saw it. I was concerned because I was like, this could be incredibly cool or it could go very badly. And I wasn't sure really which way this was going to go. I didn't see the audience reactions. I really didn't read up anyone else's reviews. Nobody that I know told me anything about it because they hadn't seen it yet. Thank goodness I'm the one telling them about it.

SPEAKER_04 6:03

Damn.

SPEAKER_03 6:04

So I really was just like, this is a blank slate, just flip with a coin. Not sure which way it's gonna go. Because if it's good, it's gonna be good. And if it's bad, it's gonna be oh so bad.

SPEAKER_04 6:12

Dude, they were hyping this for people getting sick in theaters like The Exorcist or something. It was hyping me up.

SPEAKER_01 6:19

Okay, yeah, Sean, that's what actually tempered my expectations a little bit. I didn't know much about this besides the fact that it was gonna be a Friday the 13th-esque or Jason-esque energy, but more cinematic. But then also from the killer's perspective, those are the only things I knew going into it. But when you, Sean, sent me a link, I didn't even read the article, but it was detailing about how people were throwing up. I was like, Well, no, no fucking way.

SPEAKER_05 6:49

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 6:49

I am so glad though that I didn't lower my expectations in the sense of okay, it's gonna be bad. But I was like, okay, there's just no way. Like I think about hearing that same exact thing, not even from the exorcist, but terrifier too. With as much as we heard about Terrifier 2's gore level, I was even convinced when watching that with you, Sean, that I was gonna end up puking. I was like, oh, I'm a little nervous, like, should I not eat?

SPEAKER_04 7:09

That's right.

SPEAKER_01 7:09

So, like, I think it did just well enough for me to not get too excited and really receive this movie with an open mind. But let me tell you that, even considering that, initially when I was watching this, I was super hopeful. Again, I'm the fucking slasher enthusiast. I'd be hard-pressed to find a slasher that I don't like. And what I think this movie does really well is it draws you in with its cinematography. Like this is a nice looking movie, and I have a comparison later that I cannot wait to make, and I can't wait to see Sean's reaction in particular. But I felt so much and such a great range of feelings, and I want to also point the the paint the picture here that I went to see this movie with Allie on my right and Binks on my left, and the reactions I got, not only from myself, but from the two of them on either side of me, fucking hysterical. And I I need to pause here because I I don't want to color anyone's expectations too much, but I'll say that I I did not feel the same at the end that I did in the beginning.

SPEAKER_04 8:08

Okay, and there it is. I honestly cannot wait to hear all of your thoughts on this movie. While watching this movie, I would say I cannot be alone in having some mixed feelings while watching this one. I think there's a lot of ups and downs with this movie. I felt a lot of things. I felt excitement, I felt suspense. There were cringy moments, right? There were moments of camp and humor, and hell, I'll admit it, there was even boredom. There was boredom in there. It was like a roller coaster up and down, but definitely heavy 70s, 80s slasher vibes for sure. All of that was in there. It honestly felt like a cross between some Friday the 13th movie and some nature show. Like I'm watching some shit on Discovery Channel, but then Jason pops up.

SPEAKER_01 8:57

Okay, well, listen, if you're gonna go out there and say it, fuck yeah, boredom a lot. Boredom a lot.

SPEAKER_06 9:02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 9:03

Okay, and I'm not saying boredom in the point of like, wow, there's nothing even remotely exciting about this film because this film has the potential for excitement. However, comma, it lets you linger in some shit. And if you're a lingerer, great, that's awesome. I like a good slow burn sometimes. I know Mac likes a good slow burn. I'm so excited to hear what you had to say.

SPEAKER_03 9:24

Oh wow. You know, I'm kind of with Sean here that this was a mixed bag for me because there were some moments where I was just like, oh, that's so clever. Or oh wow, I really love the way that they chose to do this or that. And there were some other moments where I like would sigh out of desperation, like, come on, seriously, just do it. Just do it. It really felt like they found a really cool, gentle, slow pace that would have worked really well for 60% of the movie and applied it to 100% of the movie. And so 60% of the time I was watching it, like, I'm down with this. It's giving me Cohen brothers, it's giving me only God forgives. I like it. Like, take your time, let the visuals do some of the work. And then the 40%, I was like, too long, too long, move on. Come on, what are you doing? Let's do this thing already. So, yeah, it's tough. I don't know if I would call it like a roller coaster necessarily, whatever the slow version of a roller coaster would be. It's like a train that you imagine, oh, that thing's gonna go 200 miles an hour and it does 25. Yeah. The creep up to the top of the drop.

SPEAKER_01 10:24

It's a roller coaster that's old rickety and is just the most anticlimactic, unexciting thing imaginable. But then you're also stuck on the roller coaster in a roll.

SPEAKER_03 10:35

Right. But for parts of it, you're okay with that because you're like, oh, look at the scenery. Like, this is beautiful. I can see the treetops. I'm seeing the birds and the butterflies. I love this. And then for the other 40% of the ride, you're just like, uh, okay, come on, move it along a little bit. Give us a little bit of a valley to go faster.

SPEAKER_06 10:52

I definitely had some of the same feelings while watching. I feel like there were high highs and low lows, but not necessarily roller coaster. I feel like this movie was a long series of ellipsies with the occasional exclamation point. But at the same time, I don't necessarily want to fault the movie for that because this was a direct result of like how hard they committed to the bit and committed to the concept. It was semi-justified in my mind, but from a practical like, I want to be entertained, I paid money, and I'm sitting here standpoint. I was upset with the boredom of it all. Many a time I also let out a sigh that said, uh, it's almost like this movie had pre-installed moments where you could scroll on your phone, and I didn't want to scroll on my phone. I wanted to watch the movie.

SPEAKER_01 11:36

Mm-hmm. Yeah, this movie was made for streaming, it feels like in a lot of places. But here's the thing about this movie: it felt like skin in a rink for slashers.

SPEAKER_04 11:47

Really? No way. Not the same.

SPEAKER_01 11:51

Absolutely, it is. It is a similar effect.

SPEAKER_04 11:55

The quietness of it all.

SPEAKER_01 11:57

Yes, exactly.

SPEAKER_04 11:59

Okay, okay, okay.

SPEAKER_01 12:00

It is a movie that lulls you in with a pretense and tries to just prey upon your mind wandering and doing all the work for you. This movie makes its bang to get its buck in moments where your mind is doing all the fucking engineering. There's moments of silence, and it counts on you and your reaction and your response to it. It's giving you a lack of stimulus and still looking for some kind of response for you. And that is skinmarink, which we know that you and I experience skin or rink very differently. So I'm so excited to see how this goes for us here. True. But let me tell you this in this fucking theater, there was a moment that felt completely not boring, and it was after the first kill. And there's a point where Allie from my side said, Get out of my swamp, and it felt like such a Shrek moment, and that was it. Like everybody was fucking cracking up laughing, it was hilarious. I was dying laughing for a while, but then after that, stretches of boredom. It's like Paris, I I can't think of a better way to describe this movie than a series of ellipses. That was a brilliant way to put it.

SPEAKER_06 13:09

I think yeah.

SPEAKER_01 13:10

Because those stretches were a challenge for the pacing. It was like every single shot overstayed its welcome.

SPEAKER_03 13:17

Yeah, there was definitely some disappointment to be had with taking too much time on the wrong things. There was a lot of times where you'd have a shot and it's actually working really well for the story for it to linger. They were really good at doing that. They honestly built some great tension here, but then they like abused that and went too far. Some of the kills were just crazy and out there and wild, and you had a lot of fun with it. And then some of the kills where it's just like, this is almost getting like torture porn. It's too much where you're taking too much time to show it, and they don't change perspective, they don't change the shot, sticks in one place, and it's like honestly, it's like not shocking anymore. You know, by the time you get toward the end, you're like, just move on. Because by that point, the pleasant surprise of the movie that there was actually kind of a story to it and behind it, you're like, that's actually more interesting to me now, now that you've built that up, and you're undoing that work by making me watch this torture happening.

SPEAKER_04 14:12

See, I think I can agree with parts of it and probably disagree with some parts of it, because I think, yes, 100% disappointment for the film is its delivery in some areas. The pacing in some areas is very sluggish. And you know, you're probably meant in those moments for me that I'm talking about to be really captivated by the cinematography and the sound design and how it's trying to reel you in in these beautiful shots that we get. But I think the lingering moments of the kills that I think you're talking about were the perfect lingering moments that brought a lot of great feelings in those moments. I think those moments were the moments I I was a hundred percent on board with.

SPEAKER_06 14:54

I'm actually with you, Sean. I think the accuracy with which they stuck to the concept here paid off in those kills because the killer's perspective would never cut away from the kill, you know?

SPEAKER_02 15:05

Right.

SPEAKER_06 15:05

You would be looking directly at it and you would see the whole thing, and then you would eventually move on and walk away from it.

SPEAKER_04 15:11

Exactly.

SPEAKER_06 15:12

So I think that was a pleasant surprise for me was like the level of gore and how we were able to sort of face that brutality head-on without any sort of shying away from it. But yeah, also riddled with disappointments like pacing. And there's a couple other things that I was disappointed with in mostly that I think this was a really strong execution of an idea. And I'm disappointed that the idea, when you really think about it, is a little boring. Because at first thought I was like, oh, great idea. This will be so fun. And it almost bordered on like parody and comedy to the point where I would classify this as a horror comedy. My audience was laughing throughout, like we had a gay old time, and that was a big surprise to me. I wasn't really expecting that.

SPEAKER_01 15:55

It's a little campy, but a couple notes on that, Paris, because this movie doesn't even classify itself as that. If you look at IMDV, it's it's straight up like a drama horror slash an action. Like you know what I mean? Like it it projects standard fair slasher, which I think in its DNA already has some comedy baked into it, sure. But it's not outwardly presenting itself as such. So it's a little bit of a disconnect there. But also, what's the concept here? The concept is let's see a movie from a killer's POV. Let's see what happens between the kills. We already got that movie, and it was a comedy, and it was behind the mask the rise of Leslie Vernon, and it was fucking perfect.

SPEAKER_06 16:32

I was reminded of it throughout, but I would much rather compare this to Tucker and Dale versus Evil. That's the vibe my audience had.

SPEAKER_01 16:39

I just watched that again. It was so good. Oh no, no, no, no, no. Two different fucking things. Our killer is funny. Hmm, yeah, but like in a I'm laughing at you, not laughing with you.

SPEAKER_06 16:52

I beg to differ on a couple points.

SPEAKER_01 16:55

Okay, I can't wait to hear how this goes. But I also want to dive into another disappointment that I had. Obviously, this movie is going to be streaming on Shudder later this year, so maybe this will hit different at home. But the audio was so problematic for me. It's great ambience. You have natural sound all throughout it. The sounds of Canadian wilderness, impeccable. But the struggle that I had watching this, and I know this is like a little bit selfish for me, I cannot hear well. So in the moments where you're supposed to faintly detect the audio, but still hear just enough to keep up with what's happening or to hear critical pieces, that was completely lost for me.

SPEAKER_04 17:34

Oh shit.

SPEAKER_01 17:35

It was a struggle and it was a labor. And then I thought this is just me. This is a me problem, and I cannot fucking fault it. But then Alien Bings couldn't hear shit either. And they have great hearing. Like, what the fuck? No, like this, it's a disappointment.

SPEAKER_06 17:48

Okay, but y'all sit in the way back of the theater. Maybe that was your theater.

SPEAKER_01 17:52

Okay, but Paris. You should be able to hear the movie from every seat in the theater.

SPEAKER_04 17:57

I agree. You should. Wow. Yeah. You had bad sound, I think.

SPEAKER_01 18:01

Yeah, maybe there was bad sound, but it did not sound like this movie was mastered for cinema.

SPEAKER_06 18:07

I bet it was giving Shudder was just like, this will be a direct-to-stream release, and then people saw it and they're like, oh, should we put this in theaters? Sure. Just send the files as is. Let's do it.

SPEAKER_03 18:18

These days the audio, it was always made for no one to hear. I don't know why. They say it's because it's supposed to be cinematic, but then you watch it in the theater and you're like, I couldn't hear it very well. So exactly who did you make this for? Why was it mastered this way? I'll agree with you that it was not.

SPEAKER_04 18:33

I can see somebody back there just like, all right, hold on. Bring the audio down just a notch. Perfect. All right. It's scarier if you can't hear it clearly.

SPEAKER_03 18:42

But I I do think it was probably a deliberate choice because a lot of times you can hear the frickin' crickets. You can hear the woods. Not like the animals in the woods, but the woods themselves. If you can hear all that, but you can't hear dialogue very clearly, then come on. I will say it sounded dubbed. Like when we're seeing somebody off in the distance, it almost sounds like reality TV, where you're like, I can hear them too well for how far away they are. It's a little bit weird, but I get why, because otherwise you would be like, I see their lips moving, but I can't hear anything. So they made choices with the audio that had to match, I guess, what they thought they had to deliver for the visuals, but like they didn't have to do that with the audio.

SPEAKER_06 19:17

I do suspect that some of the audio and dialogue was probably ramshackled in post where they were like, What's the story here? Okay, sure, just let's do this ADR and we have a storyline.

SPEAKER_01 19:28

It's stuff like that that almost removes the bite of the movie. This is a movie that when you go to watch it as a horror fan and you want to bring your non-horror watching friends with you, they're going to squirm because of the gore. They're not going to squirm because it's scary. Atmosphere. Someone coming from around a corner. There are maybe a couple shots in this movie where that kind of energy is present, but this is largely a reduction of fear by consistent exposure. So you're always with the threat, therefore, you don't have a chance to be scared. You just are there along for the ride. And I don't think this movie is trying to scare you. I think it's just trying to show you what brutality looks like. And this might be an unpopular opinion, but I dare say it walks to the edge of brutality and then reverses its step a couple times because I don't think it could even commit as hard as some of the other films we've seen.

SPEAKER_04 20:21

That's a fair point. Yes, 100%. It's a brutal film. It's a I think it's trying to be very graphic, very brutal. There's moments that very well may be hard to watch for some viewers. I do agree with you, Chris. We've seen maybe some more graphic craziness in our day, right? One of these things is very unique. We're gonna get into that. I think that this is an interesting approach to the point of view that you get, but I also think that that kind of negates any jump scares that you might have normally had in a typical slasher because you're getting it from the other point of view. So that point of view, you're not really getting scared. You are doing the scary.

SPEAKER_03 21:04

It's tough for me to think of this as being like a scary movie because it's almost documentary-like. Yeah. It's almost like behind the scenes, and so it doesn't come across as like wait for the things. It's almost just like a all right, this time on how it's made, you know, murder the things. That's what I'm saying.

SPEAKER_01 21:21

If a slasher had a podcast.

unknown 21:23

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 21:25

But like you start the movie off with a scene that is supposed to kind of show you what's to come, but at the same time, is also trying to build some empathy for the killer like right away. That was an interesting choice. And then as we go on, you're really kind of unsure of which way this is going to go. Some of the kills they go just uber realistic on. And other ones are so goofy and campy looking that you're like, oh, that's right. Take me back to what I'm actually watching. Thank you very much. You grounded me. But I think the the killer himself is definitely not scary, but I'll give them credit for at least like trying to have. A certain level of mystique until like two-thirds into the movie as to what the killer actually looks like, aside from you know, Sackman, basically. But no, I mean, I don't find Jason movies scary. So this to me was like a less campy Jason movie that was a lot slower and took its time and a bit more brutal, but still like there's no fear of this dude.

SPEAKER_01 22:22

Yeah. But I think extracting all the fibers of other horror movies from this movie's DNA, it's a really interesting moment. But we have a character who's not part of our central group, but comes up in the third act of the film. And she actually starred in one of the original Friday the 13th movies. Oh she was a character who played one of the victims. So that was a beautiful little Easter egg to see in there.

SPEAKER_05 22:45

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 22:45

That you can sit and dissect. And I will say that where this movie gains its originality points is the perspective that it applies to that. But the problem is that it can only carry you so far. So there's talk about there being sequels and that this will be a franchise.

SPEAKER_04 23:00

Oh, we don't need that though.

SPEAKER_01 23:02

I don't know how they're gonna work that. This movie is original in a sense because of that perspective. So when you start just copy-pasting that within itself, how long can that really sustain itself on that on that bit?

SPEAKER_04 23:14

I would want to see it flipped. If we're doing a sequel or something, I just want the point of view to go back to normal and see it flip, see what they can do with this character in a different way. Not that I minded the direction, because I agree, I think the originality in this film is from the way that they decided to shoot this film. I think it was very well thought out, the way that they designed and executed and delivered this film. I also see people saying things like, it's just like watching Jason walk around in a Friday the 13th movie. I get it. But obviously, they had an idea and they went with it and they committed to it, and I think the originality comes from what they did with the film.

SPEAKER_06 23:54

I think the originality is this film's strongest suit. They had a vision, they executed it very, very faithfully. And if you are a horror fan, you'll appreciate that level of commitment, I think. But I don't think this movie needs sequels. I think this movie needs prequels. I would take two of them to be exact. I think this movie could have two solid prequels if they take the feedback from this one and just make like a few small edits. I think this could still work.

SPEAKER_03 24:21

I think the originality is what kind of drew us to this, right? Because when you see the trailer and it's not something you were expecting to see. Like if you've heard about it, sure, you're looking for it. But if you saw this not expecting this new movie, this new character that you hadn't heard about, you're just kind of like, oh, my interest is heavily piqued at this point. Uh I don't know what they're gonna do here. But it definitely like tries to draw you in with like, you have not seen this before, yet you've seen it before. And it's almost like we've been watching The Little Mermaid, and now we're gonna watch uh like one of those IMAX documentaries that's filmed underwater in full quality or something, where you feel like I'm seeing the real side of it now. And as you're going through it, yeah, that's what it feels like. It's like not just from the killer's perspective.

SPEAKER_04 25:03

I like that.

SPEAKER_03 25:04

We're trying to get a camera in places where cameras don't go. We're trying to show you the animal and its natural habitat and its glory. And sometimes that means 20 minutes walking, brushing your hand through the trees, softly looking at people. And other times that means brutal kills. I'll give them some points for that faithfulness that you mentioned, Paris, even though we mentioned earlier they overuse some of those moments. But yeah, it it didn't feel like a Jason movie, even though it was like a Jason movie.

SPEAKER_01 25:31

Here's what I need, and it came to me in a vision as you were talking about a nature documentary. What I need specifically is the nature commentary track as audio, but with Paris' Australian accent. Giving her best Nicole Kidman.

SPEAKER_06 25:47

Oh my gosh.

SPEAKER_01 25:48

Oh my god, I need it.

SPEAKER_06 25:50

This movie is ripe for a comedic dubbing. Like there's a version out there, someone's gonna make it. I don't want to have to do it myself, but I will if you force me to.

SPEAKER_01 25:58

I'm happy to conspire with you. You provide the comedy, I'll assemble it.

SPEAKER_06 26:03

It'll be better than this movie.

SPEAKER_01 26:05

However, the thing about this movie's originality is that it relies on a premise that it really lays out in the last 10 minutes in the movie. By the director's admission, this movie is the last 10 minutes of the movie, and the big takeaway, the big principle is executed in that. The problem is with that, the end for me gave flop in frustration. On paper, sequence of events. If you just briefly described and this is how it ended, I'd be like, all right, cool, yeah, sounds fucking sick, let's go. But again, it lingers too long in that. It overstays its welcome.

SPEAKER_03 26:40

Oh gosh, they started this movie so well. I don't see how anyone could think the ending was the best part. I think the beginning was way better than the end. They gave us a really solid introduction. They gave us a punch to the face in the middle of the movie, like really like, hey, you're not gonna expect this one. And then at the end, you're just kind of like, okay, that's interesting. But and then by the end of the movie, you're like, okay, you gotta end it or what? Like I'm like sitting here Googling, are there post-credit scenes? Should I stick around? Like, I'm I'm ready to go ahead and go at this point.

SPEAKER_01 27:07

I didn't even give a fuck if there was. I stood up, I was ready to go. Same.

SPEAKER_06 27:12

No, there wasn't. Sorry, you had to find that out, Sean.

SPEAKER_01 27:16

You didn't even Google, did you? You just sat through it, you poor sweet baby angel.

SPEAKER_06 27:21

Honest man.

SPEAKER_01 27:22

Wow.

SPEAKER_06 27:23

Truly though, the duration of the ending implied that there would be a payoff for it. And when there wasn't, I was like, ew. Honestly, that was rude to me. You you were just rude to me just now. I'm leaving. And I also don't like to get in like the exiting rush, so I always kind of slip out right before everybody else does. And I had no reason to linger. It was upsetting to say the least. And also it felt so transparent. Like what you're saying, Chris, is not a surprise to me at all because it very much felt like they're like, okay, now let's just have one character say the thesis of the film and then trail off into nothing. And I said, that was rude.

SPEAKER_01 27:59

Yeah, it's a struggle.

SPEAKER_06 28:00

Dang.

SPEAKER_04 28:01

Well, I guess here we go, because I gotta disagree with all of you. I think the ending was hauntingly ambiguous. I think it was a really interesting way to end the film. I can see a lot, I've heard a lot of people that hated the ending. If we're gonna get on the skin of Marinec bullshit, it's probably gonna be in this area because I loved how this ending evoked a feeling of nervousness, of tension, this sort of unsettling, anxious feeling of like what is gonna happen, not to dive into it, but there's this feeling that you get at the end where you feel like something is gonna happen, and that I think was very successful if a film can make you feel that way. You know, I tip my hat to that shit. I give them kudos for being able to have the audacity to just end it like that. But I also am like, wow, I actually felt like some kind of emotion towards the end of the film, and I think they left it super ambiguous, and it's a little bit spooky.

SPEAKER_01 29:01

Okay. Love that, Sean. Great take.

SPEAKER_06 29:04

It's the kudos for the audacity for me.

SPEAKER_01 29:09

Yeah. Wanna dive into that? Just a a tad. I don't find anything ambiguous about this ending. What do you mean? There's nothing ambiguous. Cause effect, behavior, impact, stimulus, response. I feel like everything's just playing on the table with this ending.

SPEAKER_04 29:25

I don't know.

SPEAKER_01 29:26

I think about two movies instantly that are slashers and have an ambiguous ending. Original Halloween. We get Michael Myers getting up, and we get just shots of everywhere he's been. And then you hear the breathing, and it's like, oh, okay, he's gonna come out. Black Christmas, 1974, the movie ends. There's a survivor in the house, and the phone rings again, but the phone only rings when there's been a kill in that has already happened. So is the killer still in the house and he's gonna kill that girl, or did he already? Those are the movies and the types of things that invest enough to give you enough of a payoff for that ambiguity to really click. And this, I just don't find any of it ambiguous. I feel like what you just described sounds like a better ending than what this movie was.

SPEAKER_04 30:06

That's what happened.

SPEAKER_01 30:08

I told your asses in another skin emergency.

SPEAKER_06 30:11

Oh my gosh. Kringle, did you hate skin marink?

SPEAKER_01 30:14

I hated skin emarink.

SPEAKER_06 30:15

Boo, skin a rink was good.

SPEAKER_01 30:17

Oh my god, it's another fucking skin emergency.

SPEAKER_03 30:19

Thank God, somebody else. You know, that's I didn't take away ambiguity. What I took away was them being like, hey, you want to see what trauma looks like?

SPEAKER_06 30:27

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 30:27

And that was the end of this movie. Like, that's the feeling.

SPEAKER_06 30:30

And the answer was no, I didn't. Right. I feel it enough every day.

SPEAKER_01 30:34

Been there, seen that, still getting therapy for it. Yeah. Live in it, exist in it, linger in it. Terrible. Well, clearly, we are saying the same things and also saying different things. I would say we're a house divided, but I don't know that that's actually the case because I think our dialogue here is more ambiguous than the ending of this movie, Sean. So let's start making our way to our ratings. Before we actually rate this film, Sean, how would you describe the gore score?

SPEAKER_04 31:00

The name In a Violent Nature serves this film well because this film was pretty gore tactic in some areas. I feel like this film was relentless in all the right places with the gore in this movie. I think this is some pretty quality gore that we get because they really invested in the practical effects and it was bloody glorious. I think that this definitely, because of a few specific moments in this film and how they do really give you every inch of it, I feel like this is definitely hitting the severe level of gore.

SPEAKER_06 31:34

And what about the animal report? There was a deer that died, and it was sad, but we didn't see it happen. So, how invested in that deer were we really?

SPEAKER_03 31:44

That deer was pretty dead, though, like really gruesomely dead. So, you know, pea to be damned.

SPEAKER_01 31:49

Well, let's go ahead and get into our ratings. In a violent nature in 2024, the time has come for us to determine if it was a hack or a slash, and I like to kick things off because I got some thoughts. I have some feelings, and I just want to share them with you in a safe place among friends. This movie is gorgeous, it's absolutely pretty. There are some shots that feel sweeping, they feel immersive, and there are some moments in here where it feels like technically it's brilliantly executed. And I realized that part of why I enjoyed this so much visually is because I'm just a fan of nature. And I'm I'm a lesbian who likes to camp. If I had the option to buy a Subaru, would I have right now? Maybe. I want to move to the Pacific Northwest. I want to have my twilight moment. I want to find myself in the woods of Canada. But maybe I gave this movie more favor than it deserved in some spaces because of that. This movie was one hell of a ride, admittedly, but I want to go back to a Mia Goth quote that Paris pointed out in our Infinity Pool episode.

SPEAKER_06 32:47

One of my favorite quotes of all time.

SPEAKER_01 32:49

This movie has nothing to say, and it lacks the words to say it. And it doesn't even do it in a way that for me felt fun. Like there are moments where it approaches fun, it starts to dabble with fun. There is a singular moment for me where I feel like it really lives up to its name in a way that differentiates itself from other modern slashers. But there are other moments, and actually I would say 98% of the film where it walks to the edge of trying to do something of substance and lacks the nerve and the conviction to just commit and just do it. And the audio component, like I mentioned, is troublesome because while this artistically has no musical score, and that is really cool and a bold move, it was damn near impossible for me to hear most of what was happening on screen, which would have been fine, but I do think it was necessary. I think we needed to hear some of that. This was a movie that admittedly I probably would have enjoyed more if it hit streaming and I watched it at home for the first time, where I could appreciate the beauty while having my subtitles and being able to really sit back and enjoy the experience. But I didn't. I watched it in the theater because Shudder pushed us to theaters. And I turned to Allie around two-thirds of the way and then and I mouthed the words, I'm sorry. And to Binx, who went back and forth. We realized we were cursed because she and I were sitting in the very theater where we had to suffer through the mean one together. This movie is unequivocally a waste of time. Oh and therefore, by definition, it's a hack.

SPEAKER_06 34:18

Shit. When you put it like that, incredible. Chris, I think everything you're saying is valid, as I so rarely do, let's be honest.

SPEAKER_01 34:28

We are two sides of different coins altogether.

SPEAKER_06 34:31

Famously so.

SPEAKER_00 34:32

In different currencies, different countries. In different timelines. Conversion rates are not the same.

SPEAKER_06 34:37

Ever. But I think there's a lot we agree on here. This movie favored accuracy and loyalty to the premise to a fault. To circle back to Mac's nature documentary analogy, which I love, those documentarians sometimes watch these animals and plants for months, even years, I think in some cases. And think of how much of that footage they don't use. This movie used too much of the footage that shouldn't have been used. The dead air, this is when the nothing happens. And I get it, if you're in a slasher, that is technically what the killer's doing that entire time while those two teens are talking about their relationship and then finally fighting and having sex. The killer is slowly walking towards the cabin. We just didn't need that much of it. By definition, yeah, this was a big waste of time. Now, this is where I get stuck because I think some of the kills in here were incredible. I also think that this movie kind of made me a strong believer of a new idea I'm gonna present in that all horror movies should arrange their kills from least impactful and intense to most impactful and intense. When you blow your load and your best kill one-third into the movie, halfway through the movie, and then everything else after that is less than, that's just not good business. That's not good storytelling. The ending was the floppiest flop I'd ever seen. It was, again, I'll say rude of them to really imply that something was gonna happen. There was gonna be some payoff as to why we're sitting here, bored out of our minds for such a long period of time. And then for them to just fizzle out into credits, I said ew out loud. And several people, I'm sure, agreed with me in my theater. I do come to this podcast as a horror fan, and I know you listeners are also horror fans. I would not recommend this movie to non-horror fans whatsoever. And based on the marketing, I'm sure they don't even know it exists, those people out there that aren't like us. We are a very specific breed. However, I do believe the originality and the concept of this movie make it required watching for all horror fans. We are going to reference this film for years to come because of what it does. It executes on a premise and it executes technically very well. I will not give up hope on this franchise. I do think two prequels could really make this better. And for that, I will give it a slash.

SPEAKER_03 36:55

Interesting. Well, let me tell you, I love this film theoretically, visually, stylistically, and wholly in spirit. The overuse of lingering on the wrong shots and scenes made the movie feel slower or more boring. But when it was used to build tension, it was just so, so effective. There's a small amount of camp that can lead to like brief moments of lightheartedness and several moments of powerful gore that really punched you in the face. I have to love it for what it is and not hate it for what it's not. But even then I was torn when I was leaving the theater. I'm gonna give it a slash for all the well-delivered visuals and cleverness just spread throughout the movie. But gosh, I was a little bit back and forth for a while after finishing this.

SPEAKER_04 37:36

This is turning out a little bit different than I intended it to, but I think let me take you on a journey, right? Let me take you all on a little journey. I left the theater with two major thoughts. I loved the gore and I love the kills, right? That's one thought, but I didn't know how I felt about the rest of the film. I was really trying to unpack it, and it was something, obviously, that I hadn't really seen before. It was something that I really felt like I had to digest. I went and saw it with my wife and my brother-in-law. I'll tell you right now that the two of them hated this film. They absolutely hated this film. They thought it was a complete waste of time. They were bored out of their minds, and the more I talked about the film with these two, the more things started to stand out to me. But I can't honestly tell you if it's because I felt like I needed to defend the film for what it was trying to do, or because the film itself was really that good in some areas. I'm not sure. It was a mixed bag of feelings. Sure, there's a lot of moments where we are taking a stroll through the woods and it felt poorly paced or poorly edited. But then you do get this almost quiet and naturalistic approach with this cinematography and the sound design. I feel like suddenly this feels languorous and oddly beautiful. I feel like it really kind of worked in some moments. So the more you think about what they did with those, and you think about the how deliberate the choices were to give you the quietness of the woods, to give you the point of view that we're getting from this killer. I think the more that those intentional shots stand out a little bit more. I think the problem isn't really the pacing. I think it's probably the viewer, and I know that sounds pretentious, but hear me out. You said it, Paris. This is a horror movie for horror fans. You know what I mean? Like, this is a horror movie for slasher fans. I think a good amount of everyone else is just not going to get it at all. I'm surprised, Chris, that you hate this as much as it sounds like you hate it. If you don't get it, it's gonna feel like you're just watching someone meandering about for an hour and a half with some good kills. That's what it's gonna feel like. But in all honesty, I feel like it gives you everything you want in a horror movie, but delivers it in a different way with a different point of view. You have beautiful cinematography, you have masterly crafted sound design, it delivers a film of a violent nature. I honestly think moments that are really captivating, there's moments that are really unsettling, there's a little bit of boredom, I think, because they do linger a little bit too long in some of those moments, but overall, when you really unpack this film, I feel like it's a tour de force. I feel like it's an unapologetic love letter to the slasher genre. I think it's a vulgar display of power, and I think it's a slash.

SPEAKER_01 40:45

Well, as entirely expected by me, In a Violent Nature from 2024 has earned one hack from me and three slashes from the rest of you. You can find this movie playing in theaters right now, but if you're watching this movie post this theatrical run, you could probably find it on Shudder. Either way, check the link in our show notes to see where you can find it right now. Give it a gander, give it a watch if you like, and then join us in the second half so we can unpack all that fucking walking together. We'll see you in a bit.

SPEAKER_06 41:30

Are you looking for that perfect getaway? Somewhere so remote that even your GPS starts to second guess itself? Well, you found it. We are proud to provide you with the ultimate retreat for those who truly appreciate the call of the wild and the screams of the night. Here at Ranger Ron's, we offer an escape so immersive you might just forget the way home. Surrounded by the untouched beauty of the wilderness, you can hike, fish, and get murdered to your heart's content. So come on down to Ranger Ron's campgrounds. It's a place you'll never come back from. I mean, a place you'll never want to leave. Book your unforgettable escape today and get lost in the woods at Ranger Ron's, where every stay is a story if you live to tell it.

SPEAKER_01 42:25

Welcome back, folks. You are now entering the spoiler zone for Inviolent Nature, which has earned one hack and three slashes. Now, there's certainly a lot to unpack in this film, but before we get into the specifics of our ratings, Sean's go through those kills.

SPEAKER_04 42:39

Let's fucking go through them because I feel like it's hard to believe we only have eight kills in this movie because I feel like the level of kills we get is pretty top tier. I feel like a good amount of them feel pretty top-notch to me. I mean, we're talking axes to heads, face sawing intensity, bodily dismemberment, decapitation. I feel like we even get a kill that does at least give art the clown a run for his money. It might not top it, but we're gonna get into it. But I think it definitely does give art the clown a run for his money, which I'm sure is gonna be someone's favorite kill. So let's see which ones hooked you. What were your favorite kills?

SPEAKER_03 43:18

Oh, we have to talk about it.

SPEAKER_06 43:20

Yeah, there's one favorite kill.

SPEAKER_03 43:22

Right. It's yoga. The yoga kill.

SPEAKER_06 43:24

Bisexual yoga girl.

SPEAKER_03 43:26

That was insane.

SPEAKER_06 43:27

This is definitely the kill that they recorded the audience reaction for, and then used that audio of them reacting to it to promote the film. I knew because when it was happening, I remembered the audio clip that I had watched on Twitter just days prior. And I said, Oh, this is it. This is that moment. Oh my god. And it was a really great kill to watch with a large audience that was very open to reacting. There were gasps, there were gags, there were laughs, and there were cringes. It was actually a full spectrum of human emotion was conveyed during this kill.

SPEAKER_04 43:58

Those are all things that I said. In the theater, just me. I was like, ooh, fuck yeah. Oh my god, what the fuck?

SPEAKER_01 44:05

Yeah, very that. It's one of those where okay, going into the kiln, it was like a what the fuck getting there because it's Aurora, you could have easily not been in this situation. Okay, so you take a little spill, you slide down some dirt, it's not that bad. You could have slid down instead of face this fucking guy. However, the intensity of that, the hook, the bent neck, the head through the hole that was fisted into her abdomen. It's crazy. Absolutely crazy. But that was a moment where I had Allie next to me and she's never seen Terrifier. And I'm thinking, okay, well, fucking Terrifier 3 is coming out while we're in Orlando this year, so she's gonna end up seeing it. How is she gonna respond to Terrifier 2 and Terrifier? And now I think I know because she was definitely squirming.

SPEAKER_04 44:51

Nice.

SPEAKER_01 44:52

And there are a lot of people in the theater squirming.

SPEAKER_04 44:55

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 44:56

I wouldn't say it gave art the run for its money, though.

SPEAKER_04 44:59

No, you don't think so?

SPEAKER_01 45:00

No, I think it was great. I think art would be proud. But I would not say that it it it surpasses Art the Clown. I would say it's one singular kill that is excellent. The other thing that was increasingly frustrating was the moment that it walked away from committing to the fucking bit. This movie lacked the testicular fortitude required to be Art the Clown. This movie had the opportunity to test the testicular fucking fortitude of the Ranger on that fucking log splitter. And instead he put his fucking arm and then his fucking head? No. Yeah. Bullshit. I call bullshit. He should have been on there and completely fucking bisected hot dog style. Yes.

SPEAKER_06 45:44

That would have been great. I wrote in my notes. Man, hot dog slice? No. Oh no. Just wood splitter amputation.

SPEAKER_01 45:52

Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 45:52

It was it was right there. It was right there. Split that man from taint to head. Please. Equality. Feminism. Biden's America.

SPEAKER_03 46:02

I I legit thought that's what we were about to see, and I was like gearing up for us to talk about the hot dog of it all. I was ready. I was like, okay, let's see how this compares to Terrifier because I gave it so much crap. And then we got, I think, the worst kill of the movie. I hated this kill so much because they really gave us this fun dynamic by throwing this character in there. And it's like, oh, we're in a sequel. That's what we're in right now, is a sequel to something else. The kills we got in this movie varied from like first movie kills to, of course, sequel kills. Like the yoga kill is a sequel style kill. That's like, you know, Friday the 13th, 7 right there. That's when you unleash those kinds of kills right there. But then we come all the way back and they're like, let's take it to an uber realistic place where it takes seven minutes for this freaking log splitter to come down and slowly boop his hand off. And I was like, oh man, he's gonna do both hands and both feet and then leave him alive because that would be brutal. That'll be sick and torturous. Nah, he just like puts his head up there because he's already like paralyzed, and then pop, his head falls off. And I'm like, very effective. Like that thing is powerful, but as a horror movie, kill goes, not very effective. Like, yeah, if if you're grading this on a like, okay, what's realistic, you know, in terms of efficiency for killers? Sure, full credit. But like that wasn't fun to watch. That wasn't interesting, it didn't make me squirm, it just made me literally out loud sigh and disappointment for what could have been.

SPEAKER_01 47:26

It was lazy. It was a lazy kill from a lazy killer. It is fucking frustrating. Because here's the thing, Sean, how did you describe the display of power in this film?

SPEAKER_04 47:38

A vulgar display of power.

SPEAKER_01 47:40

A vulgar if it was fucking vulgar, we shouldn't we would have seen a fucking hot dog slice. There was nothing vulgar about this movie. The problem is that this movie could not commit to the fucking bit.

SPEAKER_06 47:49

It committed to the wrong bit.

SPEAKER_01 47:50

It committed to the wrong bit, it committed too hard in one direction and then also walked right back away from it because it then gave us the exposition at the end verbally. We'll get there. But the problem is this movie calls itself in a violent nature, and then it loses the opportunity. Let's go through the other kills, right? We had a guy who gets killed off screen. All you see is is a beautiful shot. The hand reaching in and then fucking just bloody hand. Okay, cool.

SPEAKER_06 48:16

I was mad. What the first kill? POV of the killer, and we don't get the first kill. The fuck? You see his eyes gouged out. You see some results. I needed to see more.

SPEAKER_01 48:27

But it's not like the full satisfaction of okay. But even then, the second kill was great.

SPEAKER_04 48:33

Yeah, you get your fucking head sawed in half with a rusty hacksaw.

SPEAKER_01 48:37

Standard slasher kill though.

SPEAKER_04 48:39

Maybe in today's terms, yes, but we like you look at 70s and 80s, and most of the time you ain't getting much of shit but a few squirts of blood.

SPEAKER_01 48:48

That's fine. But we got fucking terrifier.

SPEAKER_04 48:50

We're I think we're just a little numb. I think we're numb because we're watching terrifier. You know what I mean? We're we're out here watching some horrific shit, and we've gone through Saw and we've gone through terrifier and we've gone through fucking hostel and all these things, and we were watching fucking bodies dismembered all the fucking time. That's all we digest. So yes, I think we're like sitting here, like, oh man, okay, this dude got decapitated. Fuck that. You could have cut him in half from his fucking nuts or whatever. Like, okay, all right. But think about horrific it is to be paralyzed looking at the thing that's about to dismember you, and you can't fucking scream or move or do anything. Think of it from that point of view. Listen. That's what the movie wants you to do.

SPEAKER_01 49:35

Famed empath Sean campaigning for the ranger kill to be the best kill.

SPEAKER_03 49:41

All right. So here's what I think they needed to do on that one. They got the point of view, of course, like the whole movie, we've got it with the killer. They should have flipped it for that one and given us the Park Ranger's face. We should have been down there the whole time watching those eyes because in the previous scene, when we're seeing his eyes dart around, because that's the only thing he's able to move, you're like, oh crap, like here it goes. Like we're we're getting ready. But then we moved. We moved the camera back to the killer, looking down. You can barely see the ranger's face. And I think that's why it's not as effective as the scene right before it. They had it. They were so close. Now, if they had flipped the kills around, I think they really could have ended this on a bang. I think Troy should have been taken out with something like this. Colt, the whole smashing of the head thing great with the axe. But the ranger should have gotten the rock smash. That should have been the way, all glorious that they went out in this movie. I think that would have been just like, okay, save, not necessarily the best for last, but something big for last because the yoga kill, that's what kept this movie going, middle of the movie.

SPEAKER_06 50:44

They blew their load too early with that kill. And that's just a fatal flaw of filmmaking. And I'm like, it's not that hard. Look at all your kills on paper in the script and then sort them out by least impactful to most impactful. All horror movies from now on must do this if they want to keep my attention.

SPEAKER_03 51:01

But you have to go back and forth a little bit because you know Evan getting the axe around the back of his head. Yeah, some of us were like, that's a letdown, but it's like if everyone's gotta go out, he can't get like bigger and bigger and bigger with every kill. By the end, we're going to be literally ripping people apart with our teeth if that's the way we need to go.

SPEAKER_06 51:18

Yeah. Is it too much to ask?

SPEAKER_03 51:20

But like, if these are the kills that we're going to use, you have to like stagger it a little bit. So something like that is good. But then we were only one kill away from the yoga kill. You can't give me the head smash right away. And because we saw that, that was good. Give me another weaker kill before you show me something like that. I think what we were expected to feel was Sean's empathy for the Park Ranger. I think we were expected to feel that this was drastic because of like what he must be going through.

SPEAKER_04 51:51

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 51:52

But literally, you put the camera in the wrong place then.

SPEAKER_01 51:55

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 51:55

Because if you had shown us his face, we would have been sitting there sweating with him.

SPEAKER_01 51:59

You put the camera in the wrong place, you put the wrong talent in the wrong role to get me to emote anything that would make me feel for this guy.

SPEAKER_06 52:06

Maybe. You put the wood splitter in the wrong place. It was supposed to go to the balls.

SPEAKER_00 52:10

It was supposed to split the wood.

SPEAKER_06 52:13

Oh my god.

SPEAKER_04 52:15

I'm mad more. Then it could have been really called the wood splitter. Damn. Wow.

SPEAKER_01 52:20

I'm also mad that Brody's death was just disappearing under the water, then he comes back up later.

SPEAKER_04 52:28

It would have been a cool shot, yeah. It would have been a really cool shot. They were supposed to have a whole scene of Johnny going underwater, like walking underwater and hooking Brody from like the foot and pulling her down and killing her underneath the water. That was the whole sequence, but I guess there was just heavy rainfall that fucked everything up, so they had to scratch the whole thing. So we lost essentially one kill in the movie for unforeseen circumstances, so that's rough. I do agree, like we could have spaced these intense kills out. I mean, they were kind of spaced out if you think about it. The fourth kill in is the yoga kill, and then second to last is the ranger. It's hard to say the correct spacing that would have been in, but I get it. I think that they did use a lot for one really specific kill, and then they had that other one with the ranger, and then the rest of them were stuff that we probably could see in a lot of other movies right now. One, give it up for practical effects, because I think with the yoga kill, right, they used like three different silicone dummies to make this move happen, and they formed each one in different angles of contortion, and the last one being able to like be pulled a hundred and eighty inches or something so it could go through the stomach of Aurora. I just love to dive into like how they make some of these crazy ass scenes happen because that is well crafted. We don't get to see a lot of really well-executed practical effects these days, and I gotta appreciate it when we do get it. That's where the budget went.

SPEAKER_06 54:03

That's why they couldn't reshoot on the rain. Oh my gosh.

SPEAKER_01 54:09

The quality of the practical effects when we got them were fantastic, and I think that's where it starts to dance in terrifier quality. That's where it starts to really get good. I just wish it was more consistent throughout the rest of the movie. If we had gotten the wood splitting, wood splitter, then maybe I would have felt better about this film. But the problem is that when I think of In a Violent Nature, and I think about from a killer's perspective, going on a fucking rampage, there is a modern slasher that has already done it, and it was Halloween. Michael Myers walks into that sleepy town of Haddonfield, and we follow him from his perspective as he is just reeking mayhem and had and that was done beautifully, and it was brutal.

SPEAKER_04 54:51

This is true.

SPEAKER_01 54:52

There were some that were quicker than others, but each one was terrible. And the one we didn't see, we saw incredible fucking effects on, and then it built up the anticipation of oh, is he gonna kill that baby or not? So you have this premise, it's a good premise. This movie did not execute technically what it needed to, it executed the technical of its cinematography, but not in its post-production, not in its pacing, not in its writing, and that is the problem. That is a fatal flaw. And really, the worst kill of the whole movie is that the kill of this movie's potential.

SPEAKER_04 55:24

Wow. Wow, the kill of potential.

SPEAKER_03 55:27

You know, I I'm gonna go back to one of the positive things you said here, and that's gonna be the cinematography, because there is something just to the way this movie looks, and I and I gotta enjoy it. And it's not just the set, we're in nature, and nature's beautiful, it's the way we move through a scene. I mean, the opening scene, we're not moving at all. We're hearing everything, we're seeing very pretty much nothing, honestly, but it works and it gears you up. You're like, okay, I'm ready. Well, what are we gonna get into? And for the rest of the movie, there is a movement to it, even though everything is so still. It's like the one scene we get where he's in the background of the group. It's like that feeling the entire time. There is a stillness, but I'm feeling something move through the shadows. And so I really appreciate some of the camera work we did here, some of the like great depth of field shots we had where yes, we're close to one, maybe it's the character, maybe it's the killer, but we're looking so far off in the distance that it makes you uncomfortable. And yeah, we pushed them a little bit long, you know. The lake shot, that lake kill, it was feeling a little bit long in the tooth, but like the fact that you had to watch it all go down from far away was so utterly effective and such a great choice. I think a lot of the framing here was just like, wow. Like I wouldn't have thought to do it that way, but I love it.

SPEAKER_04 56:41

I think that's good. My favorite aspect is the use of the practical effects, but the cinematography is really good. I think the sound design was superb as well because there's moments where this film is so quiet that adds to the stillness that maybe you're talking about in the cinematography, Mac. All you can hear is all the little sounds of the wind, the leaves rustling, twigs snapping, birds chirping, insects, whatever. I feel like there's a stunning stillness to the movie as well, just from the ambient noise. And this movie uses ambient noise a lot. Like this is the first ASMR horror movie or or some shit because it's so silent. It's like, okay, whatever, I get it. It's a quiet movie, but there's not a lot of music happening in any of the scenes at all. And I think that's the point. The use of the ambient sound is a very interesting choice for I think maybe a couple of reasons. It could be the use of the ambient noise because you're looking at it from the killer's perspective. This is an presumably undead, supernatural type force of a killer who doesn't look like he can see very well, but somehow can because those eyes are fucking glossed the fuck over. And then are is he mute? I don't know. So we're we don't know. The killers are quiet, you know. In any of these slashers, we're not getting a lot of dialogue from the killers. So when we're looking at it from their point of view, yeah, we're not gonna have a lot of sound, we're not gonna have a lot of dialogue as we're watching this killer walk through the woods, stalk this couple, find this person, kill this person, right? And I think the other end of it too, which kind of goes hand in hand with the direction that they chose to go in with the movie, because you can't have the same type of audio in a movie where you're flipping the perspective. It just not gonna work the same way. I don't think it's gonna work with a full-on musical score in the same way that it would on the other perspective. There's an example maybe I can dive into in a little bit later when we dive into scenes, but I think that it's interesting the use that they did with the ambient noise in this film.

SPEAKER_01 58:42

Yeah. My struggle is that there are so many moments where the gnat sound was so overpowering that even when you're supposed to be able to subtly detect some of the dialogue and be able to just barely make it out, I still couldn't make it out. And that's what kills me. I will give you one moment where the audio shined for me, and it was this point where this motherfucker is playing with a toy, he's sitting down, and then you hear the dialogue, and again, because this is a moment where you're in greater proximity, it was fucking clear as day for me, and you hear them talking and they're panicking, and you see that the rest of the horror movie has unfolded while this motherfucker has just been walking around. It's the group of people realizing that this guy is missing, they need to go to the cup. But what about the guy in the photo? There was no guy in the photo, and you get to hear all of this, and that is something where we have again the potential of this movie. That was a beautiful moment. It's actually one of my favorite scenes, but technically, from a production perspective, you know, we talked about the cinematography, the audio again had potential, and I think that was its best moment when executed correctly. It's a brilliant fucking move. I don't need the score, I don't need music, I don't need it. Make it tighter and bat and balance the dialogue better, and then we're fucking good.

SPEAKER_03 1:00:07

I I will say I love what they did with the music that we do get, and that is it's present only if the characters are listening to music. So the only time we're gonna hear music if it's playing in in real life inside this movie, and they played with that by having that tape player get so distorted and slowed down. That part was interesting, and I think it also just works to get on your nerves as it continues to play slower and more messed up. I was like, man, that was an effective choice. Like when we don't have music this entire time, it's actually kind of peaceful. I enjoy that sometimes, even though I love music, I need a break from all that you know stimuli. But man, like as soon as we start to hear that like thing get slowed down and he's playing with the tape, I was like, You're sick, and I love this.

SPEAKER_01 1:00:50

Well, what's great about that is that it uses music the way that you would motivate lighting in a scene. Where if you're able to see specific color values and you're supposed to get different temperatures, you understand where that light is shining from. And it's not just you're just flooding the set with flat lighting. I think another movie that does that pretty well is even like The Strangers Pray at Night. There's a moment where there's a song that overpowers a scene because the killer has turned off the radio. So that movie obviously weaves in and out of a score and a soundtrack, but having motivation for music is a brilliant fucking note for this movie.

SPEAKER_06 1:01:24

This might be ableist of me. But I thought the sound was great. I thought being able to hear just enough of everything really put me into the killer's perspective. Being an outsider compared to this group of kids who normally like we're supposed to empathize with them. I was like, oh, effective use of sound, to the point where I didn't think much about it. I think my favorite element though, visually, has to be how we start the film. We really get like the most ambiguous shot of a locket being taken away. And then immediately after that, our killer emerges from the earth. And I think you kind of have to watch the entire film to kind of have the context for what that was. And that was literally just him being reborn and forced to exact his vengeance to those who have stolen that locket that was keeping him at bay. Because at first I was like, oh, does the killer just like bury himself here every day and hope somebody brings the locket in? I had that same thought.

SPEAKER_01 1:02:19

He's giving his best P Mallark.

SPEAKER_06 1:02:21

Exactly. It was very Peter Mallark, just kind of seeing that contextualized from the killer's perspective where it's like, oh, I pretty much was just in a coma until they took this locket, and now guess I gotta get the locket back at all costs and kill these teens. Oh man, I sure wish I could go back to sleep. One of those really useful, and I think it was really strong. And something I feel like we haven't seen before. Like we always see the hand burst out of the grave when it comes to killer coming back to life in this kind of a context. Seeing it played out like this really made it make more sense for me.

SPEAKER_04 1:02:52

Well, I can tell you one of my favorite parts of this movie, and this might be cheating, is a little clip that I watched that was actually an extended cut of a specific scene. Absolutely. I still think, Chris, you'll hate it, so it doesn't really matter. But but there's this whole beginning of this thing where Johnny's dragging the corpse through the woods. That's very devil's rejects. And we're getting that scene, but when he's walking up to the ranger's station, right? The police station, sheriff's station, whatever we're calling it, when he walks up to that building and we see him walking up to the parking lot and he goes inside and all that bullshit, right? This little clip shows you the point of view of the killer looking through the door into the glass window before he goes in, and all you see is this head break through the glass door and roll across the floor, and the front of the face lands perfectly. Of course it fucking lands perfectly, but it fucking lands perfectly where it's staring right back at you, eyes wide the fuck open, and just the perfect beam of light hitting it. Like that right there, it was fucking horrific, and it was fantastic, and that was a great scene.

SPEAKER_01 1:04:15

And that was not in the movie.

SPEAKER_04 1:04:18

It was not in the movie.

SPEAKER_06 1:04:19

Wait, I feel like I did see that. No, that part wasn't in the movie. He throws the head in and then the hand lens and the beam of light.

SPEAKER_01 1:04:26

But Sean saw like an extension of it, which is cooler and has like a different angle on it.

SPEAKER_06 1:04:30

Okay. Send it to me.

SPEAKER_04 1:04:32

Show him it to me, Rachel, please. I'll find it and I'll send it to you.

SPEAKER_01 1:04:36

Sean, do you not take umbrage with the fact that they cut that from the fucking movie and trimmed that, but they couldn't trim anything else?

SPEAKER_06 1:04:43

Your favorite scene was deleted, Sean.

SPEAKER_02 1:04:45

There was so much other stuff to be trimmed.

SPEAKER_06 1:04:49

Of everything to delete.

SPEAKER_04 1:04:50

Maybe they thought that the angle they had was so good. I don't know, but this was a better angle, I will admit. It was a better angle. It was great. Did you not laugh at all when he throws the lifeless body to break open the thing to get the mask? Like, I thought of all things this dude lugs a lifeless body in there just to grab the mask.

SPEAKER_01 1:05:11

I loved it. It was great. It was second only to the conversation of the like, okay, you realize that the rest of the movie has already unfolded, and now clockwise, we've now checked in at the point where shit is hitting the fan, and we're about to have a bloodbath because all these kids are supposed to fucking die soon. It was second only to that because you have that realization from a comedy perspective. Absolutely, that's fucking incredible. Also, the costume work on this guy. Here's the only thing that was missing from me. I wanted a literal POV shot. I wanted the eyes of that fucking fireman mask.

SPEAKER_04 1:05:46

Oh, yes. Okay.

SPEAKER_01 1:05:48

That's what I wanted.

SPEAKER_04 1:05:49

Okay. Yeah, okay.

SPEAKER_06 1:05:50

I don't think you're asking too much there.

SPEAKER_03 1:05:52

I'm gonna go straight to my favorite scene here. This scene really wowed me because I think the violence in the name of this movie is good. If you're gonna do crazy stuff. You have to act with violence of action, right? You have to like just do stuff to get the stuff done, whether that's apparently taking something and squishing it through somebody's head or sticking a piece of wood to make the car horn go off. You have to do it fast. This scene was a lot of fun because sometimes the killers are clever, sometimes they're dumb and they just stab. And in this case, the killer's clever and can also just smash his hand through somebody's face. But seeing the car horn go off and then he goes around in a circle and is spotted by somebody in the house, but it doesn't really matter because whatever's about to happen is about to happen. My God, does he just like not relent at all? It reminded me, we mentioned that Netflix anthology that we watched. Fear a street. Oh this seems like an expansion on that type of character rather than just classic Jason or Michael Myers or anything like that. Because that character just pummeled through. And that seems like what Johnny is really good at. It's just like do something and do it really fast and really powerful. But I I also like that they gave him some brains and some wit. You know, he's not watching for no reason. And this scene is perfect proof of that. He knows it's the two of them. Yeah. And he's gonna set it up and he's gonna take them out and he's not gonna stop. So what? I get shot, no big deal. I'm gonna throw an axe at the back.

SPEAKER_06 1:07:13

I've been dead. I do appreciate how much of Johnny's sort of personality we get through him saying virtually nothing, but just his actions. I do believe Johnny has a solid sense of humor. When it comes to favorite scenes, I think I have to give it to the lake scene. Specifically because watching a lesbian romance from that far of a distance across a lake is just something I enjoy personally. And the way that seamlessly he sort of just walks into the water, and you're kind of like, is he gonna go under okay, he's under can he breathe? I guess he's dead, I guess it doesn't matter. And you're still getting like lesbian banter in the background, or like potentially lesbian banter, but by curious banter at the very least. And then we go directly from that right into the best kill of the movie. I feel like that truncated 10 minutes of film was really the peak of this project.

SPEAKER_01 1:08:06

It would have been a great short. Yeah. Ooh. Give me the highlights of this movie as a short, it'd be great.

SPEAKER_06 1:08:14

That's honestly probably what it started out as. And they were like, oh, they want us to make a two-hour feature? Sure. We have a lot of b-roll. No way.

SPEAKER_04 1:08:24

Oh my gosh. What did you think about when we get Chris running through the woods towards the end? That whole scene where she's running frantically. What in the Sally Hardesty? It did feel like that, but like the voices and like it felt like almost it was almost playing tricks on your own mind. You're like, is she running in circles? Is that what's happening? But she didn't run in circles. Was she was she just that traumatized? It was in her head. Like, what was happening there?

SPEAKER_01 1:08:55

Yeah, it was Blair Witch meets Texas Chainsaw, meets Friday the 13th.

SPEAKER_04 1:08:59

Sure.

SPEAKER_01 1:09:00

I think she was just lost in the woods and driving herself mad because she was terrified that this guy was gonna come for her, but he didn't give a fuck.

SPEAKER_04 1:09:07

Yeah, she gave the locket back.

SPEAKER_01 1:09:09

And if we believe women and listen to women and not speak over women, if we just listened to her from the get, this would have been easily buttoned up.

SPEAKER_04 1:09:17

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 1:09:18

Give back the locket. That simple.

SPEAKER_04 1:09:20

I get all of those things from this third act going into the ending. I think we're gonna have to dive into it a little bit further because I think the ending specifically felt very Texas Chainsaw Massacre. I felt the lady was in on it most of the time while I was watching that ending. I was waiting for something to happen, but maybe she wasn't. I don't know. She was giving off some really strange vibes. There was the whole story about the bear, her brother being mauled and almost killed by a bear. You get this sort of comparison of the violent nature of this bear and Johnny comparing these brutal animalistic impulses, which I thought was a very cool thing to see. I guess this is where it gets this artsy bullshit from, but I also think that we get the end and Chris lives, and nothing that we really might have been prepared for as seasoned horror movie viewers actually happened. And maybe it was just me, but none of that felt like it happened, and it ends in this to me eerie and ambiguous way. Chris maybe lives, cool. Or maybe this bitch is up to something and fucking kills Chris. We don't know. And Johnny presumably grabs his locket and what goes and lays down in his grave and buries himself? We don't know. Maybe he didn't. Maybe he grabbed his locket and said, Fuck you, I'm still on a rampage. We don't know. We don't know shit.

SPEAKER_06 1:10:47

I think we do know. We do. We don't know shit. The moment that locket was given back, the movie was over. And yet no one told the director, and he continued to make a movie for another 30 minutes after that. No. While simultaneously spitting in all of our mouths individually.

SPEAKER_01 1:11:04

That's exactly it.

SPEAKER_06 1:11:06

No way.

SPEAKER_01 1:11:07

A hundred percent.

SPEAKER_06 1:11:08

I wanted the bitch to be in on it, but she wasn't, Sean. She might have been. If she was, we would have seen it. We would have seen it.

SPEAKER_04 1:11:15

There was something suspicious. Maybe the movie didn't want you to see it.

SPEAKER_06 1:11:18

She was a claudized lesbian. Not that suspicious. In her rural part of town, she can't come out. She thought the girl was hot and bleeding, so she was conflicted. That's what you were picking up on. Who knows? Maybe if there's a sequel, we'll find out. A prequel. We don't need to see what happens next. We need to see how we got here.

SPEAKER_01 1:11:37

Cause effect. Lockett goes on the gas can. Chris makes it out to the road. That motherfucker's not following her. Paris said it best. We would have seen it.

SPEAKER_06 1:11:46

We should have seen it.

SPEAKER_01 1:11:48

This movie ends with a promise of pain and trauma.

SPEAKER_04 1:11:51

We would have, or you wanted to.

SPEAKER_01 1:11:53

No, no, no. That's what it does. It ends with the traumatic look in her eyes, and you know she's never gonna be the same again.

SPEAKER_04 1:11:59

Of course.

SPEAKER_01 1:12:00

Maybe for you it ends the way that you want it to, and that's that's great. It's beautiful. But here's my big issue with the ending. There's a whole fucking article in which someone has the audacity to say that this movie has a twist ending. There's no twist ending here. It lays itself out.

SPEAKER_06 1:12:15

The twist, the lack of an ending?

SPEAKER_01 1:12:17

The twist is the audacity.

SPEAKER_04 1:12:19

It's not a twist, it sets you up for something that you don't end up getting.

SPEAKER_01 1:12:23

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 1:12:24

How do they justify the twist?

SPEAKER_06 1:12:25

What do they say?

SPEAKER_01 1:12:26

Again, so they talk about how the last 10 minutes of the movie is the movie. And it talks about the quote from the woman animals don't get too caught up on reason. Let's follow this fucking train of thought here.

SPEAKER_04 1:12:37

In a violent nature.

SPEAKER_01 1:12:39

Yeah, that would be fucking great. But there's literally a fucking reason, Sean. There's a reason. There's a reason. There's a tragic backstory. The locket is missing. And had the locket not been removed, if this man just resurrected from the ground and then started killing people, great.

SPEAKER_06 1:12:52

There was reason.

SPEAKER_04 1:12:53

There was just cause. There's a reason for Johnny to emerge and kill, but the violent impulse nature of his kills are being related to that of a wild animal.

SPEAKER_06 1:13:07

That was improv. The kills were improv. The motivation had reason.

SPEAKER_01 1:13:12

Exactly. But again, the quote and literally the thesis of the movie is animals don't get too caught up on reason. This movie is trying to say something and then it goes in the opposite direction. And that's the problem. That is why this movie does not fucking click. I think this is another classic case where I'm gonna pass the torch to you, Sean. You are pulling a Chris Rojas and falling in love with potential.

SPEAKER_04 1:13:33

Oh no.

SPEAKER_01 1:13:34

That's what you're doing.

SPEAKER_04 1:13:36

No way.

SPEAKER_01 1:13:37

Which is great. I love it. I've been there.

SPEAKER_04 1:13:39

No, I don't think so.

SPEAKER_01 1:13:40

Still there in a lot of ways, still clinging to things that I think have a lot of potential. But that is what this movie is. This movie spends 15 fucking minutes at the end of it to tell you what it's about, but it also doesn't jive with the rest of the fucking movie.

SPEAKER_06 1:13:56

Animals not getting caught up on reason reminds me of the film The Shallow, starring Blake Lively, in which a shark has a very personal vendetta against her specifically. And it just doesn't play, you know.

SPEAKER_04 1:14:08

Wow. You know, we've been talking a lot about Johnny and what are his motives and what he's doing, and this movie is all about Johnny. Let's face it. This is Johnny's movie. We're from the point of view of Johnny. We're watching Johnny fucking emerge from the depths of hell and come up and and kill a bunch of people for his locket. Cool. Johnny was six fucking people. Johnny was like five or six fucking people. There was no consistency in Johnny. What do you mean? The first Johnny got injured or ill or some shit and had to leave the set, and then they were like trying different people out and didn't find the right person, and five people later they're just like, all right, we got him.

SPEAKER_01 1:14:45

That is great. That's giving Michael Myers comprised and played by many different people. Yeah. And again, the same way that the killer in Black Christmas was in the original. I love that. That's homage to Slasher. I dig that. I thought, Sean, you were referring to the fact that there are two different Johnnies because there's the soul of Johnny, the child who died, and the body of Johnny's father, and maybe it is actually Johnny's father.

SPEAKER_06 1:15:11

Wait, he was grown. How is that? That didn't occur to me. Wait, he was a child. Oh my god.

SPEAKER_02 1:15:20

And they even say it within the lore of the movie like no one knows if it's Johnny or the spirit of Johnny or Johnny's dad. Okay, guys. Come the fuck on.

SPEAKER_04 1:15:30

The answer is just yes. That's the fun. That's the fun of it all.

SPEAKER_02 1:15:34

It's the super salad, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 1:15:36

Yes, that. Jason grew up. Jason got big.

SPEAKER_06 1:15:39

How is Jason big? How are these children dying and then their corpses are adults? Something's happening.

SPEAKER_04 1:15:47

They're eating good in hell.

SPEAKER_01 1:15:48

So in Friday the 13th, the whole bit was that he didn't actually die, but he saw his mother beheaded and he kind of grew up this man out in the wild on his own.

SPEAKER_05 1:15:58

True.

SPEAKER_01 1:15:58

Like in Friday the 13th, it's a shitty reason. It's a shitty lore. That's why it's not one of my favorite franchises by any means. It's a thought-out thing. This is literally the soul of a child in a man's body, but also with a baby face. A literal child's face. So the soul enters in through the mouth and gets fucking stuck on the side.

SPEAKER_06 1:16:19

This is why we need the prequels. We need to see how it started. How did we get here?

SPEAKER_01 1:16:25

Yeah. How do you have a toddler's head and a grown man's sausage fingers? Like, what the fuck?

SPEAKER_06 1:16:30

I need to see Charles Lee Ray performing a ritual on the dad's body. It'll be called in a prepubescent nature.

SPEAKER_04 1:16:39

In a prepubescent nature. Prepubescent nature.

SPEAKER_02 1:16:42

Sean, please write the script. Woo!

SPEAKER_03 1:16:45

Why did they go so hardcore and like make the most sausage-y of sausage fingers? You know, it was like a little too sausage-y sometimes and slimy.

SPEAKER_06 1:16:53

Say that, Mac.

SPEAKER_03 1:16:55

Nasty.

SPEAKER_06 1:16:56

I mean, who was decomposing? Those were gloves, right? Those couldn't have been human fingers. Those were his.

SPEAKER_01 1:17:02

It was the character's fingers.

SPEAKER_06 1:17:04

But not the actor, right? Like those were prosthetic.

SPEAKER_04 1:17:07

Who knows? I don't know that. Maybe. Maybe it was a glove with a bunch of stuff all over it.

SPEAKER_06 1:17:12

Yeah, I would hope.

SPEAKER_04 1:17:13

But Paris, you said it outside of Johnny, who now appears to be pretty fucking interesting. None of the other characters are very interesting. You know what I mean?

SPEAKER_02 1:17:23

Interesting? How you described that?

SPEAKER_04 1:17:25

Yeah, Johnny's interesting.

SPEAKER_02 1:17:27

I love you so much, honestly.

SPEAKER_04 1:17:29

How did he get there? We don't know.

SPEAKER_02 1:17:30

What did you come from? What did you go?

SPEAKER_04 1:17:32

We don't know. At least there's some kind of thought that emerges from thinking about this character, but the rest of them, did anyone care? I didn't even care about Chris in the movie. I didn't care if anyone lived or died. Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 1:17:44

Yeah. I saw she had the locket and I said, okay, that's our final girl, sure. But the moment we did like the campground pand where they were kind of like going around looking at all the actors, I was like, okay, so obviously these characters are horror movie fodder and we don't care.

SPEAKER_01 1:17:57

For sure, none of the other characters were interesting. The ranger, especially, was a little ridiculous for me. The lore was a little muddy there. Were you the guy or was your father the guy? And you've killed this guy, but your father killed this guy. Also, the ambiguity with the sound, it sounded like last year something happened, then 10 years ago something happened, and then 60 years ago something happened.

SPEAKER_06 1:18:21

This is why we need the prequels.

SPEAKER_01 1:18:24

This is why I need a freeform board specifically dedicated to understanding what the fuck happened in this movie.

SPEAKER_06 1:18:29

The timeline, the chronology of this is abstract.

SPEAKER_03 1:18:33

But I like I like that they did it a little bit differently. Like I like that we mentioned the full backstory early on and then only kind of confirm it later. You know, like that's kind of fun. It's not like we needed to go back in time and get a flashback because flashbacks are the worst. True, true. So it was kind of fun that's like, hey, this is a hint. This might be real, or it could be complete BS, and we could show you something totally different for the rest of the movie. So it was kind of neat that we get to see it later. The Park Ranger was one of the campiest characters out of this entire film. Yeah. It was like, oh, we've really gone to Friday the 13th part, whatever, at this point. You know, this is like a classic 70s, 80s like slasher movie. And honestly, it was kind of funny.

SPEAKER_04 1:19:13

Yeah, that's what it's trying to do.

SPEAKER_03 1:19:14

And it and it worked a little bit. I liked it. It was like, oh, we're in the sequel now, right? Okay, my dad killed you, and you killed everyone that I love when you came back, and now I'm gonna kill you again. Heck yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:19:26

Lol, it was just I say you, he dead.

SPEAKER_03 1:19:30

Kill him good, kill him good. I shot him, but you gotta you gotta shoot him again. Better hold that gun, right?

SPEAKER_04 1:19:35

Not in my neighborhood, not in these woods.

SPEAKER_06 1:19:38

Okay, but for a moment there, my dumbass really thought that Johnny heard them tell the story and was like, Oh, is that what y'all think this is? Okay, I'll go to the park ranger's office and get that little fire mask so that I can play into your narrative. And then when he was playing with the car, I was like, Oh no, actually that is what happened. Got it. But for a moment, I thought he was just kind of like playing into the bit as like part of like a I don't know, he thought it would be funny to like scare them with the thing that they were scared of.

SPEAKER_01 1:20:04

Like a little trickster.

SPEAKER_04 1:20:05

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:20:05

That would have been great.

SPEAKER_06 1:20:07

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 1:20:08

I just think they served a specific purpose. I think obviously Johnny is the star, and we're following Johnny, and I think in Johnny's eyes, none of these people mean shit to him, and they all fell into these classic cliche horror movie trope type characters. We have some really funny moves, like there's that one moment where I forget which dude it was, if it was Troy or whoever, that tried to distract him and just come up from behind him and Colt and just gets fucking hacked, you know, to death. And that's towards the end, and it's just like, what did you think was gonna happen? And I just love to get how dumb that looked from the killer's perspective, because we're always seeing it from the other side, and it's like, yeah, man, you're making a stand, you're making a fight, maybe you'll make it out of here. But at this, it was just like, oh, you tap me on the shoulder, boom, right in the face, and now you're just being hacked to death. What a dumb move.

SPEAKER_06 1:21:05

Okay, wait, can we get into the worst parts? Mac touched on this moments ago. Flashbacks are indeed the worst. And we have but one in this film that at first I was like, okay, sure. And then later I was like, oh, so we didn't need that at all. And that is in the beginning, when Johnny is in that whatever man's house, and he looks in the mirror and has a reflection/slash flashback of his mom and dad being like, This is this necklace, and this is why it's significant. Mac likes flashbacks. And I was like, that was a really cheesy, shitty effect. Okay, I guess that's what we needed to know to make this make any sense. But then later we get that ex that same exposition played out in a more elegant and more natural, organic way that made that whole shitty flashback needless. I was like, we didn't need it that early. We didn't need it that way. You clearly know how to do it in a way that's better, and you did. So why both? I don't know what that was, except for the worst part of this film.

SPEAKER_01 1:22:06

Besides the pacing issues, which of course Yeah, and that was such a frustrating moment. But again, it does play into the whole, is it Johnny the baby, or is it Johnny's daddy? Because you don't really see that guy's face, and all you see is this big lumberjack build. So maybe that's the body, like from the neck down, maybe it's Johnny's dad. And maybe from just like jaw up, it's Johnny.

SPEAKER_00 1:22:27

And it's the baby head. Exactly that. That was awful. Exactly that.

SPEAKER_03 1:22:33

But like you could have put it together because they show him like going up and finding this necklace and going, ah crap, it's not the right one. Yeah. And then he's interested in the other one. That's all we need. We don't we don't need any more. It's too much.

SPEAKER_06 1:22:46

Exactly. They did it a dozen better ways throughout the film that they did not need that weird CGI, who is this girl I see staring straight back at me? Reflection moment.

SPEAKER_01 1:22:56

When will my reflection show who I am inside? Johnny or daddy? Exactly.

SPEAKER_03 1:23:01

Oh god. I think for for worst part of the movie for me, it was it was the inappropriate lingering when it comes to shots and scenes. And I think it's like it just takes things to a really kind of uninteresting level. Like you can take a good kill and make it boring. And how do you do that? Because there were some some really good kills here. You just let the camera sit there and look at it for way too long. Even like the campy ones where we're like splashing the head at the very end of the movie, just like axing that dude's body up. Like, okay, yeah, we get it. That's cool. I'm okay with that. I didn't need to look at Chris's face for like 10 minutes while it's happening. Like, show me him doing that. That honestly was humorous and more enjoyable than just like her face trying to figure out, let me slowly put everything on the ground. I'm like, okay, great. Like flash to her looking scared or something and then making that decision, but it just went a little bit too slow on that.

SPEAKER_04 1:23:55

Okay, so I am gonna agree with the sluggish parts of the film. I'm not gonna agree with the kills entirely, because I think that we have to get the way we got it to get the point of view that they wanted, right? We're not gonna see him doing it, we're gonna see him looking at him doing it. Like looking, he you're getting his point of view. But I agree. I'm going to say, even though I don't 100% agree with everything, the worst part of this movie has to be its limitations. And in limitations, I mean the pacing and some of the scenes for sure, especially when we are watching Johnny hike through the wild Ontario terrain. It's probably gonna turn a lot of people off to what otherwise feels like to me a rare film that we don't always get that's willing to give you something a little bit different. So I think the limitations that they chose to adhere to, in my opinion, a very specific audience is probably the worst part of the movie because 70% of people are going to dismiss it.

SPEAKER_01 1:24:56

That's a really interesting take. And I was just thinking about earlier how we're saying if this movie was shorter, would it be better? 100%. And I think about Host. Host was a movie that was conceptualized, written, filmed, edited all in the first three months of lockdown. And that is a shorter film. It's an hour-long tops. And just think about how much it would benefit from being refined. I say all that to say, this movie is not without its shining moments, too. This is one of the coolest looking fucking killers. This is one of the coolest looking killers I've seen in a long time. I love the look of Johnny, not baby Johnny, but to have the firefighter mask and the hooks, like the drag hooks, I absolutely love that. And while I don't care for the prospect of a franchise based on more of the same exact application, I do want to see more of this killer because it gives me my bloody valentine. That's what it reminds me of in a really interesting way. And listen, I've seen a lot of Canadian horror films that I absolutely love, and this felt like an homage to that. My Bloody Valentine originally a Canadian film. There are other highlights in this movie. Like again, we talked about Aaron's death when he's thrown in. And when you have this body crashing in and breaking the glass, that's where the comedy shines. And that is what, again, if if if we could just refine this movie and carve the figure out of the block of marble, there's an excellent movie hidden within this movie. I'd be willing to watch it one more time when it hits streaming, mostly because I want to experience it with subtitles and in the comfort of my own home, maybe with some good quality headphones, but probably no more than that.

SPEAKER_03 1:26:37

Yeah, honestly, give me the radio edit. Yeah. That's what we need here. We need a cleaned up version where you still have like taking your time, but like just give us like a tighter cut. Not just about shorter, but just like feeling like all the screws have been tightened up.

SPEAKER_06 1:26:52

It was too realistic with how much time we spent slowly walking through the woods. And Chris, you mentioning that post was a tight edit makes me wonder like how many minutes of this film are Johnny walking and nothing else is happening? Because I feel like it's over 15, potentially over 30. And that's the problem. That's the biggest problem here, and it's probably the main reason I wouldn't re-watch this necessarily. However, if there does come the prequels I am manifesting, or even just one prequel, I might re-watch just to kind of refresh and fast forward at my own leisure through the parts that I know are boring.

SPEAKER_04 1:27:30

Well, I slash this movie. I don't think it needs a prequel or a sequel. I don't really want any more in this franchise, but I think I would re watch this one again just because obviously I'll watch some of those kills again, but I think there's just so many nods and Easter eggs all over this film paying respects to the godfathers of the genre that I feel like it is worth a rewatch just to try and pull other little pieces that it may be, you know, paying. Homage to other things for. So we'll see.

SPEAKER_03 1:28:02

I'd I'd like to rewatch this from home. I think it would be a very different experience, you know. That I have to, I mean, I slashed it, but like when I was watching this, I was very uncomfortable in theater chairs. It was not the nice, comfortable leather ones. It was the crappy old fabric ones that are, you know, straining your neck and straining your legs. And there was the guy, the guy behind me who was eating the snacks was just that awkward distance away where I was like, I can't see him, but I know that he's there, and it's a little bit uncomfortable because I hate being in public apparently these days. But I think from home, where you can really take your time, you can watch a film that takes its time. And it's different. You don't feel as nervous and you're not waiting to leave. Or at least me, because that's in public these days.

SPEAKER_01 1:28:40

Well, we'll see if any opinions or change with the passing of time and another watch of this film. But for now, there you have it, folks. In a violent nature from 2024 has earned one solitary hack and three slashes. Now we certainly had a robust discussion here, but it doesn't end here by any means.

SPEAKER_04 1:28:57

We want to know what you think. Was In a Violent Nature a good slasher or a boring nature documentary? Let us know. You can join in on the conversation by hanging out with us for free in our Discord. Click the link in our show notes to sign up.

SPEAKER_03 1:29:10

If you've enjoyed listening to this episode about a walking simulator, consider becoming one of our patrons. Visit patreon.com slash hacker slash to enjoy more of the show with early access, extended episodes, bonus content, and live shows.