This movie plays with the conventions of a slasher, locking the perspective mostly to that of an undead killer named Johnny. Like his rampage, the film is slow and methodical, and the filmmaking plays as a nature documentary on a day in the life of a relentless undead juggernaut. While interesting in concept, the execution proves to be rather tedious and unengaging. It involves a lot of walking, lots and lots of walking. The film seems to hover somewhere between an experimental art-house take on classic tropes and simultaneously relishing the sillier extremes of the genre. This features one of the most ludicrous, over-the-top kills In horror movie history, that genuinely needs to be seen to be believed. There is a surprising amount of sympathy for Johnny, whose back-story is delivered through overheard conversations by vapid one-note stereotypes of the slasher genre, aka, the victims. But honestly, as an experiment, it is a failed one. There have been other variants of seeing a slasher movie from the killer’s perspective, but none so spectacularly boring. The last act switches perspective to that of the ‘final girl’, but doubles down on the tedium with inane monologues that think they’re profound insight and thematic revelations on the nature of Johnny, and indeed all nature, but… plays more as a coma-inducing soporific. The filmmaking, direction and cinematography are rather good, and there are a lot of fun kills and gore, but one must endure gulfs to get there. If you have the patience, this is certainly a worthwhile watch, but far from the elevated horror it aspires towards.
In A Violent Nature (2024)