‘In a Violent Nature 2’ to Start Production in September

In a Violent Nature 2 will start production in Canada this September, Variety has learned.

Announced last year at San Diego Comic-Con, the sequel to the arthouse slasher is once again written by Chris Nash, who is also expected to return to the director’s chair.

Nash will produce alongside Peter Kuplowsky and Shannon Hanmer. Emily Gotto, Nicholas Lazo and Samuel Zimmerman are overseeing development for Shudder.

“In a Violent Nature 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,” Kuplowsky previously said. “That we now have the opportunity to continue following Johnny on his restless walk has us feeling incredibly grateful to our incredible partners at IFC Films/Shudder who believed in Chris’ vision from day one. We are thrilled to return for a new chapter and are excited to deploy Johnny as a conduit to further experiments in the genre.”

In the first film, when a locket is removed from a collapsed fire tower in the woods that entombs the rotting corpse of Johnny (Ry Barrett), 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.

Meagan Navarro wrote in her review, “In a Violent Nature may offer slasher thrills and a delightfully gory rampage across the wilderness, but Nash’s approach captures the carnage through ambient realism. It results in a fascinating arthouse horror experiment that plays more like a minimalist slice-of-life feature with a grim twist.”