FF '26: In a Violent Nature 2

Every year at Fantastic Fest, there are “secret screenings” where festival-goers go in blind to the theaters to see a movie that has not yet been released. In the past, these screenings have included big titles like One Battle After Another, Bugonia, Saltburn, and Saw X. So, on Saturday night, the Drafthouse was buzzing with rumors about what that night’s secret screening could be. Would it be the new Nathan Fielder doc? Or maybe Other Mommy? The answer to both those questions was… no. Instead, as we soon found out, the secret screening that night would be In a Violent Nature 2. Great, a sequel to a movie no one seemed to like. So, as we all shuffled into the theater, with basement-level expectations, many of us were prepared to walk out within the first ten minutes. At least, that was the consensus of the people in the theater in which I was sitting. Then the movie started, and the first ten minutes passed, and the next ten minutes passed, and no one was getting up from their seats. In fact, we all stayed seated throughout the 90ish minute duration of the film. That’s because In a Violent Nature 2 is awesome. 

Violent Nature 2 is a total departure from the previous film, mostly because of the fact that it has an actual story. There are real characters and stakes. We are no longer just following one violent, slow killer roaming around the woods slaughtering people. Instead, this time, we follow around a sad, weird, 14-year-old kid on the last day of Summer camp. This kid, Alex (Lucas Nguyen), is having a bad time at camp. He’s been bullied by the preps, dismissed by the girls, and failing to make any real friends. So, he does what any tortured outcast would do, he summons Johnny (Ry Barrett reprising his role as the killer from the first film) by whistle to come to camp and murder his enemies. Then, on the last night at camp, the bloodthirsty Johnny arrives to find Alex and a group of counselors partying in a cabin, unaware of what is about to transpire. Amazing, bring it on. Now we’ve got real characters and enough of a survival story worth getting invested in. 

Once Johnny arrives at the camp all hell breaks loose in all the ways you want it to. He desecrates partying, fornicating teens with gusto. One of the reasons that the first In a Violent Nature was so buzzy was because of the over the top, gory, ruthless kills. The director, Nate Wilson, knows this and doubles down on the violence. The practical effects are pretty spectacular as we watch these teens go down one by one. We see skulls pulled out of heads, spinal columns fully removed from live bodies, and countless entrails flailing in the wind. It’s what the people are here for and Wilson gives it to them at a clip. It also helps that Alex and the other teens in this movie are fun to watch. We get to know these people enough that you care about their survival. They are weird, charming, and say hilarious things to each other right before they get decapitated. We root for them. In the first film, there’s no real protagonist to rally around. This time around, we want Alex and the teen counselors to make it out of the woods alive. For the most part, they won’t. But still, it’s nice to have real characters to care about.

While the first Violent Nature was lauded for its striking, albeit sometimes boring, POV perspective, there is much less of that in the film. In fact, there’s nothing all that revelatory about the story, or the kills. We are living in a post-Terrifier 2 world, after all. Audiences expect brutal, sadistic kills from our malevolent sociopaths. But what Violent Nature 2 lacks in originality it makes up for in personality. This is a funny, campy, super-violent movie that revels in its practical effects and endless gore. The body count is so high and the kills are so shudder-inducing that it makes this film so much more fun to watch than the predecessor. Sometimes it’s okay to not re-invent the wheel when making a new slasher. In the case of In a Violent Nature 2, it’s better to just stick to what works and do it really well. The audience will thank you for it. 

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