In 2017, a video game based on the popular horror franchise Friday the 13th was released. That game and another called Dead by Daylight had an option where you get to stalk players as the killer and try to pick them off one by one. The new IFC Films and Shudder original, In a Violent Nature, takes a similar concept and has the audience experience a slasher movie from the point-of-view of the killer. Writer/Director Chris Nash brings us the twisty premise and IFC Films has released a new trailer for all of us to behold.

Here’s the official synopsis: When a locket is removed from a collapsed fire tower in the woods that entombs the rotting corpse of Johnny, a vengeful spirit spurred on by a horrific 60-year old crime, his body is resurrected and becomes hellbent on retrieving it. The undead golem hones in on the group of vacationing teens responsible for the theft and proceeds to methodically slaughter them one by one in his mission to get it back – along with anyone in his way.

The film stars Ry Barrett, Andrea Pavlovic, Cameron Love, Reece Presley, Liam Leone, Charlotte Creaghan, Lea Rose Sebastianis, Sam Roulston, Alexander Oliver, and Lauren Taylor. It was produced by Peter Kuplowsky and Shannon Hanmer.

Following the theatrical run, In a Violent Nature will be making its way to the Shudder streaming service. Shudder’s Samuel Zimmerman told Variety, “Chris had such a clarity of vision with what this film is. It takes elements of very classical slashers and the very classical slasher aesthetic, but I understood the language he wanted to tell it in. At the time he was talking about films like Gerald Kargl’s Angst, which is one of my favorite home invasion films from Austria from the early ’80s. It has really revolutionary cinematography, so I knew he wanted to make this artful slasher that didn’t reject the hallmarks, but evolved the language of it forward and gave you a different perspective by tying you to the monster himself.“

Scott Shooman, the head of AMC Networks film group (which owns Shudder), added: “When you surrender yourself to this movie at the theater, it’s a different experience. It’s got the best slasher kills. It’s why we share armrests: To have the experience of something like In a Violent Nature in the theater.“

IFC will release the film UNRATED in theaters on May 31.

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Shudder and IFC Film are on a roll. Their release, Late Night With the Devil, wracked up a truly impressive $10 million gross at the domestic box office this winter, despite only being in limited release and only playing during a short window before its streaming debut. They’re also getting a lot of fresh critical attention for Caitlin Cronenberg’s debut, Humane (check out our interview with the director here).  Horror fans love Shudder (including us), and sure enough, it looks like they might have another big winner on their hands with the violent slasher flick In a Violent Nature.

In the lead-up to the film’s theatrical debut on May 31st, IFC’s issued four retro-style lobby cards that bring to mind some of the seventies classics the movie is vibing on, like The Hills Have Eyes, The Last House on the Left, and (natch) Friday the 13th. Check them out out:

I caught In a Violent Nature at the Sundance Film Festival earlier this year (read my review). While I wasn’t as crazy about it as some other horror critics there, watching it on the big screen was indeed a gnarly experience. Director Chris Nash’s retro flick does something interesting in that it takes the perspective of our monstrous, masked hero as he tracks down and kills his victims. It’s like Terrence Malick meets Sean S. Cunningham, with it adopting the now trendy minimalist 1:33:1 arthouse aspect ratio but then filling it with some truly mind-blowing carnage. Again, I didn’t feel like the movie entirely worked, but I still found it entertaining, with some of the goriest kills outside of the Terrifier franchise in recent memory. While it’ll likely do great numbers on Shudder, this is a movie designed to be watched in movie theaters, and with the unrated cut going semi-wide, legit horror fans owe it to themselves to check it out.

What’s your favorite Shudder movie so far? Let us know in the comments!

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