Slasher Horror Movie In A Violent Nature Had A Bloody Good Box Office Haul

It hasn't been a good summer at the box office thus far (which might be the understatement of the year), and 2024 has left the industry at large with a lot of questions it needs to answer sooner rather than later. Be that as it may, we can always rely on horror, it seems, to pepper in some optimism. To that end, IFC's unrated slasher "In a Violent Nature" posted the company's second-best opening weekend over recently, adding to the studio's surprisingly good year.

With no new big releases hitting theaters in the post-Memorial Day frame, "The Garfield Movie" topped the charts with an anemic $14 million in an overall terrible weekend. But that left plenty of room for everything else, including "In a Violent Nature." Director Chris Nash's acclaimed, low-budget feature directorial debut made $2.1 million on just over 1,400 screens, placing number eight on the charts just behind Crunchyroll's latest anime "Haikyuu!! The Dumpster Battle" ($3.6 million). It also posted a very respectable per-screen average just north of $1,500.

It now trails only this year's "Late Night with the Devil" ($2.8 million) for IFC films on opening weekend. That movie, which was also met with widespread acclaim, has since gone on to earn nearly $10 million domestically and $11.9 million worldwide. IFC has never been a studio that relies on big theatrical grosses, but it's managed to find some success with a pair of unique horror offerings this year. The box office haul, in this case, is also sort of an icing on the cake situation as the film is also set to be released on the streaming service Shudder later this year. So, more or less, this theatrical run and the success will work to promote the eventual streaming release.

Nash's unrated slasher flick picks up after a locket is removed from a collapsed fire tower in the woods. As a result, the entombed rotting corpse of a brutal killer is awoken after years of being subdued. A massive bloodbath ensues. It is largely filmed from the killer's POV, making for a unique experience. It should not be lost on anyone that a very, very violent unrated movie had managed to find any level of mainstream success. Even if it won't be a blockbuster, it's impressive nonetheless, not unlike the surprising run that "Terrifier 2" had in 2022.

Horror, overall, isn't having the year in 2024 that the genre enjoyed in both 2023 and 2022. For the past couple of years, it has been the most reliable genre of the pandemic era, with massive breakout hits such as "The Black Phone," "Smile," "M3GAN," and last year's blockbuster "Five Nights at Freddy's" ranking as some of the biggest success stories of the bunch. But this year hasn't seen any film in the genre space get anywhere near the $100 million mark globally, save for the South Korean hit import "Exhuma," which has pulled in a whopping $97.1 million. For Hollywood? The hits have been harder to come by.

As it stands, Blumhouse's "Night Swim" ($54 million) remains the highest-grossing Hollywood horror movie of the year globally. Theaters and studios alike are still waiting for the mainstream breakout hit to emerge. That said, the hits have come when the stakes have been lower. Such is the case with "In a Violent Nature." Other examples include NEON's "Immaculate" starring Sydney Sweeney, as well as the aforementioned "Late Night with the Devil." Low budgets can certainly help ensure success in the long run.

"In a Violent Nature" is currently playing in theaters.