Month: July 2024

IN A VIOLENT NATURE (2024)

In a Violent Nature poster


A group of unwitting teenagers take a pendant from a dilapidated shed in the woods and unleash the beast.
I mean, don’t be taking any necklaces or jewellery that you find in the woods.
Or else Johnny (aka Fireman Sam Goes Rogue) might come looking for it……….and you at any cost…..….to you.
I’m telling you, if I see anything like that when I go trekking in the violent nature, Imma leave that shit where it is.
For reals.

This new Canadian horror film has been described as an ambient slasher so I’m wondering if this is the beginning of a new genre. All we need is some Come to Daddy vibes from the mighty Aphex Twin and we’ll be all set.

Nature is by its very essence incredibly violent. The cycle of life, from birth to death is brutal.
Early on in the film (see pic above) we see the mostly skeletal remains of an animal that had been snared by a trap and left to die and rot, this gives us an idea of how fucked up this film might be.
The gore in this is off the charts and looks incredibly real.
If you have a weak stomach, defo avoid this one.

Bear with me for a second, could this be seen as an ecological, climate change disaster metaphor?
The young are going to pay for what the previous generations did and it ain’t gonna be pretty.
No matter how they die, they are going to die and it’s all their ancestors fault.

Can we take a second to feel a little pity for the teens?
Teenagers in horror films……wow……poor bastards, not only do they have to go through the metamorphose of puberty (“You’re getting worse….NO, I’m getting better”) and the pitfalls of growing up, they end up absolutely gutted in a wood somewhere.
For what? 
Drinking a bit of booze, smoking a bit of the devil’s lettuce, having a bit of how’s yer father and generally trying to emulate the olds. It just ain’t fair.


The gore.
There have already been a bunch of walkouts during screenings (I love seeing a walkout) but as my fellow podcast host, Adam said after attending a surprise screening of the film “Some walked out because it wasn’t the film they wanted, some I’m guessing walked out due to the slow cinema stylist slant it took on the slasher genre and some unequivocally walked out because of gore (although there is nothing in the movie as genuinely disturbing as the violence in I Saw the Devil. Or as visceral as the last 15 minutes of Immaculate)”.
A lot has been said about the gore and while it is extreme at times, there’s a lot worse out there (Do you wanna play a game?).

In a Violent Nature pays massive homage to the Friday the 13th series, even casting Lauren Taylor, who appeared in Friday the 13th Part 2.
There is a lake and a brilliantly filmed death scene.
There are the woods (the violent nature), the teens, the killer and it’s all here imaginatively put together by director Chris Nash, the very talented crew and cast, who are all believable and committed.


Before I had read the director’s statement in the press notes, I’d already thought of Elephant directed by Alan Clark and produced by Danny Boyle in 1989, which I have just recently watched and is a film that contains very little dialogue and depicts 18 murders in Northern Ireland during the Troubles. It is clinical, unemotional and has an observational documentary feel.
The same can be said for In a Violent Nature. Director, Chris Nash had cited Elephant as an inspiration and wondered what it would be like to make a horror film with the meditative, ambient sensibilities of a Gus Van Sant or Terence Malick film. He succeeds by giving us a violent slasher movie that is unlike any before. Sure, it contains the usual innovative murders (shout out to the yogic contontortional one), the teens getting brutalised, a killer that is set to join the annals of Horror film killers with his signature ‘Vejan-Bader’ Smoke Mask that was used by 19th century firefighters and his cold, animalistic demeanour.

This is the third (or maybe the fourth) horror film that will make my list for best films of 2024, mostly for its style and difference. The other ones are Longlegs (See my review here), Immaculate and The Substance (review here) which is not out until September but is absolutely awesome.
All these films are not for the faint of stomach so “a warning, mate” if you’re not into blood being slung about will-nilly avoid these horror gems.

In a Violent Nature is out n August 1st at cinemas across Australia.

1 Hour and 31 Mins

LONGLEGS (2024)


“Make sure you say your prayers.………”

FBI Agents are on the tail of a serial killer, Longlegs who has been on a killing spree for many years.

Thank the maker. It’s been a while since I’ve been proper shook by a horror film.
I love seeing a horror that is inventive, attempting something new, well made and actually being scary.
So far, this year I have seen You’ll Never Find Me, Imaginary, Immaculate**, The First Omen, Late Night with the Devil*, Arcadian, Sting, When Evil Lurks*, The Substance**, I Saw the TV Glow, Exhuma*, In a Violent Nature*, Maxxxine and now Longlegs**.
(One star for highly enjoyable and 2 for inclusion in my list of films of the year).
So, that’s 3 horror films that have made the end of year list so far. Impressive, huh?


Everything about this film is on point. Let’s start with the acting.
Nicholas Cage for Best Supporting Actor please. I have never seen him so truly unhinged in a (mostly) contained way. Absolute mastery of the craft, his voice, his physicality, his commitment to the role, his hair and make up is outstanding.
Maika Monroe is absolutely brilliant as Agent Lee Parker, all FBI buttoned up shirt and personality, almost savant like and utterly believable.
Alicia Witt is amazing as Harker’s mother, Ruth. We hear her on the end of a telephone call before we see her and there is a brokenness in her voice that you understand as the film reveals her story.
Blair Underwood is a sturdy actor, who I haven’t seen for a while but here he brings his usual grounded, believable characterisation to the role of Agent Carter.

Some of the smaller roles are equally brilliant with Shafin Karim giving some light relief as a Doctor who the FBI agents interview. Kiernan Shipka gives a masterful performance as Carrie Anne Camera, a patient who has recently come out of catatonia and delivers some truly creepy lines with a monologue in a way that is both unexpected and unnerving. Great acting choices.

Bea Perkins (the director’s daughter) is also fantastic as a teenage shop clerk who is all millennial and unimpressed.

And now let’s talk a bit about the director, Osgood ‘Oz’ Perkins. His background is fascinating and goes someway to understanding his work.
He is the son of Norman Bates himself, Anthony Perkins, who died in 1992 from AIDS and Osgood’s mother was Berry Berenson, and actress and photographer who was on American Airlines Flight 11when it was hijacked and crashed into the North Tower of the World Trade Centre on September 11th 2001. Osgood has admitted in interviews that he uses movies to explore the trauma he has experienced.
He is clearly channeling something visceral and close to the bone when making his films.

“Aaaah, there she is”

The music plays a big part in creating an atmosphere of dread conceived by Zilgi, a pseudonym for Elvis Perkins (the brother of the director). It has a pulsating drive to it that is ominous and fear-inducing. Exquisitely horrifying.

When I saw the very disappointing Maxxxine recently they showed the trailer for this and I turned my head and covered my ears. I wanted to go in as uninformed about the Legs of Long as possible. Having seen the trailer since, I realise it gives little away.

If you like your horror truly terrifying go and see Longlegs in a darkened cinema with an audience. The only true way to see films, especially great horror films. This truly is a great. Silence of the Lambs given the Satanic treatment. Absolutely brilliant.

1Hr41Mins