Ever since it first came about in the early 1960s, the Slasher flick has given rise to some of the most iconic screen characters of our time, introducing brutal, inhuman killers like Jason Voorhees, Michael Myers, and Leatherface in to the pop-culture pantheon. Since then, a veritable hoard of hulking, horrific monsters with a penchant for dismembering teenagers have barely left our screens, their evil exploits still enthralling audiences all these decades later. And yet seldom ever have these films given us the killer’s point of view, instead preferring to keep them hidden in the shadows. Chris Nash‘s feature debut, In a Violent Nature, attempts to address that, with a film which flips things on their head (before slicing it off entirely).

In a Violent Nature, on initial viewing, has the impression of a one trick pony through. Beginning with the resurrection of Jason Voorhees rip-off Johnny (Ry Barrett), it is immediately apparent that our protagonist for this film is little more then a monstrous shambling corpse intent on senseless murder. The film then proceeds to follow Johnny (literally) as he treks across the wilderness in pursuit of his next victim, wading through beautifully tranquil forest vistas in long, single-take scenes, until he eventually stumbles across a teenager in serious need of organ rearrangement. Rinse and repeat for 90 minutes, and you have the film in a nutshell. On paper, it’s slim pickings, devoid of tension and achingly slow, despite the novel approach of the filmmaker.

And yet, surprisingly, it works. For any other horror movie, the absence of tension would spell disaster, but Nash is clever and uses the calm to great effect, instilling a sickly sense of eeriness throughout the film through the noticeable lack of music and the excruciatingly long, continuous shots. Gorgeous, natural cinematography from Pierce Derks and a hauntingly soft soundscape from sound designers Tim Atkins and Michelle Hwu further this intent, combining to create a constant feeling of unease as the film carefully builds to each gore-soaked set-piece.

And yes, In a Violent Nature is, as the title suggests, very violent. Arguably one of the goriest films of the year, the deaths puncture the slow, marauding runtime with excessive force, as blood, guts and viscera spill in inventive and gruesome ways. In and amongst all the splatter though are moments of contemplative silence and reflection, that peel back the layers of Johnny’s disturbed psyche in small, tantalising ways. Nash styles the film like a perverse nature documentary, with Johnny as the animal subject, and it’s within the film’s quieter moments that we gleam some insight into what makes this lumbering beast tick. Snippets of the teenage victims’ backstory can be gleaned from overheard conversations, but it’s minimal at best. They are prey, Johnny is the predator, and this is very much the predator’s story.

With this structure entrenched early on, it’s in the second half of the movie where Nash breaks away from the established narrative and hammers home his point with a sledgehammer. Up to the halfway mark, the horrific deaths border on cartoonish and play as darkly comic in their ridiculousness (one death in particular is so excessive, it’s almost comical). But in one prolonged moment of horror, the laughter suddenly stops as the camera lingers on a slow, drawn out dismemberment where the sad, haunted eyes of the victim are impossible to ignore. The director makes us see the monster for exactly what he is and almost makes the audience complicit in the horror they are witnessing. It’s our POV as well as Johnny’s, and we’re in on the terrible acts he commits.

This introspection is furthered even more in the film’s climax, which pulls a complete 180° that is initially jarring, yet makes total sense come the time the credits roll. In these crucial final moments, Nash introduces real fear and tension to proceedings, and in doing so turns the camera upon the audience in a brutally accusing and judgemental manner. It is effective, to say the least, and will most certainly leave the audience with much soul-searching to do after they leave the cinema.

A thinking man’s slasher film, In a Violent Nature takes a unique and interesting approach to the tried and tested slasher formula, and relishes the opportunity to play with the genre’s tropes in service of a deeper, intelligent exploration of horror and how we connect with it. Entertainingly gory yet ethereal and contemplative all at once, this is a slasher film unlike any other which lingers in the mind long after the final blood-soaked splatter hits the lens.

In a Violent Nature is out now UK Cinemas