Stephen King Had Glowing Praise For One Of 2024's Gnarliest Slasher Movies

Stephen King spends a lot of his time writing ... and by a lot I mean a lot, judging by the Jenga-like towering pile of novels, novellas, and short stories the King of Horror has written over his lifetime (the good, the bad, and the "Dreamcatcher" alike). And when he's not writing, he's probably got his nose in a book somewhere, be it a surefire future best-seller by Liane Moriarty or some niche tome that's piqued his interest. But when he's not doing either of those things, King is likely either streaming that critically-acclaimed TV show your dweebiest sibling won't shut up about (hello, it's me, your dweebiest sibling) or renewing his cineaste card by watching one of the year's most buzzed-about indie or non-franchise genre flicks.

The man didn't spend 2024 slacking on that front, either. Whether he was singing the praises of Jeremy Saulnier's tense "First Blood"-esque action-thriller "Rebel Ridge" or marveling at the many subversive twists and turns that JT Mollner's serial killer flick "Strange Darling" takes with its "Pulp Fiction"-style nonlinear chapter format, King had plenty to say about movies that, for more casual film lovers, might've flown under the radar or gotten buried underneath Netflix's mountains of titles. And never fret, "In a Violent Nature" lovers, the horror maestro also had kind words to say about Chris Nash's unconventional, film festival favorite (and Canadian — props to our neighbors from the north!) slasher.

What if Gus Van Sant, operating in the quasi-abstract, experimental filmmaking mode he did on the "Tomb Raider"-inspired "Gerry" and the other movies from his thematic "Death Trilogy," had made "Friday the 13th Part 2" (the "F13" film where Jason Vorhees emerged as the franchise's big bad, but had yet to gain his trademark hockey mask and had to make due with a burlap sack on his head instead)? You might've ended up with something like "In a Violent Nature," a horror movie that unfolds entirely from the point of view of its supernaturally-revived masked murderer. The camera even stays on him for extended stretches of time as he slowly but steadily trudges through a forest stalking his prey, to an oddly soothing and even hypnotic effect.

That is, of course, when he's not butchering his victims in sadistic and twisted ways. As King once wrote in a since-deleted post on Twitter (only Jason's rival Freddy Krueger would call it X):

IN A VIOLENT NATURE: If you need a slasher movie, this one will do the job. It's leisurely, almost languorous, but when the blood flows, it flows in buckets. The killer in his mask looks like the world's most terrifying Minion.

Johnny (Ry Barrett), the film's homicidal lead, admittedly does look a little like one of Gru's henchmen from the "Despicable Me" movies thanks to his smoke protector helmet (which itself feels like a nod to the mining gear worn by the killer in "My Bloody Valentine"). At the same time, he's like Jason in that, contrary to the patently nasty ways he slays the mortals who unwittingly set him on the warpath, he's an animalistic force driven more by instinct than deliberate malice (unlike Mr. Krueger). I would argue that "In a Violent Nature" actually invites you to mull on deeper notions like these during the prolonged ASMR-y sequences that break up its moments of purely visceral ultra-violence — including one now-infamous demise that very much deserves to be called 2024's gnarliest horror movie kill. Who says a splattery slasher can't contain multitudes?

"In a Violent Nature" is now streaming on Shudder.