Cult horror hit getting ‘meaner' sequel after flipping slasher genre on its head
The ambitious horror movie was noted for telling its story through the eyes of a killer named Johnny, with the synopsis stating that it 'flips the script on traditional slashers, inviting you to witness the rampage from the monster's eyes'.
It received a passionate response after premiering at the Sundance Film Festival in January 2024 – and a follow-up has been lined up for release in 2026.
Variety reports the sequel will start production in September, with filmmaker Chris Nash returning to write and direct.
In a Violent Nature received mixed reviews from critics, but has since generated a cult fanbase among horror audiences. The Canadian film first screened as part of Sundance's famous 'Midnight' strand, which is where films such as The Blair Witch Project, Hereditary and the controversial Dashcam first premiered.
Bloody Disgusting called the film 'a fascinating arthouse horror experiment that plays more like a minimalist slice-of-life feature with a grim, gory twist', with Polygon adding: 'It's a rare treat and a fantastic exercise in taking a genre in the opposite direction that everyone else has tried.'
However, those who enjoy faster-paced filmmaking were left somewhat frustrated: the film, inspired by the arthouse tradition known as 'slow cinema', features longer takes and has no musical score.
Nash, who named Tree of Life director Terence Malick as an inspiration, described this as a 'slower, more methodical, more deliberate' way to 'follow characters through a scene'.
'In a Violent Nature demonstrated that there continues to be a yearning for new perspectives in the horror landscape,' head of AMC Networks' Film Group Scott Shooman said.
'We knew immediately that this distinctive take on the slasher would enthral fans and are glad to see the community embrace a new slasher icon in Johnny.
'In a Violent Nature' is getting a sequel (IFC Films)
'With the sequel, we aim to prove that Johnny can be bigger, meaner, and his kills can only get more impressive.'
Producer Peter Kuplowsky said the movie was 'originally conceived as a meta-sequel within a fictional slasher series, so we were always imagining mayhem beyond the scope of the original film'.
'We are thrilled to return for a new chapter and are excited to deploy Johnny as a conduit to further experiments in the genre.'

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"The Purge, I always say, is like a punch in the face. I thought here ... we were building something with various layers and twists and turns that The Purge really doesn't have," DeMonaco said. "I wanted to get to this point where the audience would need a cathartic release, ... as Max did. ... I also wanted them to be so angry at certain characters in the film, without giving anything away, that I felt that they would be looking forward to this last 20 minutes." "Sometimes I think filmmakers, ... when we work in certain parameters, we have to pull punches. We can't show everything we want to show. And I was like, no, no, if I'm going to do this, we're going to go, we're going to turn it up to 11. ... It's a matter of always giving [the audience] enough, but not too much, especially when you're dealing with somewhat of a mystery." 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It's got a lot of moving parts and you've got to make sure they're all fitting, and we're just giving enough to the audience, and not letting them sit there in the dark for too long." Big budget vs. more control But when it comes to filmmakers having to "pull punches," DeMonaco highlighted that there's a trade off between working on a big budget film, with more "parameters," or having more freedom, but working with a smaller budget. Taking advice from famed producer Jason Blum, DeMonaco was told, "the smaller your movie, the more control you have." An example of that for DeMonaco was working on the 1996 film Jack, which DeMonaco wrote with Gary Nadeau, and the film was directed by Francis Ford Coppola, starring the late Robin Williams. "I was always writing to direct, that was my path to directing. And I wrote a couple of big movies, big budgets compared to what I'm working with now, ... big directors, and I noticed how they were handcuffed by the studio system, because, somewhat understandably, you're dealing with tens of millions of dollars, and that doesn't include marketing budget," DeMonaco explained. "When I worked with Francis Ford Coppola on my first film, I don't think any of us were truly excited by the film. ... He was really handcuffed by the studio. There was a cut of that film that was much darker, much more interesting to Francis and I and my co-writer at the time. Yet, because of the budget level, they even reeled in Francis Ford Coppola." "And so when I saw this [I thought], what are they going to do to me? ... So when I started getting closer to directing, when I met Sébastien Lemercier, my producer, ... we always had somewhat kept the control. ... When we made Purge one we shot it in 18 days, and it was not easy at all. Even This Is The Night we shot in 25 days. ... At the end of the day, I think that not having people tell you what to do, there's a great benefit to that. Having said that, I do wonder what it's like to make a $100 million film and have all those toys." James DeMonaco teases 'Purge 6': 'We meet some really cool women' As DeMonaco shared that he's finished the script for Purge 6, he also addressed navigating the pressure of continuing the franchise, but also doing it from a place of passion. "I did one job, literally, for money, ... and it was terrible. What I wrote was terrible. ... And this probably really limits me, but I have to work from something that comes from another part of me, that is not just motivated by money or just product," DeMonaco said. "So I knew Jason was calling, studio's calling saying, 'Yeah, we want another one.' ... I'll be honest, I wrote one before this one. I had written another one, but the budget was too big. ... We were going to try something different and go big, and that didn't really work out." "So I told Jason, and he gets it, Jason's great, he's a wonderful producer. So he's like, 'You've got to feel it.' But I think there's always part of Jason that's like, if you don't feel it, we may have to hand off the reins to someone else. [Sébastien and I], we always said we do have a fear that if we hand it off to someone else, it could be turned into something that we don't like. We always see it as a morality tale, and not that everybody has to see it like that, but ... we want to continue what we see. So it was a little pressure of, I'm afraid what someone else will do with it, but I did stick to my kind of internal guns, like make sure you feel something in your soul, because you know you're not going to do good work otherwise. And I think it worked out, meaning everything kind of came together timing-wise where I had an idea, there was some time to do it, and I just finished The Home, so it all kind of came together nicely." As fans are anxiously waiting to see what DeMonaco has in store for Purge 6, the filmmaker stressed that he always said he wouldn't go back to the franchise if he "didn't have something to say," but particularly in today's political climate, he had a story to tell. "There's always a sociopolitical commentary within the Purge movies, and I try not to be preachy, although I think I got preachy in four and five, but I try not to be that preachy," DeMonaco said. "We're in such a weird political time now that something hit me about, I guess five months ago when I pitched the studio my new idea, and they seemed to be really jazzed." "I would say that we get to see some of our old favourite characters. ... We meet some really cool women in this one. That's the tease. We meet some really, really cool women, and I think that's all I probably should say, but that's a big part for you, 90 per cent of it. So I'm pretty excited."