The first surprise screening at this year’s Fantastic Fest was, refreshingly, an honest surprise. The secret screenings over the last few years have run from the confusing (“Saturday Night”) to films that most critics had already seen (“One Battle After Another”), but Friday’s secret screening in Austin maintained its anonymity for an incredibly long time, as people guessed titles like “Whalefall,” “The Other Mommy,” “Bad Lieutenant: Tokyo,” and even “You Can See Everything.” In retrospect, we should have seen it coming given the long relationship between IFC/Shudder and the fest, and the rumors that “In a Violent Nature Part 2” was done and getting ready to unleash itself on the world. Unleash it did in a WIP cut on Friday to a receptive audience of horrorheads ready for more unique slasher gore.
The first “In a Violent Nature” was one of 2024’s more divisive horror films—a fact driven by home by how many people walked out when this year’s sequel screening was revealed. Some people simply didn’t go with Chris Nash’s vision of an arthouse slasher pic, a movie that I’ve taken to calling “Jason ASMR” for the way it mingles crunchy, strange sound design with long shots of a hooded figure trudging through the woods. “IAVN” was also remarkably gory, especially in one memorable kill scene involving a poor woman whose head was pulled through her body. It was so intense that viewers reportedly vomited and passed out.
The worst parts of “In a Violent Nature Part 2” seek to one-up that unforgettable kill. There are four or five scenes in which hapless victims are torn into pieces to such an intense degree that it starts to feel inspired by the “Terrifier” movies more than ‘80s slasher classics. Director Nate Wilson and writer Chris Nash (who took both credits on the original) have lost some of what made the first movie special, sacrificing the original’s unique atmosphere for creative kills. Gorehounds will love the chaotic places this movie goes but it doesn’t feel quite as special.
However, enough quality craftsmanship remains to elevate this sequel above the average knockoff fare. Most remarkably, Wilson seems to have taken a very unexpected inspiration: Jumping a few Jason Voorhees sequels to tell his own riff on “Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter” (the fourth film that featured Corey Feldman as Tommy Jarvis). Like that movie, we’re introduced to a young protagonist at this film’s version of Crystal Lake: Camp Puddingstone. Alex (Lucas Nguyen) has heard all the rumors, including the one about summoning Johnny by blowing a whistle three times. After Alex blows the whistle, he’s bullied to such an intense degree that he misses the bus home, stranding him with the partying counselors celebrating the end of the season, one of whom happens to be his sister. And then Johnny answers the call.
As Alex pines for one of the pretty counselors and watches his sister make out with her boyfriend, Johnny basically trudges from the first movie to the second one and starts the disemboweling. Alex has an interesting arc wherein he seems almost as captivated by Johnny as he is terrified of him, but he’s mostly just a throughline to connect the mutilations. With very few exceptions re framing, this is a significantly more traditional slasher pic than the first, which will be music to the ears of anyone who was there for the kills and not the mood, but it feels to me like the latter is what really made it stand out. To its credit, “In a Violent Nature Part 2” does keep one notable asset: Remarkably fluid editing from Alex Jacobs, who finds just the right rhythms for this gore-a-palooza.
A bit of sound design tweaks that are likely to come might enhance the final product, but this version of “In a Violent Nature Part 2” is clearly done enough to guess how people will respond to it. While no one wants a sequel that just retreads the first film, making this one gorier and more traditional was a surprising choice. Nash and Wilson are clearly talented enough to keep this going for years, but I truly hope they don’t just try to get more vomit-inducing with each installment. My stomach can’t take it.
Two other films premiered in Austin over the weekend, independent films that made their way to Texas to play alongside more highly-buzzed flicks like “Primetime,” “Wild Horse Nine,” and “Resident Evil.” One of them came courtesy of a movie-making family that I truly adore. Known as the Adams Family, this collective of related geniuses have been honing their craft for years, delivering standouts like “The Deeper You Dig,” “Hellbender,” “Mother of Flies,” and more. They do almost everything on set, including writing, directing, starring, and scoring. And their ambition seems to be growing with each project. Their latest, “The Glorious Dead,” may not be my favorite of theirs, but it’s undeniably one of their most ambitious.
“The Glorious Dead” falls into a category of horror of the 2020s that could be called Unexpected Chaos. Many of these films were inspired by COVID, a world event that turned everything upside down. From the forced confinement of something like “The Last House” to the science vs. religion debates of the upcoming “A Prayer Before Dying,” horror creators are clearly repurposing the anxiety and distrust that took new shape in the wake of the pandemic.
Into this subgenre drops a story about an ordinary day when the impossible happened to Sheriff Deb (Toby Poser) and her community. In this snow-covered burgh, Deb and her deputy Mikey (Zelda Adams) keep getting reports of the impossible. There’s the blood coming out of the faucets, the holes appearing in backyards that look like piles of meat and even disappearing (and reappearing from the dead) residents. “The Glorious Dead” takes a micro approach to the end of the world. What would it look like in a town where everyone knows each other’s name when the gates of Hell opened up?
“The Glorious Dead” is one of the strangest movies that the Adams clan has yet made, from its jerky editing to its creatures in the woods who look like they’re made of the skin from human faces. There are times when it doesn’t cast a spell as much as feel like a curiosity, and some of the themes regarding how the town responds with violence feel rushed or underdeveloped, but the core of the movie is strong: An ordinary woman being confronted by the extraordinary. Who can’t relate to the idea that something out there in the heartland just isn’t right? And even if it’s not top-tier Adams, that’s mostly just because of how strong their output has been to date.
Finally, there’s the frustrating “Godmother,” a movie with some interesting ideas that just haven’t been wed to the right tone, craft, or even consistency of vision. It’s a movie that never quite figured out what story it wanted to tell, pulling a twist halfway through that works well enough, but then never figuring out how to build on that to an engaging climax. The final scenes are remarkably clunky as the movie races to an unengaging conclusion. Fantastic Fest is a wonderful opportunity to find new voices in the genre, but that means that you’re also guaranteed to hear a few that are just out of tune.
John Vernon’s debut unfolds in the New Mexico desert at a lavish AirBnB owned by the Martinsons (Dee Wallace and Bruce Davison). They welcome Colby (Cameron Cuffe), his girlfriend Theo (Paige Evans), and her sister Katie (movie MVP Riley Dandy). The third wheel wasn’t a part of Colby’s plan to propose to Theo this weekend, but the bigger problem may be the oddball Martinsons, who seem to be lurking around the property to an unhealthy degree.
What starts out feeling like a “Barbarian” riff becomes something very different after the twist, but Vernon never quite has a confident grip on the story he’s trying to tell. Influences like “Rosemary’s Baby” and “The Omen” are notable, but the craft just isn’t as strong as it needs to be to make those comparisons beneficial. A movie that tells as strange as a story as “Godmother” needs to be moody, but too much of this project lacks nuance and tone. It’s a blunt instrument with only one real important lesson to take away: Never trust anyone who loves Yacht Rock.
