Revolutionary Gorefest Reinvents The Most Popular Movie Genre Of All Time
By Chris Snellgrove | Published
Do you want to know the scariest name you will ever hear a singer? “Reconstruction.” That's a fancy word that creators use when they want to rip something apart to understand how it's made. Done right, this can completely transform genres. For example, Alan Moore's seminal They don't wait it was designed as a reimagining of superhero stories, and this endless look into the minds of people who call themselves superheroes has influenced the final four. decades of comedies and tight-and-flights movies. Done poorly, however, and the construction falls apart, eventually revealing why the original design worked so well in the first place. Unfortunately, that's exactly what happened In a state of violence (2024).
The film serves as an end to the creation of the slasher genre and is an undisguised homage to the 13th series. It's a film with really impressive art: we watch the whole story unfold from the killer's point of view. Like, have you ever wondered what Jason Voorhees does whenever he's not amazingly hacking and punching his way through horned teenagers? In a state of violence tries to answer that question, and gives us the most gruesome execution of modern horror. Unfortunately, it doesn't take long for this movie's gimmick to fall apart and leave you wishing you were watching a traditional sled instead.
When Nature Calls
The layout of In a state of violence begins when a group of friends discovers a mysterious locket hanging from a fire tower. When one of them picks the lock, he unknowingly resurrects the corpse of a serial killer. As he hacks and slashes his way through the woods to retrieve the lock, we learn the backstory: the killer, Johnny, was once a developmentally disabled boy who fell to his death from a fire tower when a prankster flipped sideways. Over the years, mysterious deaths have been attributed to Johnny's vengeful spirit. Now, he's back and scarier than ever, leaving his victims to answer a chilling question: how do you kill someone who's already dead?
Apparently, Johnny is a thinly veiled stand-in for Jason Voorhees. Like the famous Friday the 13th killer, Johnny was a stunted child whose death was caused by an idiotic teenager. Like Jason, he has inexplicably risen from the dead many times, and is almost unstoppable once he kills. Unfortunately, In a state of violenceJonny's gimmick keeps Jonny from being as empathetic or forceful as Jason. Movies are the same Friday the 13th: Part 2 he helped humanize Jason Voorhees, and his limited screen time made him a mysterious character that fans loved to speculate about. Here, Johnny is in front of the camera for almost the entire film, robbing the character of any real mystery.
The Man Behind the Mask
Jonny's constant presence makes it very difficult to piece together the barebones plot of this movie. Keep in mind that we see almost everything from a third-person POV focused on the killer, which means that almost all of the story we get comes from seeing Jonny successfully eavesdropping on other people. It was always difficult to concentrate on what the other actors were talking about because I was waiting for our operator to take off. Like, remember the amazing campfire scene Friday the 13th: Part 2where do we learn more about Jason Voorhees? Imagine how much worse it would all be if we were watching Jason watch the camp counselors.
Now, one place there In a state of violence It really shines in its gruesome execution. This is a Friday the 13th style movie set in the post-Saw era, so our hapless characters almost never die easily. In the morning, Jonny brutally chops someone down from a tree. At one point, we see him feeding a live victim to a wood chipper, and this long shot makes you feel every moment of the boy's agony. In the film's most famous kill, we see him grab a poor girl and pull her head up her body and off her back before sending her mutilated corpse down the steepest hill in the world.
The Real Reason to Watch Horror Movies
That brings us to the thing that sets the movie apart the most. In a state of violence it does a poor job of making horror movies, but it helps viewers discover why they watch horror movies in the first place. If you're here for cool kills and buckets of blood, this movie is almost perfect. Every kill is memorably bad, and done by an incredibly bad killer. However, personally, I like colorful designers, memorable victims. This helps us to really care about these people before they are turned into mincemeat. Here, everyone except Jonny is so forgettable that they're just one step above the nameless people in a Marvel movie.
Going in, I really wanted to love In a state of violence. I am a Friday the 13th fan who is proud to have Jason Voorhees tattooed on my body. Since his franchise has been in legal limbo for so long, I was eager to watch a film that served as a sort of spiritual sequel to the original Friday films. However, writer/director Chris Nash has forgotten the golden rule of filmmaking: if you can't do something better, you shouldn't do it at all. In this case, all the worst Friday the 13th movies are better than them In a state of violenceand you're much better off watching one of those movies instead.
In a state of violence it's divisive, to put it mildly. Critics loved its bold new take on the slasher genre, while mainstream audiences thought the film was slow and acted like Johnny himself. However, the movie is a solid watch for gorehounds, and is worth recommending for its memorable kills, visual effects, and gallon upon gallon of blood spilled by our fearsome killer. If you're looking for a movie with fun kills and a chilling villain design, you should definitely stream this movie on Hulu. If not, you should skip the genre and watch a movie where you might care about one or two characters.
RESULTING IN THE CREATION OF VIOLENCE
