Stephen King has received high praise for one of the gnarliest slasher films of 2024

Stephen King spends a lot of his time writing…and I mean a lot a lotjudging by the towering pile of novels, novellas, and short stories the King of Horror wrote over the course of his life (both good and bad). “Dreamcatcher” both). And when he’s not writing, he’s probably got his nose in a book somewhere, whether that’s the case The future bestseller by Liane Moriarty Or some specialized volume that aroused his interest. But when he doesn’t do any of those things, King will likely air this critically acclaimed TV show Your kinkier brother (hey, it’s me, your nerdier brother) won’t shut up or replenish his movie theater card by watching one of the year’s most indie or non-franchise films.

And the man hasn’t spent 2024 slacking off on that front either. Whether he’s singing the praises of Jeremy Saulnier’s action thriller “First Blood” or “Rebel Ridge,” The many subversive twists and turns that JT Mollner’s serial killer thriller “Strange Darling” takes With a non-linear, “Pulp Fiction”-style chapter format, King had a lot to say about films that, for more casual film fans, might have flown under the radar or been buried under mountains of Netflix titles. And never worry, In a Violent Nature fans, the horror maestro also had kind words to say about Chris Nash’s unconventional film festival favorite (and Canadian one – props to our neighbors to the north!).

What if Gus Van Sant, working in his semi-abstract, experimental filmmaking style? “Jerry” inspired by “Tomb Raider” The other films from his “Doom Trilogy” were made “Friday the 13th Part 2” (the “F13” film which featured Jason Voorhees as the big villain of the franchise, but he had yet to get his trademark hockey mask and had to make one due to a bag of… Burlap on his head instead)? You might end up with something like In a Violent Nature, a horror film that unfolds entirely from the point of view of a supernaturally resurrected masked killer. The camera even lingers on him for long periods of time as he walks slowly but surely through the forest as he stalks his prey, creating a strangely calming and even hypnotic effect.

That is, of course, when he is not slaughtering his victims in sadistic and twisted ways. As King once wrote A since-deleted post on Twitter (Only Jason’s rival Freddy Krueger would call him X):

On the violent nature: If you need a scary movie, this one will do the job. It’s slow, almost weak, but when the blood flows, it flows in buckets. The killer wearing his mask looks like the most terrifying agent in the world.

There’s no doubt that Johnny (Ray Barrett), the film’s murder hero, looks a bit like one of Gru’s henchmen from the Despicable Me movies, thanks to his smoke helmet (which itself seems to be a nod to the mining equipment the killer was wearing in Despicable Me movie). “My Bloody Valentine”). At the same time, he is like Jason in that, in contrast to the obviously bad ways in which he kills the humans who unwittingly put him on the path to war, he is an animal force driven more by instinct than deliberate malice (unlike Mr. Krueger). I would argue that “In a Violent Nature” actually invites you to think about deeper concepts like this during lengthy ASMR-y sequences that unpack moments of visceral hyperviolence — including one now-infamous death It very much deserves to be called the most amazing horror film of 2024. Who says a sparse slasher can’t contain multitudes?

“In a Violent Nature” is now streaming on Shudder.