‘In A Violet Nature Part 2’ Review: A Shocking Crowd Pleaser Chock Full Of Guts [Fantastic Fest]

Chris Nash’s surprise indie horror hit In A Violent Nature split audiences with its experimental approach to the slasher. We followed the Jason Voorhees-esque Johnny as he decimated bodies while searching for a beloved locket. The kills were vicious, and the pacing was almost agonizing at times, but it was a fascinating exercise in deconstructing the beloved subgenre in an era full of such deconstructions. So it came as a surprise that In A Violent Nature Part 2, which played at the 2026 Fantastic Fest as a secret screening, reverted to much more familiar roots with its focus on a troubled 14-year-old kid at a summer camp. 

Gone are the minutes-long sequences of a reanimated corpse shambling through the woods, which may be exciting for some. But those who admired the gimmick of it all will be disappointed to find that Nash and co-director Nate Wilson took a more conventional approach this time around, leaning more heavily into the gnarly kills of it all. It’s an art-house Friday the 13th movie, which, again, may be exciting for some! But for this writer, it just feels like another summer camp slasher focused on trying to shock audiences rather than expanding upon their previous experiment. 

Picking up almost immediately after the events of the first film, Johnny is summoned to Camp Puddingstone after Alex (Lucas Nguyen) blows a whistle three times. According to new lore, Johnny is summoned by the aforementioned whistle ritual and kills everyone who’s wronged you. But with the caveat that he’ll kill you, too. So you can imagine what transpires in the wake of young Alex’s sonic experiment. 

But before the guts start flying, we watch Alex get relentlessly bullied, to the point that he misses the bus home from Camp Puddingstone. Forced to stay the night with his camp counselor sister, he gets a taste of adult life and joins the counselors’ end-of-summer party. For a few hours, he occupies a strange liminal space where he’s no longer just a camper, but not really an adult, either. He watches his sister make-out with her boyfriend while he also sneaks sips of liquor and fantasizes about girls. It’s typical coming-of-age horror fodder that we’ve seen time and time again, with a slightly different twist with our emo teenage boy POV.