In a Violent Nature (#562)

In a theater with more than the usual crowd of one, I saw another horror film, and I must admit that it was not the usual bill of fare and a welcome change from the Halloween-type scary movie.  It was more than unusual; it was strange and unique and I'd even call it innovative.  It had very little dialogue, with most of it coming from off-camera actors.  Much, maybe too much, of the film featured the camera following s burly man with his back to the camera plodding through a forest.  The events are explained by a young man telling the story of Johnny (obviously the man in the woods) who killed people years ago in this woods, was killed, buried and came back.  One of the group around a campfire listening to the story has found a necklace which we learn belonged to Johnny's mother and he wants it back.  When he's not plodding, Johnny kills anyone he comes across in very graphically filmed ways—like plunging a hook into a girl and pulling out her innards, and tearing off someone's head.  The director seems fixated on still shots of the forest or a river or Johnny's grotesque face when he takes off his full head also grotesque mask.  If there were recognizable actors, you wouldn't know it because you rarely see them.  It is sinister and dark for the most part and so differently structured that it holds you even when you just watch the endless plodding or the forest. Most of the critics (83%) liked it a lot, but less than half (43%) of audiences did not.