REVIEW: ‘In A Violent Nature 2’ Makes You Ask “Why?”

In A Violent Nature didn’t blow me away when I saw it at Sundance in 2024, but it did get me excited about its director’s budding horror career. Now, Chris Nash has moved to writing only, with director Nate Wilson helping shape this new vision of Johnny (Ry Barrett). With guts, blood, and a concept that put audiences behind the killer’s mask, the film was creative in its kills and perspective. Unfortunately, In A Violent Nature 2 offers little more than a concept, and not much else.

Having celebrated its world premiere at Fantastic Fest in Austin, Texas, as one of the program’s Secret Screenings, In A Violent Nature 2 keeps its killing edge, but everything else lets it down. After the events of the first film, the killer continued his rampage, leading him to a house party celebrating the last days of Camp Puddingstone, before the counselors send their charges on their way.

The chaos that happens when you have a bunch of young adults partying, drinking, and just generally being awkward and horny is where the fun is to be had. This time out, Nash and Wilson try to get their audience all in on the characters in front of them. Unlike the first film, which used the characters as fodder for gore (the yoga death is an all-time great), In A Violent Nature 2 uses its new element to build a larger narrative. 

In A Violent Nature 2 switches up perspective and loses its charm.

The most important thing about this sequel film is that Johnny isn’t our eyes anymore. The isolation and slowness of seeing events only through the lumbering killer’s perspective are gone. Instead, Nash and Wilson have opted for a more traditional perspective, and the camp slasher is alive and well in this sophomore film.

While we do learn more about the characters, they’re still thinly written; only now, the filmmaker doesn’t seem to be doing it on purpose. We’re supposed to understand the crushes, the desires, and the fear, and it’s not entirely clear if we’re supposed to be rooting for the campers to survive or die. 

The protagonist is Alex (Lucas Nguyen), who for all intents and purposes is a loser. Set on the final day before Camp Puddingstone sends people home, Alex is bullied and shoved into a trunk. While the rest of his fellow campers leave, Alex is stuck. But at least his sister Julie (Olivia Scriven), who is also a counselor, has stayed behind to celebrate before closing Puddingstone for the season.

While everyone else drinks and has fun, Alex is the loner in the corner. The camerawork is standard expectations now, but for the most part, Alex is the eyes through which we see the story. That’s when Johnny (a menacing Ry Barrett) crashes the party, and mayhem erupts. In A Violent Nature 2 embraces the summer-camp horror archetypes we’ve all come to know and love, and it does so by putting each of them through the wringer. 

Despite the film’s attempt to make the audience care about Alex and the others at Johnny’s mercy, it doesn’t quite land. Many of the characters feel like carbon copies of the others; their motivations are confusing, and moments meant to pay off just fizzle instead.

While Nguyen’s performance as Alex is a bit endearing, everything around him collapses on itself. The archetypes it plays with are more like outlines of characters you can connect to in other camp classics, and even then, they’re just boring. With no charm or gimmick, In A Violent Nature 2 feels like an echo of summer camp slashers past. 

Boring is the best way to describe In A Violent Nature 2, which, despite having the original writer, loses any spark from the first. 

Ultimately, I found myself invested in the weird, creative ways Johnny kills them. With more fodder than the last film, the murder is a standout for In A Violent Nature 2. Additionally, Johnny gets a new origin and summoning element as the counselors spread the folktale that they know. Kills and lore are about the only reasons to be interested in In A Violent Nature 2, and even then, it’s barely enough to matter. 

The switch in filmmakers at the helm has changed every bit of what made the original work. Instead, we get a sequel that doesn’t come close to matching the fresh energy that made In A Violent Nature work. Even with my issues with the first film’s pacing, its vision made it well worth watching. 

In A Violent Nature 2 can thrill with its kills, but it lacks the creative conceptual spark that the original had. Slow like the first but bloodier, it’s a slasher you can watch with friends for the violence, but it offers little substance beyond that.

The film is unnecessary at worst and boring at best, but ultimately, it’s hard to understand why we had to come back here. In A Violent Nature 2 just makes you think about all of the films that did what it’s trying to do better, or it just makes you take a nap instead. 

In A Violent Nature 2 does not currently have a release date set.