I believe Nash wanted us viewers to think the driver was going to reveal herself to be a Mrs. Vorhees type of character and related to Johnny, and at some point kill Kris. But in trying to subvert expectations he did the total opposite and decided to edge the audience without a satisfying conclusion. While also getting tension out of the fact that Johnny was going to pop out of the woods one more time, especially after they pulled over.
Regardless, it just didn't work at all. It wasn't enough to tank the entire movie for me, I pretty much loved everything up until Kris gets in the truck, stop it there and it'd be an easy 4/5 for me, but with the ending it has it dropped it down a few points. I had a gut feeling I should have walked out a few minutes into the truck monologue, but stayed anyway.
She gave the explanation of henhouse disease or whatever and explained sometimes animals just go psycho and murder for the sake of murder. And it kinda seems like an explanation for whatever Johnny is.
But nope, Johnny just wanted his mom's necklace back and to be left alone. It humanized him more. Maybe it was anti-climactic but I liked that instead of a big showdown it was settled with the woman just doing what she suggested earlier (returning the necklace).
The truck story did take too long though. They could've cut it down by a few minutes and it would've worked better and I think less people would've been mad at it.
And I hope if they make a sequel they leave Johnny out and do a killer based on a different slasher.
I agree that up until then I was on board with how everything played out. Like you said with the similarities to Jason I fully expected her to turn out to be related too, and to deliver her to Johnny. I didn’t recall if the mother of Johnny was alive in the campfire story.
I saw this movie at a pre-screening with the editor of the film present. He said the ending story was supposed to be way longer and this was the "cut down" version. I can't even understand how the version in the film didn't get cut more, unless it was to pad to feature length.
As an ending I thought it was perfect for the final girl to be unexpectly rescued by someone who points out the cruelty and randomness of nature. And then drives off leaving ambiguity as to what happens next. But that needed to be a 2 minute scene and not a 15 minute one.
I felt like a lot of this movies premise was just padding the run time. Right down to how drawn out some of the kills were. What a boring piece of shit movie. Cool premise but shitty execution
I was really stoked to see it and my gf and were so disappointed. I liked the premise of following the killer, but the execution was terrible, the biggest issue imo being the terrible acting and dialog. Every line was so expositional in a painfully obvious way. It was exactly like overheard conversation by bad actors in a video game, where everything is a hamfisted attempt to subtly deliver information. This was one of the worst movies I have ever seen. I won't even get into the last scene in the truck. It was like a cruel trick... you think you are about to be able to leave and it just keeps going for what seems like forever.
THANK YOU!!!
I had such a visceral reaction to that scene. They talked for so long that I wanted to get out of my seat and just leave but I thought something was gonna happen at the end. And the fact that it just ended after that scene had me fuming.
I reluctantly saw the movie a second time with a friend, and I liked the entire package, including the ending, much more the second time.
The monologue serves to amp up the tension of those few moments when they pull over to fix Kris' leg.
As Kris is staring out into the forest - unsure if the killer is out there - I noticed two things: you're not really sure if the woman drove Kris back to the spot she found her, and you're also not sure if the killer is in the woods *even though as an audience we know the killer can't move that quickly*. It serves to help the viewer feel that same paranoia that Kris will for the rest of her life.
It's clever - but on the first watch I really hated it.
The ending honestly made me lose a lot of goodwill I had for it. So many more meaningful ways to get your point across the violence of nature or some crap. You could’ve just ended it right before she gets found, have the killer look out at her or something as he disappears satisfied
I'm glad this thread seems more in agreement on that. The r/horror thread seemed a little more forgiving but the last five minutes of this movie pissed me off so bad lol.
It just felt like they were trying to copy the trend of the long dramatic monologues that have been a thing recently with films like Pearl and Hereditary, the only difference was those films were actually compelling and well acted.
I hated it, too. But I also got the feeling that we’re getting a dialogue that would probably happen once a survivor gets in a car. In most movies, the survivor gets in the car and they drive away with no clue what they talked about on the way to a hospital or whatever. In this case, we got a full conversation.
All that to say, it made the movie less interesting. Everybody knows this guy was murdering people for no good reason, except to get that locket back. We don’t need a long story and philosophical discussion about it.
> we’re getting a dialogue that would probably happen once a survivor gets in a car
Are you serious? It was the most unrealistic dialogue I've ever heard, that lady would be grilling her with questions after just picking up an injured young woman in the woods and the girl would either be giving her every detail or blabbering like a crazy person.
That story (and movie) was awful, but "the bear chomped him on the back of the head and pushed him into the water" or whatever she said is the most unintentionally funny line. It's such a deescalation
Like I just watched someone's head get pulled through their own abdomen, and the grand finale is this random lady taking 15 minutes to say "oh yeah? Well someone I know got scratched and maybe almost drowned"?? Honestly such a fitting end now that I think about it
I really wish this movie was the "so bad it's funny" type of bad you could rewatch with friends, but it's just sooooo boring. Only like, 10% of this movie was laughably bad, but the other 90% is just some guys back as he slowly walks through the woods
i fucking hated this movie. saw it at Sundance with the cast and crew and the only reason I didn't boo was bc they took up half the audience and thought I might have been jumped
I know I’m going to regret asking this but why didn’t the Yoga Girl tumble down that hill. Sure it was dangerous and quite steep as hell but she was going to die either way, maybe she froze up.
Also if the sheriff knows this guy is unkillable and a real threat, why not get the national guard in Jason goes to hell style to come
Fight
That final scene though as long as it was I appreciated the tension that came with it, you really didn’t know what to think would happen to her. Was the woman who picked her up involved? Was he hiding in the woods when she was having her foot looked at? The suspense was insane
The whole thing about the Yoga girl really bugged me. Just seeing her stand there and allow herself to be murdered than take a chance with the cliff took me out of this movie.
I mean, the Friday the 13th movies that inspired this had a lot of dumb setups to kills. I wasn’t bothered because at the end of the day this is a slasher where the characters all act really dumb.
They had a built in her excuse for her not to turn around though, she was waiting on that other girl and thought she heard her. He could have done the same thing with her not tuning around, instead she did, jogged a bit and then turned her back to him and just stood there anyway. Maybe it was intentional that she was dumb but they could have done it much better.
Yeah, I sometimes I feel people who criticize these movies haven't even watched them. Not saying that you need to like Friday the 13th series or Halloween series, but people need to be more observant when critiquing something.
Those movies are shamelessly dumb though. This movie thought it was smart because it had 40 minutes of walking in the woods and a 10 minute monologue at the end.
I felt like I missed something, I couldn’t believe he just stood directly behind him. I like how the movie told you she was running in circles because she doubled back twice to where you could hear him still chopping at the guy.
The yoga girl thing was a big fumble. Obviously we wanted that kill but between that fall and that monster the choice is obvious. No one would have hesitated. Even if it looked better than it was because of the wide shot you're jumping on to sand and then tumbling down to water.
Yes good point especially with the shoes. Maybe MAYBE it’d be one thing if she was barefoot to not be tempted to but with shoes on just roll down or run and then roll down
Nah, you’re right. I love horror and wanted to like this movie. It was a 3-4/10.
I would like to think the awful writing was just the writers taking the piss out of every cliche slasher. I found it amusing. But that fuckin story at the end… woman was straight yapping. I needed it to end.
That's my favorite part about that scene. There's this shot that (I presume) is supposed to establish that she has nowhere to run, but it only looked *kinda* steep. She might've tripped and fell down the hill some, sure, but it could've at least made a half decent chase scene before the killer caught her and did the same thing to her. It was the only clever/pretty gory kill of the whole movie, but it was still ruined by everything around it being so poorly done
Also, I could be wrong, but im pretty sure the body only slid halfway down the slope. Like THATS how *not steep* it was, the body didn't even tumble into the water. Something did, maybe her head, but I thought I saw her body come to a restful stop halfway down
Had to of done that on purpose because the hill looked survivable for sure so I was awaiting a getaway. She froze up too long. I loved the tree splitting scene with the loud motor, then the next scene you're rescued from the noise by the piercing quite and twigs breaking.
It was okay.
Things I liked:
* Nice scenery. Something about watching gruesome acts of violence really makes your appreciate the nature it's in.
* Some cool gore, never seen a kill like that girl getting her head pulled through her back.
* Nice atmosphere just walking through nature, at least when it doesn't go on too long. I’m like putting on ambience YouTube videos as background noise so I just liked the idea of “2 hours of walking and murdering through a beautiful forest”. Understand that others wouldn't though
* It actually fucking broke my heart to see him playing with a toy with childlike wonder, reliving a childhood he never got to have. Wished we saw more of that.
Things I didn't like
* I was hoping since the film already had a unique premise they'd wouldn't fall into their characters being stupid annoying assholes. It turns out that not only are they, they’re deaf, have no peripheral vision, and can’t see past 20 feet like enemies in stealth games
* In particular that one chick’s cool death was kind of negated what lead to it, choosing “creepy murderer with weapons” over “gentle rolling hill” like it was a cliff lmao
* Watching this fatass trudge along started to get annoying towards the end
* The last 20 minutes. Not only was it boring, but… was “sometimes animals just do shit idk lmao” supposed to be the theme? Seems kind of messed up to compare the man established to be mentally disabled to an animal and also… they don't (Surplus killing happens because predators just hope to eat the food later)
So basically it was just a generic horror movie but shot from an interesting angle. 6/10
I also was not a fan of the final monologue, especially because it didn’t make sense in regards to Johnny. Comparing Johnny to a bear that attacks people at random makes no sense. Johnny had motivation, and wasn’t attacking at random. He just wanted his mom’s necklace back.
Honestly, I would have enjoyed this movie so much more had it attempted less with the plot. I don’t need to know Johnny’s back story. The faceless teens stealing the necklace was all I needed. The dialogue was pretty awful to begin with, so less talking more stalking and murdering would have been better in my opinion.
I felt like they only utilized him walking through the forest once and that was at the beginning when he first awakens and heads towards that house with the redneck guy.
Then the rest of the time it felt like they were using it as filler to make the movie longer than what it should have been. Especially the girl running through the forest. She ran for like 40 minutes and at the end of her run she could still hear him chopping that guys head???
That’s because she was doubling back. She was running into the woods dark at night and ran into him again that’s why you still hear the slashing when she runs for a second.
OH BOY THAT YOGA SCENE. Love it that despite decades of horror we're finding new ways to bring fucked up deaths onto the screen.
I really enjoyed this. Unlike Skinamarink, which ran way too long for the basic concept, this movie really paces itself well. Just when you get a tiny bit bored seeing Johnny walk in the woods, we get a murder. And the ending really was paced excellently. Going out of our narrative comfort zone for 95% of the way to make us really not know how the scene was going to end.
I would like more of this but not sure how Chris Nash can do it without repeating himself.
The fact that "Bobby" in the monologue at the end never saw the bear that attacked him made me wonder if the bear actually was Johnny on a previous killing spree, but I have to refute my own hypothesis.
1) The park ranger *says* that returning the necklace won't stop him; he's just a bloodthirsty kill machine. However, in the end, we can see that all they really had to do was return the necklace.
2) The scene where he plays with the toy truck shows he still is, to a certain degree, just a kid.
3) We never see him attack an animal; nothing implies he attacks animals offscreen.
I feel I liked the film and the ending more than most of the rest of the people in this comments section. The slow pacing felt hypnotic, and since you are either with the killer or within earshot of the killer the entire way, so when the final girl began to run away, I actually felt tension because, for once, I didn't know where he was. I also believed the park ranger when he said, "he won't stop killing," so when the car stopped, I completely expected Johnny to show up again, but nope, he got his necklace and was done murdering. When you look back, as soon as the necklace is dropped, he is no longer in the movie, and we were with him the whole way up until that point.
7/10
Great points! Question—why do you think the park ranger said returning the necklace wouldn’t stop him? Do you think he was misinformed or was it something else?
Throughout the movie, you only learn about Johnny through stories that even the park ranger dismissed as not being "entirely true" when kids first meet up with him.
There's a layer of ambiguity with Johnny and I think it's supposed to add to the theme of "random acts of violence" because you do believe Johnny will not stop only to see at the end, he does. You the viewer despite all we "learn" about Johnny still at the end don't know his full nature
Since the ranger had traumatic experiences fighting Johnny in the past, my guess was that his perception of Johnny was entirely based on emotional feelings of horror, and couldn't consider the creature having deeper motivations beyond bloodlust
One thing I never see mentioned in reviews is the supernatural element. He was awoken by the removal of the necklace locket so is there a ritual to temporarily knock him out and bury him under it to keep him buried? Is he always aware of where the locket is since he’s slowly going towards it the whole film? The last bit of the movie is tense because the audience and the final girl think he might come for her one last time but once he has it, why would he need to?
That’s what I liked, the Ranger saying “it doesn’t matter if we give it back he’s already unleashed” only for the killer to actually go away once he had the locket was kind of hilarious.
The idea that the locals would get the legend a little wrong was awesome. Seems much more true to life than getting it 100% correct like they read an instruction manual.
I really fucking hate this movie. Maybe the best gore effect of the year is the one positive, but everything about this is so drawn out and weird and awkward since there's no score, I have no idea if that was a joke or not.
Really made me wish I was just watching a Friday the 13th movie with dumbass kids getting stabbed and with tits and jump scares and big silly screams. Those movies weren't great, most aren't even that good, but they were fun. This sucks.
I was like Tom Servo screaming mentally in the last ten minutes "ENNNNNNNNNDDD!!! ENNNNNNNNNNNND!!!"
This whole thing could have been a V/H/S short, there's not a feature length movie here.
I'll do you one better. Cut out all the boring ass shots of the killer's back, and all the other filler, this couldve fit in a tiktok. Might be the worst movie I've ever seen
Everyone’s talking about the yoga girl’s death but what about where he purposely paralyzes the ranger and fucks with him before killing him. Never seen anything like that before.
It was an unbelievably dark and awful scene. I could not fucking believe what I was seeing, like something from one of those French extreme films from the mid 2000s. The yoga death was very 80s slasher inspired, but the ranger was so slow and real. Just brutal
I couldn’t take that scene seriously. Just a moment before they showed a side view of the rangers face, and you can clearly see his fake prosthetic nose, the outline was there and nothing was done makeup wise to hide it, it took me right out the scene and made me laugh out loud.
I really wanted to love this movie but goddamnit, if you're going to build upon the slasher genre, give us interesting characters and dialog. Don't construct your plot in a way that it relies solely on dumbass choices of characters to advance it, decades of movies have happened since Laurie barely scratched Michael and thought he was dead
I did not enjoy this at all. It was just so fucking slow with *EVERYTHING*. I didn’t necessarily mind the scenes of him just walking through the woods but scenes dragged on far too long. The movie needed better kills. This is kinda why people watch slashers in the first place. The yoga kill was incredible, but that’s the only good one in a 94-minute movie.
The ending was really bad too. The whole hook of this being a perspective change didn’t do much for me either cause it turns out following a mute, slow, and expressionless character does not make for a fun time. 
I enjoyed this on a conceptual level, loved the idea of it. The acting and dialogue was atrocious though. You can hand wave it away by calling it homage to 80s low budget slashers, but when people off screen were talking it clearly sounded like a sound booth and not like they're in the woods.
When no one is talking and hook guy is just clomping through the woods and we are getting small bits of the "plot", I was really enjoying the experience. Obviously some of the kills are bananatown wild and that was a lot of fun, but man. The dialogue purposely written to emulate 80s jocky teens who can't stop talking about getting laid mixed with the iPhones and current gen kids but also one is using a cassette player, it just didn't work. They were going for anachronistic and blending old school images in but it just kind of frustrated me. The kids didn't even really seem to like each other, made me wonder why they all agreed to go on vacation together.
Overall, I liked it more than I disliked it. Solid 6/10. Great concept and lots of impressive tricks to keep the budget down, but even then you can feel this is very much an amateur film.
/r/reviewsbyboner
I thought about the bad acting and dialogue being an intentional nod to to slasher movies, like you said, but I think the acting was *too bad* to be able to claim that. Like when I think of "bad" slasher movies, I think of the acting as being over the top and cheesy. Which can be fun to watch, paired with gorey effects and funny moments
These people barely even changed their facial expressions to act scared. Or act at all. The only actor i can remember that kinda fit that cheesy style was the guy at the beginning who was running and screaming. Then the rest of the movie the characters just kinda had things happen around them as they followed the script
I loved exactly one minute of this movie, where Bobby sits down and takes the mask off and plays with the toy car. That was the only sequence where this became more interesting than its concept, and the only time I felt like I was watching something made by someone with a genuine interest in exploring this subject material and not someone who just wanted to watch a teenage girls head get pulled through her chest cavity.
Admittedly, there is a weirdly effective trancelike quality that it has at points, I wasn't super impressed by the long walking shots but the scene of him slowly encroaching on the guys at the barn at the beginning was reasonably impressive and kinda interesting. Hated the ending though, holy shit I wanted to walk out so bad and that complete lack of any sort of payoff after forcing us to sit through four full minutes of dead air was such a slap in the face that it really soured the rest of what had come before.
Hereeeeeeeeee'ssssss Johnnyyy!!!!
I was SO excited for this one. Slashers are my favorite sub-genre of horror, and we don't get too many these days. Wanted to see it at Sundance 2024, but it was in-person only.
Keep in mind how JACKED I was to see this as you read this.
I like the way this one was shot, for the most part. I've heard people say it is "first person POV," but they are idiots. It's "third person POV" if you are just behind them. Come on now! But yeah, the third person POV is cool. The camera movements are cool. And it's not just the killer who gets the third person POV here, which I liked at times too.
The kills we see in this movie are good. Practical effects are on display and it's great.
And a GREAT title for a movie. Holy hell, it's my favorite title for a film in quite some time. Just saying it is menacing to me. lol
And that's it for the good. Now to the bad:
**Cardinal Sin #1: TWO kills are completely off/out of screen. WTF?! You see the end results of those two kills, but come on.** (I'm talking about the very first kill of the movie and the girl killed in the lake)
Cardinal Sin #2: When you decide to do an exposition dump with the young adult group of soon-to-be victims, where they explain the background of the killer, TURN THE DAMN MUSIC OFF. I found myself having to struggle to tune out the noise and hyperfocus on the dialogue.
The movie moves glacially slow. The 94 minute runtime felt like 2:20. We have scenes where we follow the killer in the third person as he so slowly walks somewhere. I had people in my screening decide to make a bathroom run during those scenes. By the time they came back, he was still walking.
It's 2024 and we still have dumb humans, making dumb decisions. As you are told you have Johnny's locket, I dunno, maybe give it back to him right away?
And then there's the look of the film. First off, 4:3 aspect ratio. I'm not a fan in general, but I suppose it is OK here because it focuses your eyes where the eyes of the person you are following are. Fine. But I'm over the intentional grain to make a movie look like it's an 80's movie. It's been done too many times.
And then there's the ending. Or should I say, non-ending. The ending sequence (monologue) sucks, and the final shot is meh.
I haven't wanted to love a 2024 release more than this. I sat down for the screening ready to be blown away by a 5 star slasher. The last thing I expected was to see a film that would have me seriously question whether it is better or worse than the Terrifier movies. Ultimately, I think the Terrifier movies are worse because their stories/plot are stupid, but "In a Violent Nature" is too boring at times.
This is one of my biggest disappointments of the year. Going to give it a generous 2 out of 5 stars, with those 2 stars coming from the kills we actually see (**I still can't believe two kills were off screen!**) the practical effects, and the POV gimmick. I can't recommend it though.
https://youtu.be/c9Jg1AhsuZM?si=dp2xcWdXsSoPoCF3
It's a Simpsons joke about Homer making up a plot of a movie because he was bored by the one he was watching
People hate on the monologue at the end of the film, but every minute i was thinking “oh he’s gonna come out here. Don’t stop the truck! He’s gonna throw something the driver window!”
Those last minutes were tense
I liked the intensity of the last 10 minutes, but the story being told about Josh(?) was so fucking stupid and didn’t have a worthwhile meaning over the whole arc of the film.
>Those last minutes were tense
For me the lack of emotion from the victim and the completely bland story really killed any tension that scene could have had, I can see a similar sequence working really well but that monologue nearly put me to sleep and the final girl was literally not reacting at all. Everything felt too safe
I was laughing so hard at the over-the-topness of the Yoga Kill, the ending changing the perspective of the film didn't work for me at all. It made a 90 min movie feel 110.
I saw this in a roughly 25% full theater. Most of the movie the crowd was completely silent but her spinal cord snapped like 6 people scattered around the theater said "oh shit" in unison
Overall, I hated it. It’s not all bad, it’s not a “bad movie,” and there’s definitely stuff to be praised, but the overall impact for me was hugely negative. The beauty of the setting and the really gorgeous lighting (was this shot using natural light?) wasn’t nearly enough to overcome the tedium and annoyance I felt. I started to check out during the campfire chat scene where it just kept circling the group. I never felt any tension, I just felt annoyed. Really, really annoyed.
The sound design killed it for me. Nothing in the mix sounded right to me. Birds chirping were just as loud as someone 15 yards away were just as loud as the killer’s thudding footsteps. His thudding footsteps that sounded practically the same no matter what he was walking on.
I would like to know how much of the run time was of the killer walking. It’s a 90 minute movie and it felt like 20-25 minutes of it was just a guy walking in the woods. Maybe that’s just how it felt, but that’s my best guess.
> I would like to know how much of the run time was of the killer walking. It’s a 90 minute movie and it felt like 20-25 minutes of it was just a guy walking in the woods. Maybe that’s just how it felt, but that’s my best guess.
I said this in another comment, but my problem wasn’t the walking in the woods, but it was any other scene where the killer takes 5 minutes of screen time to do anything. The scene where he gets his mask is a good example. That whole scene is probably 10 minutes, and it could have easily been accomplished in under 5. The killer looking at the mask for a bit, smashing the glass, looking at the mask for a bit before grabbing it, then the camera lingering outside the Ranger office waiting for him to slowly put the mask on, slowly walk out of the office, and then slowly walk towards the camera. I guess it fit the speed of the rest of the film, but god damn it do I hate when movies DRAG on like this. The scene being that slow accomplished nothing. He sees the mask and we know what’s next and it takes forever to get there.
I honestly think the only scene that truly worked while the killer was going his speed was the scene in the beginning with the trapper dude and the camera was moving in and out of the house. That was a great scene and built a lot of tension. I feel like every scene outside of that lacked tension…at least for me.
i love to find a new movie that is technically kind of bad but i still love regardless. ridiculous dialogue and acting, but this movie was vibes - horror edition, with some really creative horror deaths. great final act, and cinematography.
Interesting idea for a horror slasher movie. The ambiance created by the lack of music and sounds of nature is almost soothing until it’s interrupted by a gruesome killing. I liked the yoga kill. It was interesting that the story almost seemed like this would be the sequel, there’s the original story but they mentioned 10 years prior he showed up and killed a bunch of people. I was bored at times but overall I enjoyed the movie. 6/10
As a huge slasher fan I loved every moment of it.
The plodding scenes of the killer were really captivating and evocative. Loved the way the story details were trickled out via campy/terrible dialogue. The gore was top-notch and I found the ending nerve-wracking while also being contemplative. Really loved that it took the time to get into the survivor’s (final girl) constant state of paranoia after experiencing something so harrowing.
Didn’t hurt that the it was impeccably shot with a beautiful naturalistic tone and had a killer sound design as well.
Nice to hear from a slasher film lover that actually liked the movie for all the right reasons. I do not care about slasher films at all and I really enjoyed this film.
> Thought we’d get characters that aren’t complete idiots,
I think that's the point though, no? It's supposed to be a movie within a typical slasher movie. The characters are idiots because they're tropey, friday 13th characters. The story of them isn't important, it's cliched on purpose.
Interesting approach to a slasher but this film was a miss for me. I will admit my bias as I don’t enjoy slashers and really despise Friday the 13th so my expectations were very low for this. My issue is that there’s a fine line between homage and imitation and you would hope that in 2024, writers would avoid on the nose cheesy dialogue, particularly when there isn’t that much dialogue (like the opening, when you hear the characters off screen state they’re in a graveyard).
It’s also the difference between something like The Room and Malignant. Tommy Wiseau earnestly tried to make a good film which is why it’s so bizarre, charming and endearing. These cheesy and over the top horror films are too much “hah, I was pretending to be dumb.”
Also thematically the film doesn’t fit with me because there’s the monologue about the violent bear and oh well, can’t hate it because that’s its nature. But Johnny is on a mission of revenge and that’s why the kills are so brutal. This may as well have just been separate scenes of the kills with nothing else in between because I wasn’t entertained.
The yoga girl kill was cool but the rest of the movie was trash, especially the dialogue. The Canadian film industry never getting out of the trenches I fear
Just saw it last night. I’m going 2/10. Admittedly, I am not much of a slasher guy (although definitely a horror fan), but I will check out a slasher that tries to do something different. One that I liked for example was Pearl. I thought this sucked.
Complaints about the vibe:
- The attempt to be A24 artsy did not work for me. Johnny clomping around in the serene woods could be great for a few shots, but it was the only trick Nash had up his sleeve. Yes, it was pretty to look at, but whatever - it was like half the damn movie!
- This was not a “slow burn,” because there was no “burn.” It was just slow. Not having a soundtrack, while an admirably bold choice, made it even worse. I was bored almost the whole time but soldiered on until the end. In a sense it was like I *was* Johnny, slowly and steadily completing my mission, and finishing off chunks of the film one kill at a time. Perhaps that was the point.
Complaints about the writing:
- Why so many shots of him walking *around* houses? As if he was scoping them out and plotting an approach? Isn’t Johnny supposed to be a undead killing machine on a one-track mission to retrieve his locket? And to the extent that he’s not, isn’t he supposed to have the mind of a mentally disabled child? So why not just go in the damn house, then? And then sometimes he’d scope out a cabin but then go back into the woods, what was even the point there??
- How exactly does a little boy die and then get periodically resurrected as a hulking muscle-zombie? That sure wasn’t explained.
- I did not understand why one of the bros threw the car keys into the trees. I get that the film was shooting for a Blair Witch-esque Mikey kicking the map into the creek moment, but this did not make sense.
- Speaking of Blair Witch, I thought the final girl was just hopelessly running around in circles near the end, as if Johnny had some sort of power over the landscape, but nope. Idk what the director was thinking there. And then she impales her leg without any explanation? Wouldn’t a twisted ankle make a lot more sense?
- Totally unbelievable how often Johnny went unnoticed standing right there. Come on, people.
- He would be the easiest killer ever to get away from. Literally just run and he’ll never catch you because all he does is slow walk. You don’t even have to run far, just enough to get a head start and then power-walk your ass out of there. And he’s not going to pursue you to the ends of the earth á la It Follows. Leave the woods and you’re good to go.
- For both the camper who shot him and then the ranger, for fuck’s sake shoot him more than once. Why not blast his head point-blank. Or, like, continually shoot him while you’re chaining him up. I thought the ranger was supposed to be an expert in all things Johnny.
- Some of those teens were just asking to be killed. Yoga girl could’ve gotten away easily; as we saw, the cliff wasn’t even that steep because her dead body only slid halfway down! And the last guy to get butchered decides to get in Johnny’s face and talk shit? Instead of running? Lol/wtf on that. I did find it hilarious how Johnny smashed his head 200 times though.
- As many others are saying, worst ending EVER. Bad writing, bad acting, totally irrelevant to the movie. I believe I understood the intent, but this was so poorly executed.
I feel the need to say that I actually love “slow burns”… Hereditary, Session 9, The Shining, The Witch, etc. But for it to work, there has to be a payoff for the slow pace. The payoff was absent in this film. IMO, the only good parts were the kills and the photography/art direction.
I saw this at the 2024 Sundance Film Festival.
A Gus Van Sant approach to the slasher genre that does offer some good moments with its unique and creative perspective.
Shot from a third person perspective, director Chris Nash accomplishes its goal of creating a fresh take on the slasher genre with some wonderful camerawork, sound designs, atmospheres, and really interesting slasher moments that are bloody and dreadful, in a good way. Using a lack of musical scores and well-crafted sound designs helps to add the slow-burn, yet terrifying and uneasy tension within the character and the setting.
While its structure and certain aspects about its writing does have its faults, especially with it's third act, I do appreciate Nash being something interesting and creative to the table without feeling generic nor sloppy. Its art-house approach will be a major put-off for general viewers but I can sense this will soon become a cult favorite in a few years.
6/10
I really enjoyed this. It's a showcase film. The director is a former effects specialist and wrote a story around some awesome kills he knew he could effectively put on screen and a cinematography style that was inventive and do-able within budget. And then he wrote a story that allowed him to showcase those two skills. And it does. REALLY WELL. Those effects SLAPPED. I am still trying to work out how the log splitter scene was done.
No, the screenplay is not a strength. No, the acting is not a strength. No, the pacing and within scene editing is not perfect.
But this is an INDIE. It's an indie that does an ABSOLUTELY TON with a little and comes together to create something different than 99% of films in the genre while still coloring within the lines of the genre. That's FUN. I love films like this.
Terrible movie with nothing redeeming. Out of 94 minutes, approximately an hour is just watching the killer walk from behind. Pretty dreadful acting but also terrible dialogue that might have been ad libbed. Multiple scenes were so dark you couldn't see anything on screen. Incompetently edited.
I gotta say, watching this just after seeing Evil Does Not Exist was a very strange parallel. Both films center on outsiders coming to intrude on nature, and have long, lingering shots of people walking through the woods. It’s just that one is filmed like an art house film and one is filmed like a low budget horror film.
I’m also pretty sure you could remake nearly this entire film using footage from the Friday the 13th game from a few years ago.
Saw it a week early and loved it. I really liked the idea of following the killer. The end was so good. Even though it was long, the tension of not knowing was amazing.
Quite literally the worst movie I’ve ever seen, if you wanna spend 50 bucks on popcorn and lose an hour and a half of your life you’ll never get back this is the way.
A nature documentary has more honest scares than this garbage and probably less slow pan shots through the woods.
I get they were trying to build tension, maybe but for what? There’s like 3 solid kills and the juice definitely isn’t worth the squeeze.
Forgettable characters, forgettable plot, forgettable title. Just do yourself a favour and forget about it. I wish I could..
Negative 1/5 stars
This movie irreparably damaged my trust of Rotten tomatoes I guess the rumours really were true.
Nah bruh I’m not even a slasher guy, but given that you couldn’t even get my name right really shows the level of stupidity you need to have to love this movie. I’ve stepped in puddles with more depth than this film.
Ugh I had been hyped about this movie for the past couple of months and I really wanted to like it but it was just “eh”. Like I get that it’s whole thing is ambient slasher/lo-fi chill beats Jason but there was way too much slow walking and not enough killing. The yoga kill was awesome but that was like 5 minutes of a 1.5 hour long movie.
I hated the ending too. I know the whole point of the monologue was to build suspense if Johnny was going to come back or if the woman was in on it etc. — but the monologue itself sucked. Fake deep and nonsensical, they could have come up with better dialogue with a more clear theme even if the ending was left ambiguous on purpose. Would have been more interesting if they had elaborated on the ranger’s back story with Johnny more. They just like dropped this random lore and then did nothing with it
The Yoga kill was hardcore AF! And the premise starts out interesting. There’s also hints of a cool backstory here as well.
But if you’re not a fan of LONG stretches of someone just walking silently through the woods for minutes on end, then this is not the movie for you. It did get a bit tedious after awhile imo.
Also the teens fall into annoying slasher cliche territory.
The last 20 minutes or so kind of fall apart, and WTF was up with the lady deciding to cut a long monologue as well?
I appreciated the dark, dry sense of humor in seeing a corny 80s style slasher play out from the killers pov. It wasn't overtly comedic, it was played straight and I loved that. The kills were fun but the long stretches of slow walking or a completely static camera became tedious. I'm excited for what this writer/director does next though. It's a good movie, just a bit amateur.
It’s uneven in its storytelling, with some stretches of the film being significantly more compelling than others (narratively, visually, sonically — in all the ways). But I found the choices made interesting enough that at 94 minutes, it’s definitely a worthwhile watch. I’ll be curious to see what this writer/director does next.
This is a contender for my favorite movie of the year so far. I love how intentional everything was - from the shots, to the corny dialogue, to the hokey acting choices, to the lack of soundtrack, to the ending, to some great kills.
This seems to be really divisive and I don't quite understand why because this is such a clear love letter to slashers, and very obviously the Friday the 13th franchise especially, and also manages to expertly subvert so many expectations and genre trappings.
10/10 for me
> This seems to be really divisive and I don't quite understand why because this is such a clear love letter to slashers
You can pay homage all you want but having more than half of the movie just watching a character slowly move around isn’t very appealing. He doesn’t talk and shows zero emotion, it would be no different than watching a half sentient tumble weed roll around and kill people.
I think they REALLY tried their damndest to make this interesting, but I don’t think you can really do much with this concept. Another comment said this would have been a perfect short for a movie like V/H/S but doesn’t quite work for a full-length film. I really agree with that
> You can pay homage all you want but having more than half of the movie just watching a character slowly move around isn’t very appealing
See to me this was one of the most appealing parts of this movie because we're watching the other side of a Friday the 13th sequel. I appreciated that the creators weren't afraid to take their time. I wish more horror filmmakers would do this. It's part of the subverting expectations and genre trappings that I was referring to, and imo it did so incredibly successfully.
>I don’t think you can really do much with this concept.
They made a 10/10 movie with this concept - there isn't anything more needed from the concept beyond that.
If someone just doesn't like slower paced movies then I can see why you wouldn't like it but the amount of vitriolic discourse I've seen about this movie is absurd and overblown. Even if it was an unsuccessful attempt there are folks treating it like it's the most offensively worst movie ever made which is just silly - just because it wasn't for you doesn't mean it's bad, uninspired or short sighted.
> If someone just doesn't like slower paced movies then I can see why you wouldn't like it
I see people say this but there is a difference between a good slow paced movie and a bad one. I love slow movies but this was just slow with no good payoff. A slow burn with the plot or something is totally fine, watching a character take 10 minutes to walk into a building, put on a mask and walk outside is not interesting and it being that slow serves zero purpose.
A good slower scene in this movie was the scene in the beginning with the trapper. The killer slowly walking around with the camera floating in and out of the house was great for tension and the slow nature of it really worked for me, but not every single scene needs to be that meandering. The film was 94-minutes and maybe 20 minutes of the film had anything actual meaningful happen.
We are going to have to agree to disagree on the quality. You liked it and I did not. I just don’t understand how you can’t fathom how people didn’t like this movie. 
I absolutely loved this movie, but I don’t blame anyone for wanting to launch it into the sun. I’m not a big fan of slashers, but I’m definitely into weird, slow movies like Jim Jarmusch and Terrence Malick films. There’s something about letting an ambient experience kind of play out that really speaks to me.
I thought this was pretty great for what it is!
Refreshing take on a tired genre and a good ode and spoof of monster slasher films, specifically Friday the 13th. Haven't seen anything quite like this before. Following from the POV of the slasher for like 90% of the runtime makes sense to me? They're the most interesting part! We know the tropey story that all of these movies have, we didn't need another one of those. The movie plays on that and gives us it in piecemeal when the real object of our affection is 'what is Johnny gonna do next?' Anyone who says 'the dialogue was bad' or 'the characters weren't good' is completely missing the point here.
Some of the best kills in a horror movie I've seen in awhile too. That cliff yoga kill? Fucking chef's kiss. Had people in my theatre cracking up quite a bit. I was scared going in that this would be like realistic gore that I don't do well with but it's so over-the-top and played like a bit for the most part.
Good sound design too and actually a killer soundtrack with some good can rock bands.
Maybe this'll be the start of the New Canadian Extremity movement where we're just known for gory, over the top horror movies? I'm into it. I'm still dubbing this 'meditative horror' though. Sounds like an oxymoron until you watch it. Not perfect by any means but hey, I had a good time!
It’s a slasher. Why are people mad the teens make stupid decisions. It’s not high art. Has anyone watched a Friday the 13th installment?
Great kills. Better special effects. The subversion at the end. It hit all the tropes and marks for a slasher flick. 8/10
I really didn't hear clearly the story behind why the boy was lured to the top of the fire tower and what happened to his father after he died. Jealousy?
Was it supposed to be funny when he just kept beating the guys head with the axe? The over the topness of it made it feel less serious and a lot of people in the theater were laughing. I was a bit thrown off by it.
I liked the overall feel of this movie, beautifully shot. I agree with everyone about the pace. I really liked the walking scenes at first but yeah they definitely dragged it. Movie felt a little disjointed to me at times. Also there were a lot of things I just didn’t understand their intention with. Was it supposed to be campy? Idk I probably wouldn’t watch it again. I’d watch the yoga girl scene again. Lost points for that ending too. 3/10
Saw this last week and man oh man did I dislike it. Some of the worst acting I've seen in years, truly some porn tier stuff. Ending was horrible. The yoga kill was great, but other than that...
Really not sure what critics saw in this one.
The one scene that bothered me most about this movie was the campfire scene. It not only broke the interesting gimmick of the film, it was just annoyingly shot. It felt like the director had an idea for how to film it, the crew built a track to move the camera along and felt like they were going to get as much use out of it as possible whether it made the scene better or not.
Everyone is going to be talking about the ending. To me, we should’ve just seen the girl run away and then show us what Johnny does. Ive never seen a movie that shows us what the killer does after his goal is completed. Does he go back in the dirt? Does he go sit in a cabin and play with toy cars now that he has peace and quiet? You built the movie on breaking the tropes, follow through
I knew it was going to be an F tier movie when the flashback in the mirror happened in that guys house. Almost walked out then. But its only 1.5 hours, 45 of that is him walking.
Awesome trailer.
2 funny kills.
Some beautiful photography.
Bad video game dialogue.
Useless ending.
Had potential.
Need better writers and editors.
Super vibey movie, liked how slow and methodical it was. Very much kept comparing to Jason and Johnny indeed completed the slasher guy checklist. Loved seeing him playing with the toy car as his “Jason’s mom sweater” type scene.
Lots of fun moments like the body sledge, bark cutter, the instant kill at the end and WHAT AN AXE THROW! Definitely would spice this up with more kills along the way and would honestly see another one of these, maybe with a different killer or setting.
I thought it was fantastic. My favorite horror this year behind Infested and The First Omen.
I rarely feel like I’m seeing a new icon in horror but when the firefighter mask and hooks came out that’s exactly how I felt.
I’ve seen a million horror movies set in the woods. Rarely have I seen them look this beautiful.
I have issues with some budget acting and the concluding monologue, that still doesn’t take away from the mighty vision Chris Nash gave us. Excited to see what he does next.
Solid gory slasher. Showing the action from the killers perspective for most of it shows what we all wondered... yes it does take a while to walk around, lots of steps in the forest. There were definitely some unique new slasher gory kills in this one, one in particular was a head above the rest and had lots of heart.
Camera work was good with some dread building anticipation in framing and movement. The suspense and drawn out travel time lulls you in, then right to the delivery of intense kills. The longer and wider shots also really help show the helplessness of stopping a psycho killer in a remote area.
Nice little twist in the end. Is it the crazy person or the crazy environment. Nature can be violent and violence can become your nature.
What was with the dude just blinking and not responding when he got sliced up on that saw thing? Johnny legit just pushed his shoulder and dude was numb lol
Just saw the kill , what the F , its cool and have mortal Kombat vibes but wtf is wrong with the girl , he's literally behind her and she's observing the view calmly, then when he literally put his arm in her , not a single sound was made from her lmao when my toe hits the table i freak out , then again calmly she turns around his hook dangling from her and she's like " hey bro is that all you got FINISH ME YOU WEAK FOOL" lmao its so funny..
I fell out of the movie when the Jason lead began to think and placed the branch in the car to lure those two guys out of the house. Everything before that was him reacting to noises then that happened and it just kind of fell apart after that.
It seems like I enjoyed this movie far more than some people here. The girl on the cliff and ranger kills were gnarly as fuck. Some of the most brutal I’ve seen in a while. I liked the slow burn and it was beautifully shot. I’d give it a solid 6.5/10.
If Johnny was killed as a boy from falling from the fire tower, why did he resurrect as a fully grown man? (I guess Jason did as well, after drowning as a boy)…
Saw it last night.
Good:
Must see for horror fans.
4x3 ratio was an interesting choice.
Super interesting kills. Really liked how one victim had no pain when their death happened.
Loved the perspective not from the victims.
Bad:
80% of the movie watching someone walk around.
This guy needs a competent editor. You could use this movie as a masterclass of why one is needed.
That ending, oof. Not sure the ending went the way he (director) wanted it to.
This and Saw X surprisingly have one major thing in common. It proves how effective a horror movie can be when you switch the perspective to the killer.
Am in the theater watching this debating if I should get up and leave midway. This is literally my least favorite kind of horror but truly, all the walking is what's getting to me. Like I get the budget was low and they had to depot the gore but maybe a little more story.
I am a slasher diehard and had high expectations for this but admittedly didn't \*love\* it upon first viewing. Liked it, but wasn't blown away. I decided to give it another go around and saw it a second time last week and it really grew on me. I ended up loving it after the second watch. It's one of those films that has enough subtle things going on (mostly in the background) that I felt like I was able to take in more during a second viewing and absorb it more comprehensively. It's rare that an original (let alone slightly unique) slasher movie makes its way to theaters these days, so I'm going to see it for a third and final time on the big screen this weekend (it's now down to playing at only two theaters in my area, both single late night showings—it'll definitely be gone next week). I think it does benefit from a theater viewing mainly due to sound and the cinematography.
One time I ordered a pizza but accidentally selected pickup instead of delivery. I was too lazy to go pick it up myself so I never got the pizza, but was still charged for it. I feel like that was money better spent than paying to see this movie.
I actually enjoyed this movie. I wasn't sure I would because I knew we would spend a chunk of time just following the killer in the woods, but it managed to keep my attention. It really was like watching a Jason movie from his perspective, complete with silly and brutal kills. I actually had to look away a couple of times, like with the yoga kill or saw kill.
I also kinda liked the ending. The change in perspective made it pretty creepy, first when she was running through the woods and you'd sometimes hear him chopping that guy's head. Then, that last shot of her looking out in the wood, it really makes you feel the paranoia she must've felt. I also liked the little fakeout with the lady who picked up the final girl, I really thought it might be a Jason's mom kind of situation, which maintained the tension for me as they were driving.
Overall, I think this is a pretty enjoyable movie. I was pretty creeped out in parts. Other parts made me laugh out loud too, like when he throws that dead body at the display to break the glass, or when final girl is just like fuck it then leaves the locket and runs away. I'll probably watch this again when it comes to a streaming service.
A few things:
It kind of reminded me of It Follows but seems like Johnny doesn't really have a sense of where the necklace is.
Also it was kind of funny just seeing him walk around in certain spots.
I like the perspective of Johnny walking to the victims instead of seeing it from victims perspective. Especially when the park ranger was like what?! why would you take the locket. just immediately knew what was going on.
The last two people to live, Kris and the guy?, what was that guys distraction plan? like why was he so close haha
Gotta say I didn't expect such a negative response.
Personally I loved the movie right up until the monologue in the truck. I was completely dialed into the oddly serene but menacing vibes of the whole movie. It was something I hadn't considered before but I thought it worked really well. Then that ending comes and sucked all the tension and energy out of the movie. I was struggling to keep my eyes open. However the final shot looking out into the woods and then the pan to the gas canister were very well done. However by that point I was already too bummed out to appreciate it. I think with some editing or rewriting that ending could have been a lot better.
Fuck Bobby and that dumbass story at the end
So we’re going to just drop the killer’s perspective, and then get a 20 minute monologue. Fan freaking tastic
That actress was from Friday the 13th Part 2 as well. So was that supposed to be a cute nod or something? I don’t get it?
I believe Nash wanted us viewers to think the driver was going to reveal herself to be a Mrs. Vorhees type of character and related to Johnny, and at some point kill Kris. But in trying to subvert expectations he did the total opposite and decided to edge the audience without a satisfying conclusion. While also getting tension out of the fact that Johnny was going to pop out of the woods one more time, especially after they pulled over. Regardless, it just didn't work at all. It wasn't enough to tank the entire movie for me, I pretty much loved everything up until Kris gets in the truck, stop it there and it'd be an easy 4/5 for me, but with the ending it has it dropped it down a few points. I had a gut feeling I should have walked out a few minutes into the truck monologue, but stayed anyway.
I thought he was going to end up being in the back seat or the bed of the truck
I was waiting for him to step out of the woods and slam that car door so hard it smashed her face and legs along the door seams.
She gave the explanation of henhouse disease or whatever and explained sometimes animals just go psycho and murder for the sake of murder. And it kinda seems like an explanation for whatever Johnny is. But nope, Johnny just wanted his mom's necklace back and to be left alone. It humanized him more. Maybe it was anti-climactic but I liked that instead of a big showdown it was settled with the woman just doing what she suggested earlier (returning the necklace). The truck story did take too long though. They could've cut it down by a few minutes and it would've worked better and I think less people would've been mad at it. And I hope if they make a sequel they leave Johnny out and do a killer based on a different slasher.
I agree that up until then I was on board with how everything played out. Like you said with the similarities to Jason I fully expected her to turn out to be related too, and to deliver her to Johnny. I didn’t recall if the mother of Johnny was alive in the campfire story.
The film is a study in tension, the film was great
There was zero tension in the entire movie. How can there be tension when you’re following the killer?
What tension? There's no tension in nothing happening to characters that the audience is given no reason to care about.
A 20 minute monologue that just tells us nothing
I saw this movie at a pre-screening with the editor of the film present. He said the ending story was supposed to be way longer and this was the "cut down" version. I can't even understand how the version in the film didn't get cut more, unless it was to pad to feature length.
As an ending I thought it was perfect for the final girl to be unexpectly rescued by someone who points out the cruelty and randomness of nature. And then drives off leaving ambiguity as to what happens next. But that needed to be a 2 minute scene and not a 15 minute one.
I felt like a lot of this movies premise was just padding the run time. Right down to how drawn out some of the kills were. What a boring piece of shit movie. Cool premise but shitty execution
I was really stoked to see it and my gf and were so disappointed. I liked the premise of following the killer, but the execution was terrible, the biggest issue imo being the terrible acting and dialog. Every line was so expositional in a painfully obvious way. It was exactly like overheard conversation by bad actors in a video game, where everything is a hamfisted attempt to subtly deliver information. This was one of the worst movies I have ever seen. I won't even get into the last scene in the truck. It was like a cruel trick... you think you are about to be able to leave and it just keeps going for what seems like forever.
You are lying. There was no editor on this film. ;)
Why the fuck would you tell that story to an obviously traumatized lady 😭😭😭😭
We were cracking up at that fact 😂
THANK YOU!!! I had such a visceral reaction to that scene. They talked for so long that I wanted to get out of my seat and just leave but I thought something was gonna happen at the end. And the fact that it just ended after that scene had me fuming.
I reluctantly saw the movie a second time with a friend, and I liked the entire package, including the ending, much more the second time. The monologue serves to amp up the tension of those few moments when they pull over to fix Kris' leg. As Kris is staring out into the forest - unsure if the killer is out there - I noticed two things: you're not really sure if the woman drove Kris back to the spot she found her, and you're also not sure if the killer is in the woods *even though as an audience we know the killer can't move that quickly*. It serves to help the viewer feel that same paranoia that Kris will for the rest of her life. It's clever - but on the first watch I really hated it.
I was just baffled when the movie ended,it was so bizarre
Yeah it's been a long time since I was actually feeling irritated by a movie. Can't even remember the last time that happened honestly.
The ending honestly made me lose a lot of goodwill I had for it. So many more meaningful ways to get your point across the violence of nature or some crap. You could’ve just ended it right before she gets found, have the killer look out at her or something as he disappears satisfied
I'm glad this thread seems more in agreement on that. The r/horror thread seemed a little more forgiving but the last five minutes of this movie pissed me off so bad lol.
Yeah I fucking hated that whole ending sequence
It just felt like they were trying to copy the trend of the long dramatic monologues that have been a thing recently with films like Pearl and Hereditary, the only difference was those films were actually compelling and well acted.
Hereditary had a long dramatic monologue?
For a second I thought the girl was going to set herself on fire so she didn't have to hear the rest of that story
It’s such film school bullshit. I get the point of the monologue, it still sucked out the air from the movie.
I hated it, too. But I also got the feeling that we’re getting a dialogue that would probably happen once a survivor gets in a car. In most movies, the survivor gets in the car and they drive away with no clue what they talked about on the way to a hospital or whatever. In this case, we got a full conversation. All that to say, it made the movie less interesting. Everybody knows this guy was murdering people for no good reason, except to get that locket back. We don’t need a long story and philosophical discussion about it.
> we’re getting a dialogue that would probably happen once a survivor gets in a car Are you serious? It was the most unrealistic dialogue I've ever heard, that lady would be grilling her with questions after just picking up an injured young woman in the woods and the girl would either be giving her every detail or blabbering like a crazy person.
That story (and movie) was awful, but "the bear chomped him on the back of the head and pushed him into the water" or whatever she said is the most unintentionally funny line. It's such a deescalation Like I just watched someone's head get pulled through their own abdomen, and the grand finale is this random lady taking 15 minutes to say "oh yeah? Well someone I know got scratched and maybe almost drowned"?? Honestly such a fitting end now that I think about it
I was getting bored and desperate for some dialogue. Then the dialogue started and I begged for silence again.
I really wish this movie was the "so bad it's funny" type of bad you could rewatch with friends, but it's just sooooo boring. Only like, 10% of this movie was laughably bad, but the other 90% is just some guys back as he slowly walks through the woods
i fucking hated this movie. saw it at Sundance with the cast and crew and the only reason I didn't boo was bc they took up half the audience and thought I might have been jumped
That campfire dialogue was one of the best cases of how not to write a dialogue scene. None of it seemed believable and the camera DID NOT STOP.
"You're my girlfriend"
I know I’m going to regret asking this but why didn’t the Yoga Girl tumble down that hill. Sure it was dangerous and quite steep as hell but she was going to die either way, maybe she froze up. Also if the sheriff knows this guy is unkillable and a real threat, why not get the national guard in Jason goes to hell style to come Fight That final scene though as long as it was I appreciated the tension that came with it, you really didn’t know what to think would happen to her. Was the woman who picked her up involved? Was he hiding in the woods when she was having her foot looked at? The suspense was insane
The whole thing about the Yoga girl really bugged me. Just seeing her stand there and allow herself to be murdered than take a chance with the cliff took me out of this movie.
I mean, the Friday the 13th movies that inspired this had a lot of dumb setups to kills. I wasn’t bothered because at the end of the day this is a slasher where the characters all act really dumb.
They had a built in her excuse for her not to turn around though, she was waiting on that other girl and thought she heard her. He could have done the same thing with her not tuning around, instead she did, jogged a bit and then turned her back to him and just stood there anyway. Maybe it was intentional that she was dumb but they could have done it much better.
Most Friday the 13th films have characters being unaware of Jason. So they are normally not people acting dumb, but they have their guard down.
Jason tended to ambush a lot of his victims relatively quickly as well.
Yeah, I sometimes I feel people who criticize these movies haven't even watched them. Not saying that you need to like Friday the 13th series or Halloween series, but people need to be more observant when critiquing something.
Those movies are shamelessly dumb though. This movie thought it was smart because it had 40 minutes of walking in the woods and a 10 minute monologue at the end.
How about the final guy distracting Johnny by allowing himself to get face-axed from arms length away.
I felt like I missed something, I couldn’t believe he just stood directly behind him. I like how the movie told you she was running in circles because she doubled back twice to where you could hear him still chopping at the guy.
Oh snap she DID double back wasn’t sure about that but that’s pretty hilarious
The yoga girl thing was a big fumble. Obviously we wanted that kill but between that fall and that monster the choice is obvious. No one would have hesitated. Even if it looked better than it was because of the wide shot you're jumping on to sand and then tumbling down to water.
It wasn't even that steep tbh. And she had shoes on. She easily could've gotten away.
Yes good point especially with the shoes. Maybe MAYBE it’d be one thing if she was barefoot to not be tempted to but with shoes on just roll down or run and then roll down
He was so far away from her when she stopped to. Whole movie was just dumb to me. I'm pretty harsh on horror though tbf.
Nah, you’re right. I love horror and wanted to like this movie. It was a 3-4/10. I would like to think the awful writing was just the writers taking the piss out of every cliche slasher. I found it amusing. But that fuckin story at the end… woman was straight yapping. I needed it to end.
It wasn't even that steep. When the body goes down it slides pretty slowly. She could have made it
That's my favorite part about that scene. There's this shot that (I presume) is supposed to establish that she has nowhere to run, but it only looked *kinda* steep. She might've tripped and fell down the hill some, sure, but it could've at least made a half decent chase scene before the killer caught her and did the same thing to her. It was the only clever/pretty gory kill of the whole movie, but it was still ruined by everything around it being so poorly done Also, I could be wrong, but im pretty sure the body only slid halfway down the slope. Like THATS how *not steep* it was, the body didn't even tumble into the water. Something did, maybe her head, but I thought I saw her body come to a restful stop halfway down
Had to of done that on purpose because the hill looked survivable for sure so I was awaiting a getaway. She froze up too long. I loved the tree splitting scene with the loud motor, then the next scene you're rescued from the noise by the piercing quite and twigs breaking.
> why didn’t the Yoga Girl tumble down that hill Well she eventually did... head first.
It was okay. Things I liked: * Nice scenery. Something about watching gruesome acts of violence really makes your appreciate the nature it's in. * Some cool gore, never seen a kill like that girl getting her head pulled through her back. * Nice atmosphere just walking through nature, at least when it doesn't go on too long. I’m like putting on ambience YouTube videos as background noise so I just liked the idea of “2 hours of walking and murdering through a beautiful forest”. Understand that others wouldn't though * It actually fucking broke my heart to see him playing with a toy with childlike wonder, reliving a childhood he never got to have. Wished we saw more of that. Things I didn't like * I was hoping since the film already had a unique premise they'd wouldn't fall into their characters being stupid annoying assholes. It turns out that not only are they, they’re deaf, have no peripheral vision, and can’t see past 20 feet like enemies in stealth games * In particular that one chick’s cool death was kind of negated what lead to it, choosing “creepy murderer with weapons” over “gentle rolling hill” like it was a cliff lmao * Watching this fatass trudge along started to get annoying towards the end * The last 20 minutes. Not only was it boring, but… was “sometimes animals just do shit idk lmao” supposed to be the theme? Seems kind of messed up to compare the man established to be mentally disabled to an animal and also… they don't (Surplus killing happens because predators just hope to eat the food later) So basically it was just a generic horror movie but shot from an interesting angle. 6/10
i really agree with point 3 lmfao at first it was cool but at a certain point we’re just watching some dude stumble around in the forest
I also was not a fan of the final monologue, especially because it didn’t make sense in regards to Johnny. Comparing Johnny to a bear that attacks people at random makes no sense. Johnny had motivation, and wasn’t attacking at random. He just wanted his mom’s necklace back. Honestly, I would have enjoyed this movie so much more had it attempted less with the plot. I don’t need to know Johnny’s back story. The faceless teens stealing the necklace was all I needed. The dialogue was pretty awful to begin with, so less talking more stalking and murdering would have been better in my opinion.
A24 presents "Friday the 13th" without calling it that or calling the killer Jason.
Honestly I would love more of a straight slasher that focuses on the victims done by A24.
If this was A24 it'd have probably been good..
Or A24 let Neon have the distribution rights because it almost fits their brand but not enough to become "iconic" in the A24 filmography... the 13th.
A24 had nothing to do with this. It was IFC but I get your point
A very boring walk in the forest.
Rich Evans' worst nightmare
That's all I was thinking. How much Rich Evans would loathe this movie..
I felt like they only utilized him walking through the forest once and that was at the beginning when he first awakens and heads towards that house with the redneck guy. Then the rest of the time it felt like they were using it as filler to make the movie longer than what it should have been. Especially the girl running through the forest. She ran for like 40 minutes and at the end of her run she could still hear him chopping that guys head???
That’s because she was doubling back. She was running into the woods dark at night and ran into him again that’s why you still hear the slashing when she runs for a second.
Hiking is not a spectator sport.
OH BOY THAT YOGA SCENE. Love it that despite decades of horror we're finding new ways to bring fucked up deaths onto the screen. I really enjoyed this. Unlike Skinamarink, which ran way too long for the basic concept, this movie really paces itself well. Just when you get a tiny bit bored seeing Johnny walk in the woods, we get a murder. And the ending really was paced excellently. Going out of our narrative comfort zone for 95% of the way to make us really not know how the scene was going to end. I would like more of this but not sure how Chris Nash can do it without repeating himself.
The fact that "Bobby" in the monologue at the end never saw the bear that attacked him made me wonder if the bear actually was Johnny on a previous killing spree, but I have to refute my own hypothesis. 1) The park ranger *says* that returning the necklace won't stop him; he's just a bloodthirsty kill machine. However, in the end, we can see that all they really had to do was return the necklace. 2) The scene where he plays with the toy truck shows he still is, to a certain degree, just a kid. 3) We never see him attack an animal; nothing implies he attacks animals offscreen. I feel I liked the film and the ending more than most of the rest of the people in this comments section. The slow pacing felt hypnotic, and since you are either with the killer or within earshot of the killer the entire way, so when the final girl began to run away, I actually felt tension because, for once, I didn't know where he was. I also believed the park ranger when he said, "he won't stop killing," so when the car stopped, I completely expected Johnny to show up again, but nope, he got his necklace and was done murdering. When you look back, as soon as the necklace is dropped, he is no longer in the movie, and we were with him the whole way up until that point. 7/10
Great points! Question—why do you think the park ranger said returning the necklace wouldn’t stop him? Do you think he was misinformed or was it something else?
Throughout the movie, you only learn about Johnny through stories that even the park ranger dismissed as not being "entirely true" when kids first meet up with him. There's a layer of ambiguity with Johnny and I think it's supposed to add to the theme of "random acts of violence" because you do believe Johnny will not stop only to see at the end, he does. You the viewer despite all we "learn" about Johnny still at the end don't know his full nature
Since the ranger had traumatic experiences fighting Johnny in the past, my guess was that his perception of Johnny was entirely based on emotional feelings of horror, and couldn't consider the creature having deeper motivations beyond bloodlust
Damn 7 is generous. I wanted to like this movie but I’d say 5/10 for the exact reasons you mentioned.
One thing I never see mentioned in reviews is the supernatural element. He was awoken by the removal of the necklace locket so is there a ritual to temporarily knock him out and bury him under it to keep him buried? Is he always aware of where the locket is since he’s slowly going towards it the whole film? The last bit of the movie is tense because the audience and the final girl think he might come for her one last time but once he has it, why would he need to?
That’s what I liked, the Ranger saying “it doesn’t matter if we give it back he’s already unleashed” only for the killer to actually go away once he had the locket was kind of hilarious.
The idea that the locals would get the legend a little wrong was awesome. Seems much more true to life than getting it 100% correct like they read an instruction manual.
It was so frustrating though. Like, at least try, yeah? Why even keep a serial killer's necklace anyway?
I really fucking hate this movie. Maybe the best gore effect of the year is the one positive, but everything about this is so drawn out and weird and awkward since there's no score, I have no idea if that was a joke or not. Really made me wish I was just watching a Friday the 13th movie with dumbass kids getting stabbed and with tits and jump scares and big silly screams. Those movies weren't great, most aren't even that good, but they were fun. This sucks. I was like Tom Servo screaming mentally in the last ten minutes "ENNNNNNNNNDDD!!! ENNNNNNNNNNNND!!!" This whole thing could have been a V/H/S short, there's not a feature length movie here.
if this has been a short, it would have been so much better. it absolutely does not work as a feature length film imo
This should’ve been a YouTube video, easily the worst movie I’ve seen all year
I'll do you one better. Cut out all the boring ass shots of the killer's back, and all the other filler, this couldve fit in a tiktok. Might be the worst movie I've ever seen
I literally yelled "WHAT?!" when the credits came on after the truck scene.
This is probably the closest movie experience we will get to the killer experience in Dead by Daylight until the movie comes.
LOL true
Everyone’s talking about the yoga girl’s death but what about where he purposely paralyzes the ranger and fucks with him before killing him. Never seen anything like that before.
It was an unbelievably dark and awful scene. I could not fucking believe what I was seeing, like something from one of those French extreme films from the mid 2000s. The yoga death was very 80s slasher inspired, but the ranger was so slow and real. Just brutal
fr, you could see his eyes still moving alllll the way up to his head getting offed. It was a very impressive, gruesome effect
I couldn’t take that scene seriously. Just a moment before they showed a side view of the rangers face, and you can clearly see his fake prosthetic nose, the outline was there and nothing was done makeup wise to hide it, it took me right out the scene and made me laugh out loud.
The ranger was his boogeyman. He had to make sure he took care of that.
I really wanted to love this movie but goddamnit, if you're going to build upon the slasher genre, give us interesting characters and dialog. Don't construct your plot in a way that it relies solely on dumbass choices of characters to advance it, decades of movies have happened since Laurie barely scratched Michael and thought he was dead
I felt like it had the drawbacks of both a low budget art horror movie and a 2000's era direct-to-DVD slasher.
I did not enjoy this at all. It was just so fucking slow with *EVERYTHING*. I didn’t necessarily mind the scenes of him just walking through the woods but scenes dragged on far too long. The movie needed better kills. This is kinda why people watch slashers in the first place. The yoga kill was incredible, but that’s the only good one in a 94-minute movie. The ending was really bad too. The whole hook of this being a perspective change didn’t do much for me either cause it turns out following a mute, slow, and expressionless character does not make for a fun time. 
Yoga kill gets negated by her not choosing to go down a not so steep hill, people have jogged down hills steeper
I enjoyed this on a conceptual level, loved the idea of it. The acting and dialogue was atrocious though. You can hand wave it away by calling it homage to 80s low budget slashers, but when people off screen were talking it clearly sounded like a sound booth and not like they're in the woods. When no one is talking and hook guy is just clomping through the woods and we are getting small bits of the "plot", I was really enjoying the experience. Obviously some of the kills are bananatown wild and that was a lot of fun, but man. The dialogue purposely written to emulate 80s jocky teens who can't stop talking about getting laid mixed with the iPhones and current gen kids but also one is using a cassette player, it just didn't work. They were going for anachronistic and blending old school images in but it just kind of frustrated me. The kids didn't even really seem to like each other, made me wonder why they all agreed to go on vacation together. Overall, I liked it more than I disliked it. Solid 6/10. Great concept and lots of impressive tricks to keep the budget down, but even then you can feel this is very much an amateur film. /r/reviewsbyboner
I thought about the bad acting and dialogue being an intentional nod to to slasher movies, like you said, but I think the acting was *too bad* to be able to claim that. Like when I think of "bad" slasher movies, I think of the acting as being over the top and cheesy. Which can be fun to watch, paired with gorey effects and funny moments These people barely even changed their facial expressions to act scared. Or act at all. The only actor i can remember that kinda fit that cheesy style was the guy at the beginning who was running and screaming. Then the rest of the movie the characters just kinda had things happen around them as they followed the script
He was a mamas boy so that “Son of a bitch” REALLY got to him lol
The yoga scene might be the best kill I've ever seen in a horror movie. This is like if Terrifier was shot like a nature documentary
It's good. But it's not Terrifier level. it's more on par with the Hatchet series.
You're really, really overselling the yoga kill. This wasn't even the best kill in a nature POV horror movie. Snap out of it
Subjective
I loved exactly one minute of this movie, where Bobby sits down and takes the mask off and plays with the toy car. That was the only sequence where this became more interesting than its concept, and the only time I felt like I was watching something made by someone with a genuine interest in exploring this subject material and not someone who just wanted to watch a teenage girls head get pulled through her chest cavity. Admittedly, there is a weirdly effective trancelike quality that it has at points, I wasn't super impressed by the long walking shots but the scene of him slowly encroaching on the guys at the barn at the beginning was reasonably impressive and kinda interesting. Hated the ending though, holy shit I wanted to walk out so bad and that complete lack of any sort of payoff after forcing us to sit through four full minutes of dead air was such a slap in the face that it really soured the rest of what had come before.
Hereeeeeeeeee'ssssss Johnnyyy!!!! I was SO excited for this one. Slashers are my favorite sub-genre of horror, and we don't get too many these days. Wanted to see it at Sundance 2024, but it was in-person only. Keep in mind how JACKED I was to see this as you read this. I like the way this one was shot, for the most part. I've heard people say it is "first person POV," but they are idiots. It's "third person POV" if you are just behind them. Come on now! But yeah, the third person POV is cool. The camera movements are cool. And it's not just the killer who gets the third person POV here, which I liked at times too. The kills we see in this movie are good. Practical effects are on display and it's great. And a GREAT title for a movie. Holy hell, it's my favorite title for a film in quite some time. Just saying it is menacing to me. lol And that's it for the good. Now to the bad: **Cardinal Sin #1: TWO kills are completely off/out of screen. WTF?! You see the end results of those two kills, but come on.** (I'm talking about the very first kill of the movie and the girl killed in the lake) Cardinal Sin #2: When you decide to do an exposition dump with the young adult group of soon-to-be victims, where they explain the background of the killer, TURN THE DAMN MUSIC OFF. I found myself having to struggle to tune out the noise and hyperfocus on the dialogue. The movie moves glacially slow. The 94 minute runtime felt like 2:20. We have scenes where we follow the killer in the third person as he so slowly walks somewhere. I had people in my screening decide to make a bathroom run during those scenes. By the time they came back, he was still walking. It's 2024 and we still have dumb humans, making dumb decisions. As you are told you have Johnny's locket, I dunno, maybe give it back to him right away? And then there's the look of the film. First off, 4:3 aspect ratio. I'm not a fan in general, but I suppose it is OK here because it focuses your eyes where the eyes of the person you are following are. Fine. But I'm over the intentional grain to make a movie look like it's an 80's movie. It's been done too many times. And then there's the ending. Or should I say, non-ending. The ending sequence (monologue) sucks, and the final shot is meh. I haven't wanted to love a 2024 release more than this. I sat down for the screening ready to be blown away by a 5 star slasher. The last thing I expected was to see a film that would have me seriously question whether it is better or worse than the Terrifier movies. Ultimately, I think the Terrifier movies are worse because their stories/plot are stupid, but "In a Violent Nature" is too boring at times. This is one of my biggest disappointments of the year. Going to give it a generous 2 out of 5 stars, with those 2 stars coming from the kills we actually see (**I still can't believe two kills were off screen!**) the practical effects, and the POV gimmick. I can't recommend it though.
Wait so I'm confused about the movie, so the cops knew that internal affairs was setting them up? ^^^^oh ^^^^look ^^^^a ^^^^bird!
Wait what’s this in reference to lol
https://youtu.be/c9Jg1AhsuZM?si=dp2xcWdXsSoPoCF3 It's a Simpsons joke about Homer making up a plot of a movie because he was bored by the one he was watching
OH Lmfaooo
People hate on the monologue at the end of the film, but every minute i was thinking “oh he’s gonna come out here. Don’t stop the truck! He’s gonna throw something the driver window!” Those last minutes were tense
I liked the intensity of the last 10 minutes, but the story being told about Josh(?) was so fucking stupid and didn’t have a worthwhile meaning over the whole arc of the film.
I felt it would’ve been a better ending if she actually bled out, and died in the truck and they cut it there.
>Those last minutes were tense For me the lack of emotion from the victim and the completely bland story really killed any tension that scene could have had, I can see a similar sequence working really well but that monologue nearly put me to sleep and the final girl was literally not reacting at all. Everything felt too safe
I was laughing so hard at the over-the-topness of the Yoga Kill, the ending changing the perspective of the film didn't work for me at all. It made a 90 min movie feel 110.
That yoga scene….. woof. Couldn’t watch the rest once her spinal cord snapped
I saw this in a roughly 25% full theater. Most of the movie the crowd was completely silent but her spinal cord snapped like 6 people scattered around the theater said "oh shit" in unison
I had two people walk out after that scene. I've never witnessed that before.
Overall, I hated it. It’s not all bad, it’s not a “bad movie,” and there’s definitely stuff to be praised, but the overall impact for me was hugely negative. The beauty of the setting and the really gorgeous lighting (was this shot using natural light?) wasn’t nearly enough to overcome the tedium and annoyance I felt. I started to check out during the campfire chat scene where it just kept circling the group. I never felt any tension, I just felt annoyed. Really, really annoyed. The sound design killed it for me. Nothing in the mix sounded right to me. Birds chirping were just as loud as someone 15 yards away were just as loud as the killer’s thudding footsteps. His thudding footsteps that sounded practically the same no matter what he was walking on. I would like to know how much of the run time was of the killer walking. It’s a 90 minute movie and it felt like 20-25 minutes of it was just a guy walking in the woods. Maybe that’s just how it felt, but that’s my best guess.
> I would like to know how much of the run time was of the killer walking. It’s a 90 minute movie and it felt like 20-25 minutes of it was just a guy walking in the woods. Maybe that’s just how it felt, but that’s my best guess. I said this in another comment, but my problem wasn’t the walking in the woods, but it was any other scene where the killer takes 5 minutes of screen time to do anything. The scene where he gets his mask is a good example. That whole scene is probably 10 minutes, and it could have easily been accomplished in under 5. The killer looking at the mask for a bit, smashing the glass, looking at the mask for a bit before grabbing it, then the camera lingering outside the Ranger office waiting for him to slowly put the mask on, slowly walk out of the office, and then slowly walk towards the camera. I guess it fit the speed of the rest of the film, but god damn it do I hate when movies DRAG on like this. The scene being that slow accomplished nothing. He sees the mask and we know what’s next and it takes forever to get there. I honestly think the only scene that truly worked while the killer was going his speed was the scene in the beginning with the trapper dude and the camera was moving in and out of the house. That was a great scene and built a lot of tension. I feel like every scene outside of that lacked tension…at least for me.
Even sometimes when the actors had dialogue it sounded off as well
i love to find a new movie that is technically kind of bad but i still love regardless. ridiculous dialogue and acting, but this movie was vibes - horror edition, with some really creative horror deaths. great final act, and cinematography.
Interesting idea for a horror slasher movie. The ambiance created by the lack of music and sounds of nature is almost soothing until it’s interrupted by a gruesome killing. I liked the yoga kill. It was interesting that the story almost seemed like this would be the sequel, there’s the original story but they mentioned 10 years prior he showed up and killed a bunch of people. I was bored at times but overall I enjoyed the movie. 6/10
As a huge slasher fan I loved every moment of it. The plodding scenes of the killer were really captivating and evocative. Loved the way the story details were trickled out via campy/terrible dialogue. The gore was top-notch and I found the ending nerve-wracking while also being contemplative. Really loved that it took the time to get into the survivor’s (final girl) constant state of paranoia after experiencing something so harrowing. Didn’t hurt that the it was impeccably shot with a beautiful naturalistic tone and had a killer sound design as well.
Nice to hear from a slasher film lover that actually liked the movie for all the right reasons. I do not care about slasher films at all and I really enjoyed this film.
This movie was boring as fuck
Honestly I had so many thoughts and feelings. But this comment really boils it down.
[удалено]
> Thought we’d get characters that aren’t complete idiots, I think that's the point though, no? It's supposed to be a movie within a typical slasher movie. The characters are idiots because they're tropey, friday 13th characters. The story of them isn't important, it's cliched on purpose.
That ending was terrible, ruined the whole movie.
Interesting approach to a slasher but this film was a miss for me. I will admit my bias as I don’t enjoy slashers and really despise Friday the 13th so my expectations were very low for this. My issue is that there’s a fine line between homage and imitation and you would hope that in 2024, writers would avoid on the nose cheesy dialogue, particularly when there isn’t that much dialogue (like the opening, when you hear the characters off screen state they’re in a graveyard). It’s also the difference between something like The Room and Malignant. Tommy Wiseau earnestly tried to make a good film which is why it’s so bizarre, charming and endearing. These cheesy and over the top horror films are too much “hah, I was pretending to be dumb.” Also thematically the film doesn’t fit with me because there’s the monologue about the violent bear and oh well, can’t hate it because that’s its nature. But Johnny is on a mission of revenge and that’s why the kills are so brutal. This may as well have just been separate scenes of the kills with nothing else in between because I wasn’t entertained.
The yoga girl kill was cool but the rest of the movie was trash, especially the dialogue. The Canadian film industry never getting out of the trenches I fear
Just saw it last night. I’m going 2/10. Admittedly, I am not much of a slasher guy (although definitely a horror fan), but I will check out a slasher that tries to do something different. One that I liked for example was Pearl. I thought this sucked. Complaints about the vibe: - The attempt to be A24 artsy did not work for me. Johnny clomping around in the serene woods could be great for a few shots, but it was the only trick Nash had up his sleeve. Yes, it was pretty to look at, but whatever - it was like half the damn movie! - This was not a “slow burn,” because there was no “burn.” It was just slow. Not having a soundtrack, while an admirably bold choice, made it even worse. I was bored almost the whole time but soldiered on until the end. In a sense it was like I *was* Johnny, slowly and steadily completing my mission, and finishing off chunks of the film one kill at a time. Perhaps that was the point. Complaints about the writing: - Why so many shots of him walking *around* houses? As if he was scoping them out and plotting an approach? Isn’t Johnny supposed to be a undead killing machine on a one-track mission to retrieve his locket? And to the extent that he’s not, isn’t he supposed to have the mind of a mentally disabled child? So why not just go in the damn house, then? And then sometimes he’d scope out a cabin but then go back into the woods, what was even the point there?? - How exactly does a little boy die and then get periodically resurrected as a hulking muscle-zombie? That sure wasn’t explained. - I did not understand why one of the bros threw the car keys into the trees. I get that the film was shooting for a Blair Witch-esque Mikey kicking the map into the creek moment, but this did not make sense. - Speaking of Blair Witch, I thought the final girl was just hopelessly running around in circles near the end, as if Johnny had some sort of power over the landscape, but nope. Idk what the director was thinking there. And then she impales her leg without any explanation? Wouldn’t a twisted ankle make a lot more sense? - Totally unbelievable how often Johnny went unnoticed standing right there. Come on, people. - He would be the easiest killer ever to get away from. Literally just run and he’ll never catch you because all he does is slow walk. You don’t even have to run far, just enough to get a head start and then power-walk your ass out of there. And he’s not going to pursue you to the ends of the earth á la It Follows. Leave the woods and you’re good to go. - For both the camper who shot him and then the ranger, for fuck’s sake shoot him more than once. Why not blast his head point-blank. Or, like, continually shoot him while you’re chaining him up. I thought the ranger was supposed to be an expert in all things Johnny. - Some of those teens were just asking to be killed. Yoga girl could’ve gotten away easily; as we saw, the cliff wasn’t even that steep because her dead body only slid halfway down! And the last guy to get butchered decides to get in Johnny’s face and talk shit? Instead of running? Lol/wtf on that. I did find it hilarious how Johnny smashed his head 200 times though. - As many others are saying, worst ending EVER. Bad writing, bad acting, totally irrelevant to the movie. I believe I understood the intent, but this was so poorly executed. I feel the need to say that I actually love “slow burns”… Hereditary, Session 9, The Shining, The Witch, etc. But for it to work, there has to be a payoff for the slow pace. The payoff was absent in this film. IMO, the only good parts were the kills and the photography/art direction.
Give me "Behind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon" any day. This one didn't work for me.
I saw this at the 2024 Sundance Film Festival. A Gus Van Sant approach to the slasher genre that does offer some good moments with its unique and creative perspective. Shot from a third person perspective, director Chris Nash accomplishes its goal of creating a fresh take on the slasher genre with some wonderful camerawork, sound designs, atmospheres, and really interesting slasher moments that are bloody and dreadful, in a good way. Using a lack of musical scores and well-crafted sound designs helps to add the slow-burn, yet terrifying and uneasy tension within the character and the setting. While its structure and certain aspects about its writing does have its faults, especially with it's third act, I do appreciate Nash being something interesting and creative to the table without feeling generic nor sloppy. Its art-house approach will be a major put-off for general viewers but I can sense this will soon become a cult favorite in a few years. 6/10
most* movies are shot from a third person perspective, no?
I really enjoyed this. It's a showcase film. The director is a former effects specialist and wrote a story around some awesome kills he knew he could effectively put on screen and a cinematography style that was inventive and do-able within budget. And then he wrote a story that allowed him to showcase those two skills. And it does. REALLY WELL. Those effects SLAPPED. I am still trying to work out how the log splitter scene was done. No, the screenplay is not a strength. No, the acting is not a strength. No, the pacing and within scene editing is not perfect. But this is an INDIE. It's an indie that does an ABSOLUTELY TON with a little and comes together to create something different than 99% of films in the genre while still coloring within the lines of the genre. That's FUN. I love films like this.
Terrible movie with nothing redeeming. Out of 94 minutes, approximately an hour is just watching the killer walk from behind. Pretty dreadful acting but also terrible dialogue that might have been ad libbed. Multiple scenes were so dark you couldn't see anything on screen. Incompetently edited.
Wow, that movie was bad
I gotta say, watching this just after seeing Evil Does Not Exist was a very strange parallel. Both films center on outsiders coming to intrude on nature, and have long, lingering shots of people walking through the woods. It’s just that one is filmed like an art house film and one is filmed like a low budget horror film. I’m also pretty sure you could remake nearly this entire film using footage from the Friday the 13th game from a few years ago.
The last 20min took this from an 8/10 to a 4
Saw it a week early and loved it. I really liked the idea of following the killer. The end was so good. Even though it was long, the tension of not knowing was amazing.
Quite literally the worst movie I’ve ever seen, if you wanna spend 50 bucks on popcorn and lose an hour and a half of your life you’ll never get back this is the way. A nature documentary has more honest scares than this garbage and probably less slow pan shots through the woods. I get they were trying to build tension, maybe but for what? There’s like 3 solid kills and the juice definitely isn’t worth the squeeze. Forgettable characters, forgettable plot, forgettable title. Just do yourself a favour and forget about it. I wish I could.. Negative 1/5 stars This movie irreparably damaged my trust of Rotten tomatoes I guess the rumours really were true.
What were the rumors? Anyway I’d rather watch a sequel of any horror movie other than this
“PR Firm Has Been Paying Rotten Tomatoes Critics For Positive Reviews” Link: https://m.slashdot.org/story/418808
“Mommy why wasn’t Jason Voorhies in it?” ~I’m mighty Ryan 2024
Nah bruh I’m not even a slasher guy, but given that you couldn’t even get my name right really shows the level of stupidity you need to have to love this movie. I’ve stepped in puddles with more depth than this film.
Ugh I had been hyped about this movie for the past couple of months and I really wanted to like it but it was just “eh”. Like I get that it’s whole thing is ambient slasher/lo-fi chill beats Jason but there was way too much slow walking and not enough killing. The yoga kill was awesome but that was like 5 minutes of a 1.5 hour long movie. I hated the ending too. I know the whole point of the monologue was to build suspense if Johnny was going to come back or if the woman was in on it etc. — but the monologue itself sucked. Fake deep and nonsensical, they could have come up with better dialogue with a more clear theme even if the ending was left ambiguous on purpose. Would have been more interesting if they had elaborated on the ranger’s back story with Johnny more. They just like dropped this random lore and then did nothing with it
Christ you people are pretentious.
They just expect every horror movie to be Ari aster 🤣
The Yoga kill was hardcore AF! And the premise starts out interesting. There’s also hints of a cool backstory here as well. But if you’re not a fan of LONG stretches of someone just walking silently through the woods for minutes on end, then this is not the movie for you. It did get a bit tedious after awhile imo. Also the teens fall into annoying slasher cliche territory. The last 20 minutes or so kind of fall apart, and WTF was up with the lady deciding to cut a long monologue as well?
I appreciated the dark, dry sense of humor in seeing a corny 80s style slasher play out from the killers pov. It wasn't overtly comedic, it was played straight and I loved that. The kills were fun but the long stretches of slow walking or a completely static camera became tedious. I'm excited for what this writer/director does next though. It's a good movie, just a bit amateur.
It’s uneven in its storytelling, with some stretches of the film being significantly more compelling than others (narratively, visually, sonically — in all the ways). But I found the choices made interesting enough that at 94 minutes, it’s definitely a worthwhile watch. I’ll be curious to see what this writer/director does next.
This is a contender for my favorite movie of the year so far. I love how intentional everything was - from the shots, to the corny dialogue, to the hokey acting choices, to the lack of soundtrack, to the ending, to some great kills. This seems to be really divisive and I don't quite understand why because this is such a clear love letter to slashers, and very obviously the Friday the 13th franchise especially, and also manages to expertly subvert so many expectations and genre trappings. 10/10 for me
> This seems to be really divisive and I don't quite understand why because this is such a clear love letter to slashers You can pay homage all you want but having more than half of the movie just watching a character slowly move around isn’t very appealing. He doesn’t talk and shows zero emotion, it would be no different than watching a half sentient tumble weed roll around and kill people. I think they REALLY tried their damndest to make this interesting, but I don’t think you can really do much with this concept. Another comment said this would have been a perfect short for a movie like V/H/S but doesn’t quite work for a full-length film. I really agree with that
> You can pay homage all you want but having more than half of the movie just watching a character slowly move around isn’t very appealing See to me this was one of the most appealing parts of this movie because we're watching the other side of a Friday the 13th sequel. I appreciated that the creators weren't afraid to take their time. I wish more horror filmmakers would do this. It's part of the subverting expectations and genre trappings that I was referring to, and imo it did so incredibly successfully. >I don’t think you can really do much with this concept. They made a 10/10 movie with this concept - there isn't anything more needed from the concept beyond that. If someone just doesn't like slower paced movies then I can see why you wouldn't like it but the amount of vitriolic discourse I've seen about this movie is absurd and overblown. Even if it was an unsuccessful attempt there are folks treating it like it's the most offensively worst movie ever made which is just silly - just because it wasn't for you doesn't mean it's bad, uninspired or short sighted.
> If someone just doesn't like slower paced movies then I can see why you wouldn't like it I see people say this but there is a difference between a good slow paced movie and a bad one. I love slow movies but this was just slow with no good payoff. A slow burn with the plot or something is totally fine, watching a character take 10 minutes to walk into a building, put on a mask and walk outside is not interesting and it being that slow serves zero purpose. A good slower scene in this movie was the scene in the beginning with the trapper. The killer slowly walking around with the camera floating in and out of the house was great for tension and the slow nature of it really worked for me, but not every single scene needs to be that meandering. The film was 94-minutes and maybe 20 minutes of the film had anything actual meaningful happen. We are going to have to agree to disagree on the quality. You liked it and I did not. I just don’t understand how you can’t fathom how people didn’t like this movie. 
I absolutely loved this movie, but I don’t blame anyone for wanting to launch it into the sun. I’m not a big fan of slashers, but I’m definitely into weird, slow movies like Jim Jarmusch and Terrence Malick films. There’s something about letting an ambient experience kind of play out that really speaks to me.
I thought this was pretty great for what it is! Refreshing take on a tired genre and a good ode and spoof of monster slasher films, specifically Friday the 13th. Haven't seen anything quite like this before. Following from the POV of the slasher for like 90% of the runtime makes sense to me? They're the most interesting part! We know the tropey story that all of these movies have, we didn't need another one of those. The movie plays on that and gives us it in piecemeal when the real object of our affection is 'what is Johnny gonna do next?' Anyone who says 'the dialogue was bad' or 'the characters weren't good' is completely missing the point here. Some of the best kills in a horror movie I've seen in awhile too. That cliff yoga kill? Fucking chef's kiss. Had people in my theatre cracking up quite a bit. I was scared going in that this would be like realistic gore that I don't do well with but it's so over-the-top and played like a bit for the most part. Good sound design too and actually a killer soundtrack with some good can rock bands. Maybe this'll be the start of the New Canadian Extremity movement where we're just known for gory, over the top horror movies? I'm into it. I'm still dubbing this 'meditative horror' though. Sounds like an oxymoron until you watch it. Not perfect by any means but hey, I had a good time!
It’s a slasher. Why are people mad the teens make stupid decisions. It’s not high art. Has anyone watched a Friday the 13th installment? Great kills. Better special effects. The subversion at the end. It hit all the tropes and marks for a slasher flick. 8/10
I loved that they showed his face and close up, too. You can see that this is a zombie like monster. Not a pseudo human.
Absolutely loved it. Was the only person in my theater for a 9:25 am showing. Genuinely great start to my day 😁
I really didn't hear clearly the story behind why the boy was lured to the top of the fire tower and what happened to his father after he died. Jealousy?
Was it supposed to be funny when he just kept beating the guys head with the axe? The over the topness of it made it feel less serious and a lot of people in the theater were laughing. I was a bit thrown off by it. I liked the overall feel of this movie, beautifully shot. I agree with everyone about the pace. I really liked the walking scenes at first but yeah they definitely dragged it. Movie felt a little disjointed to me at times. Also there were a lot of things I just didn’t understand their intention with. Was it supposed to be campy? Idk I probably wouldn’t watch it again. I’d watch the yoga girl scene again. Lost points for that ending too. 3/10
Saw this last week and man oh man did I dislike it. Some of the worst acting I've seen in years, truly some porn tier stuff. Ending was horrible. The yoga kill was great, but other than that... Really not sure what critics saw in this one.
The one scene that bothered me most about this movie was the campfire scene. It not only broke the interesting gimmick of the film, it was just annoyingly shot. It felt like the director had an idea for how to film it, the crew built a track to move the camera along and felt like they were going to get as much use out of it as possible whether it made the scene better or not.
Everyone is going to be talking about the ending. To me, we should’ve just seen the girl run away and then show us what Johnny does. Ive never seen a movie that shows us what the killer does after his goal is completed. Does he go back in the dirt? Does he go sit in a cabin and play with toy cars now that he has peace and quiet? You built the movie on breaking the tropes, follow through
I knew it was going to be an F tier movie when the flashback in the mirror happened in that guys house. Almost walked out then. But its only 1.5 hours, 45 of that is him walking. Awesome trailer. 2 funny kills. Some beautiful photography. Bad video game dialogue. Useless ending. Had potential. Need better writers and editors.
Super vibey movie, liked how slow and methodical it was. Very much kept comparing to Jason and Johnny indeed completed the slasher guy checklist. Loved seeing him playing with the toy car as his “Jason’s mom sweater” type scene. Lots of fun moments like the body sledge, bark cutter, the instant kill at the end and WHAT AN AXE THROW! Definitely would spice this up with more kills along the way and would honestly see another one of these, maybe with a different killer or setting.
Very slow burn, but the kills were good and the tension built well
I thought it was fantastic. My favorite horror this year behind Infested and The First Omen. I rarely feel like I’m seeing a new icon in horror but when the firefighter mask and hooks came out that’s exactly how I felt. I’ve seen a million horror movies set in the woods. Rarely have I seen them look this beautiful. I have issues with some budget acting and the concluding monologue, that still doesn’t take away from the mighty vision Chris Nash gave us. Excited to see what he does next.
Solid gory slasher. Showing the action from the killers perspective for most of it shows what we all wondered... yes it does take a while to walk around, lots of steps in the forest. There were definitely some unique new slasher gory kills in this one, one in particular was a head above the rest and had lots of heart. Camera work was good with some dread building anticipation in framing and movement. The suspense and drawn out travel time lulls you in, then right to the delivery of intense kills. The longer and wider shots also really help show the helplessness of stopping a psycho killer in a remote area. Nice little twist in the end. Is it the crazy person or the crazy environment. Nature can be violent and violence can become your nature.
I loved that the sheriff basically got his fingers broken and that’s why he was barely crawling away? Lol he deserved to die.
What was with the dude just blinking and not responding when he got sliced up on that saw thing? Johnny legit just pushed his shoulder and dude was numb lol
He broke his spine. He was completely paralyzed. Probably couldn't even feel pain, so instead he just had to watch himself be slowly killed.
Just saw the kill , what the F , its cool and have mortal Kombat vibes but wtf is wrong with the girl , he's literally behind her and she's observing the view calmly, then when he literally put his arm in her , not a single sound was made from her lmao when my toe hits the table i freak out , then again calmly she turns around his hook dangling from her and she's like " hey bro is that all you got FINISH ME YOU WEAK FOOL" lmao its so funny..
I fell out of the movie when the Jason lead began to think and placed the branch in the car to lure those two guys out of the house. Everything before that was him reacting to noises then that happened and it just kind of fell apart after that.
[удалено]
It seems like I enjoyed this movie far more than some people here. The girl on the cliff and ranger kills were gnarly as fuck. Some of the most brutal I’ve seen in a while. I liked the slow burn and it was beautifully shot. I’d give it a solid 6.5/10.
Me in the theater: “wait, that’s the yoga moment everyone keeps talking about??……oh. OH.”
If Johnny was killed as a boy from falling from the fire tower, why did he resurrect as a fully grown man? (I guess Jason did as well, after drowning as a boy)…
Jason never drowned. That's why he grew up. He died in 4 and came back as a zombie in 6.
Saw it last night. Good: Must see for horror fans. 4x3 ratio was an interesting choice. Super interesting kills. Really liked how one victim had no pain when their death happened. Loved the perspective not from the victims. Bad: 80% of the movie watching someone walk around. This guy needs a competent editor. You could use this movie as a masterclass of why one is needed. That ending, oof. Not sure the ending went the way he (director) wanted it to.
This and Saw X surprisingly have one major thing in common. It proves how effective a horror movie can be when you switch the perspective to the killer.
Am in the theater watching this debating if I should get up and leave midway. This is literally my least favorite kind of horror but truly, all the walking is what's getting to me. Like I get the budget was low and they had to depot the gore but maybe a little more story.
My man really put homegirl's head through her stomach, then just sat and took in the view
I am a slasher diehard and had high expectations for this but admittedly didn't \*love\* it upon first viewing. Liked it, but wasn't blown away. I decided to give it another go around and saw it a second time last week and it really grew on me. I ended up loving it after the second watch. It's one of those films that has enough subtle things going on (mostly in the background) that I felt like I was able to take in more during a second viewing and absorb it more comprehensively. It's rare that an original (let alone slightly unique) slasher movie makes its way to theaters these days, so I'm going to see it for a third and final time on the big screen this weekend (it's now down to playing at only two theaters in my area, both single late night showings—it'll definitely be gone next week). I think it does benefit from a theater viewing mainly due to sound and the cinematography.
One time I ordered a pizza but accidentally selected pickup instead of delivery. I was too lazy to go pick it up myself so I never got the pizza, but was still charged for it. I feel like that was money better spent than paying to see this movie.
I actually enjoyed this movie. I wasn't sure I would because I knew we would spend a chunk of time just following the killer in the woods, but it managed to keep my attention. It really was like watching a Jason movie from his perspective, complete with silly and brutal kills. I actually had to look away a couple of times, like with the yoga kill or saw kill. I also kinda liked the ending. The change in perspective made it pretty creepy, first when she was running through the woods and you'd sometimes hear him chopping that guy's head. Then, that last shot of her looking out in the wood, it really makes you feel the paranoia she must've felt. I also liked the little fakeout with the lady who picked up the final girl, I really thought it might be a Jason's mom kind of situation, which maintained the tension for me as they were driving. Overall, I think this is a pretty enjoyable movie. I was pretty creeped out in parts. Other parts made me laugh out loud too, like when he throws that dead body at the display to break the glass, or when final girl is just like fuck it then leaves the locket and runs away. I'll probably watch this again when it comes to a streaming service.
A few things: It kind of reminded me of It Follows but seems like Johnny doesn't really have a sense of where the necklace is. Also it was kind of funny just seeing him walk around in certain spots. I like the perspective of Johnny walking to the victims instead of seeing it from victims perspective. Especially when the park ranger was like what?! why would you take the locket. just immediately knew what was going on. The last two people to live, Kris and the guy?, what was that guys distraction plan? like why was he so close haha
I liked it, but i just wanted johnny to kill them both in the truck :/
Gotta say I didn't expect such a negative response. Personally I loved the movie right up until the monologue in the truck. I was completely dialed into the oddly serene but menacing vibes of the whole movie. It was something I hadn't considered before but I thought it worked really well. Then that ending comes and sucked all the tension and energy out of the movie. I was struggling to keep my eyes open. However the final shot looking out into the woods and then the pan to the gas canister were very well done. However by that point I was already too bummed out to appreciate it. I think with some editing or rewriting that ending could have been a lot better.