A New Blu-Ray Release Shows How 2024's Gnarliest Horror Movie Kill Was Created

While "Terrifier 3" is getting a lot of buzz for its extreme gore, there's another indie horror movie from 2024 that didn't shy away from the red stuff. I'm talking about "In a Violent Nature," a film that offers a twist on the classic slasher movie mold: the story is told almost entirely from the POV of the killer. On paper, "In a Violent Nature" follows a formula established by countless "Friday the 13th" movies: an undead, masked killer stalks and butchers clueless, horny young people in the woods. But instead of making the victims the main characters, writer-director Chris Nash keeps the narrative (mostly) with the killer, a hulking brute named Johnny. Borrowing a page from Gus Van Sant's "Elephant," the camera frequently follows just behind Johnny as he stalks through the Canadian wilderness. There are long stretches where we simply follow Johnny silently stalking around. But every now and then, he'll come across some unlikely person who meets a violent demise. 

There are multiple gruesome kills throughout "In a Violent Nature," but the most memorable death is what folks have dubbed the "yoga kill." During this scene, a character named Aurora (played by Charlotte Creaghan) is doing yoga outdoors when Johnny happens upon her. Since she's perched at the edge of a cliff, Aurora has nowhere to go. Johnny is brandishing a huge hook on a chain, and he slams it into Aurora's lower back and out through her stomach. He then proceeds to jerk the hook upward, bury it in Aurora's forehead, and yank her head down through her stomach and out her back. It's darkly funny and unflinchingly gory, and you can now see how the filmmakers pulled this off thanks to the "In a Violent Nature" Blu-ray release. 

The "In a Violent Nature" Collector's Edition Blu-ray hit shelves on October 15, 2024, and it comes loaded with over 3-hours of special features. One of those special features is titled "The Yoga Kill: Candid On-Set Footage," and shows amusing behind-the-scenes footage of how Chris Nash and company created the movie's most memorable kill scene. We see both actress Charlotte Creaghan wearing prosthetic makeup and the dummy they used for some of the more gnarly moments. And we see the gallons of fake blood the crew sprayed everywhere to make the moment work. Even though the scene is graphic and brutal, the behind-the-scenes footage shows how funny and light the mood was in creating the scene. It's a reminder that there's something fun about getting together a bunch of gore effects and creating something twisted. 

"That kill was designed in a way where I, you know, first off, I wanted to see something that I'd never seen before," Nash said in an interview. "And that goes for everything. Another aspect of it is, I've got a background in process effects design, and our prosthetics builder and designer, seek Sanski, who is also a director in his own right. So he thinks very, very similar to me. We always want to challenge ourselves and do things that we haven't really seen or done before. And create these moments that we want to see or want to be impressed by when we're watching films."

I know "Terrifer 3" gets all the gore-glory, but while I enjoyed that movie, I have to say I liked "In a VIolent Nature" more. It just felt a little more special to me, and I was particularly taken with the ambient atmosphere the film creates. It's almost hypnotic. 

In addition to the yoga kill behind-the-scenes footage, the Blu-ray release also contains footage of the earlier, aborted version of the film. As Nash told us in an exclusive interview, he and his crew essentially had to go back and re-shoot the first four weeks of footage they originally shot because Nash felt it just didn't work. "I didn't have to re-shoot it, I coerced my producers into allowing me to reshoot it," Nash said. This early footage is raw and showcases all the problems that accompany making an independent movie in the woods. Nash and his crew have to deal with unpredictable weather (there's a lot of rain) and numerous other problems that arise as they attempt to pull off difficult, ambitious shots. It's a great glimpse into the process of independent filmmaking, and it makes you appreciate the final film all the more.

Here's a full list of the special features included on the disc.

• Film Commentaries
• Storyboard Kill Galleries
• Dead in the Water: The Attempted Making of The Original IN A VIOLENT NATURE
• The Yoga Kill: Candid On-Set Footage
• Scenes from the first Version of IN A VIOLENT NATURE
• Sundance Video Diary
• Behind the Scenes
  

"In a Violent Nature" is currently streaming on Shudder, but if you're a fan of physical media, this is a disc worth picking up for the wealth of special features you can't get via streaming.