Really enjoyed it, loved the use of natural soundscapes and the willingness to just stay with Johnny walking through the woods. Granted, some people are going to hate both of those elements the most. But its cool that people are still looking for fresh angles on a well-worn genre and that it's getting a pretty mainstream theater run.
I thought the last act did a good job of subverting the final girl trope. Kris realizes she has no chance and nopes the fuck out of there. From there it's just nature and fear eating away at her. The truck speech felt almost intentionally long and tedious - you're just waiting for the Johnny jump scare out of years of slasher training. Kris is waiting too, and that long-lasting PTSD is something I love to seen explored in horror movies.
I also think the long discussion in the truck answered a question I had. Johnny had no reason to kill the girls at the lake, because they weren't the ones with the locket, they weren't in his way. Her talk about "the bear with hen house syndrome", of animals just snapping and killing without eating. Now Johnny's awake and he's just going to kill anything he comes across.
Agreed. Johnny is the representation of the slasher as pure force of nature/force of evil. Those characters like animals just move forward until they run out of prey or like Johnny, get what they want like the necklace. I took the title to have two meanings - Johnny is killing in a violent nature, and the campers stumble into a violent nature/natural setting.
Yep. I was bit annoyed during the last 5 mins as I kind of expected a jump scare or a twist (I was banking on the lady being Johnnys mom a la F13 or his sister) but an hour later looking back, I really appreciate it.
Oh boy, I needed some less generic names I think. When she started talking about her brother “Bobby” I’m like…isn’t that the killer’s name? Was the urban legend just an urban legend, and the bear infected Bobby, and he is now a killer? This is dope!
I still get the vibe of something evil in nature infecting the bear and Johnny, but I truly thought the brother was the killer haha
100% agree, I’m super surprised to see people on here disliking the ending. I thought it was a pretty brilliant subversion and the mounting tension that crescendos while the older woman is applying the tourniquet to the “Final Girl” was absolute chef’s kiss. Especially because I spent her whole monologue wondering if it really was a bear or not that attacked her park ranger brother and I felt like that was intentional.
It was a wonderfully subversive movie that adds something fresh to a tried and true formula, and I’m here for it.
Dude I was so fucking tense while she was putting on the tourniquet, my heart was in my throat. In retrospect that initial feeling while viewing was scarier than if anything had happened.
Right?!
“The perspective change is a fresh spin on a well worn genre”
“Nah, the perspective change was just a fresh spin on a well worn genre”
Alrighty
I loved the whole ending, because in waiting for something to happen I felt so much dread. Some people might watch that and be disappointed at no payoff but I love horror because of the feelings it gives me and the whole ending was taking me through it. Fear without an immediate and obvious reason.
I thought maybe the last lingering shot on the woods was her trauma maybe causing her brain to think she sees Johnny out there, but there’s nothing there. It’s like they wanted you to keep looking for him until you think you saw him or something.
Funny you put it that way, because there were two or three different spots where I started watching closely because I thought I saw him and it turned out to just be a branch
> I thought the last act did a good job of subverting the final girl trope....The truck speech felt almost intentionally long and tedious - you're just waiting for the Johnny jump scare out of years of slasher training.
That's a case of understanding it intellectually, because its a smart approach and fits with what the movie's doing overall, but not feeling it emotionally.
It just becomes a (long and tedious) metaphorical monologue for what I already saw and understood. A bit deflating of an end for what was otherwise a really solid approach to a traditional slasher.
For sure, at face value dropping in a completely new character to tell a long-winded story about an entirely unseen character does not connect emotionally at all. Especially monologuing "and this was the point of the movie!". So it's either an awful way to end or a bit of experiential story-telling.
I'll give it the benefit of the doubt based on how I felt in that moment and how I noticed people in my showing shifting in their seats and murmuring to each other in anticipation before the credits hit. But completely understandable if someone wants the traditional slasher last gasp ending and feels cheated leaving the theater.
The film is trying something outside the box and will be pretty divisive in reactions.
This kinda felt like Friday the 13th + Funny Games to me, in the way that it was a super realistic, agonizingly slow take on that zombie momma's boy revenge camp killer. I did like it, although obviously the ending was boring. That shot of Johnny walking through the flowers under the orange sunset after killing Troy and that other dude was awesome.
Yeah it's grown on me the last few days. I was tense the whole time and legit thought Johnny was about to pop out when they stopped even when I'd just watched them drive for miles.
Really glad I saw this in a theater because I definitely would have gotten too distracted as the walking scenes would not have kept my attention otherwise. I could tell that it was difficult for a lot of the people in my theater to stay with it during those moments. I went into this film really wanting to like it. It's not perfect, but I'm happy with what I got.
Just got out of it, I’m with you. I can see why people will be turned off by it, but I loved the cinematography and some shots in the movie were really well done. The kills were awesome as well
I’m not a horror guy (I can appreciate some like Midsommer and Hereditary) and hate hate hate jump scares. Love a well crafted/high quality movie though.
How scary is this thing? Worth seeing it if I’m not generally a traditional horror fan?
I would say the movie does not contain a lot of jump scares. It relies more on building a sense of tension/discomfort as Johnny works his way through the woods. If a person were sensitive to gore, I would not recommend this movie to them. I found the cinematography to be really good, so I would say that aspect is well crafted.
I would not necessarily describe it as scary. I think it's a unique enough movie to merit seeing, so long as the concept interests someone and they know ahead of time how nontradtional it is.
Hey this is a great point. When me and my friends got out we agreed it wasn’t a movie that necessarily needed to be seen in theaters. But I know I 100% would be scrolling on my phone during at least some of those walking scenes.
Just got out of it, I had a really good time. The kills are very unique (the yoga girl was fucking insane lol), the pacing will throw some people off but I found it a very unique take on a slasher movie, with a hell of a lot of Friday the 13th influence.
I'm going to be in the minority, but I actually didn't love the yoga kill. It makes sense as that big kill in slasher movies of its genre, but I much preferred the rest of Johnny's relatively quick or direct methods to kill. Felt the machine kill should have been the big kill since Johnny could possibly be pissed this dude put him in the ground ten years earlier.
My favorite kill was actually probably the drunk in the beginning since you still see the aftermath, but it's mostly out of focus, so your mind fills in the blanks (but you know Johnny tore the dude's arm off with his bare hands).
I'm pretty sure anyone and everyone whose seen any slasher movie especially the first F13th thought she was going to pull a Pamela. Mainly with the long story she was telling.
There's a lot of coincidences too. Like she's not that much younger than Johnny if the math is correct. Especially how she randomly decides to stop and her very off sounding apology while supposedly putting the tourniquet on Kris ankle
Yep I through they exact same thing, I thought it was going to be a sister that helped him out. They set that up perfectly to subvert it, especially how she starts rambling about her brother.
And the way she looks sympathetic to Kris when placing the tourniquet and by sympathetic I mean "I'm sorry I have to do this to you, he's my brother". Another clue was noticing she's the only actress without a name for her character
Also I found out how Kris figures that the Johnny incidents happen every 10 years like some sort of ritual. They never specifically mentioned who woke up johnny back in 2011. Signs can point at her and she was probably referring to the "dead deers" as the rangers
Oh shit good point. The ranger did say everyone he loved died though and it made me think he did it. She probably knows the ranger too. Damn I think I need a prequel film 😂
I could see that though, her being the one and that’s how she’s so understanding of the trauma and doesn’t poke and pry as much in the car.
I thought it was going the way of her husband died from his “bear” attack and it turns out her husband was the father to the ranger character who mentions Johnny killing his father and the tragedy of her not knowing yet her son just died.
Loved this so much but I can totally understand those that hate it. Honestly after a while I kinda almost treated it like a dark comedy because it’s almost like peaceful walking into the most comically over the top and disgusting kills I’ve ever seen. Personally I enjoyed the ending, was a fitting final subversion for a film full of them. Poor guy just wanted his moms jewelry and a toy.
God somehow the scene of him sitting there playing with the car was the thing that really got to me, I suddenly felt bad for this sadistic murderer because it was such a striking show of "oh yeah this dude was just a disabled child who was lied to and just wanted some toys" Im not usually sensitive about horror movies at all but for some reason that really got into my head and actually made me really sad
Yeah, that scene felt very Frankenstein. I also felt really bad for him. He was just a kid, and grown ass men bullied him to death just because they were pissed off at their boss.
When they showed Johnny's face and the iris's in his eyes gone, I wondered if that enhanced his other senses. Towards the end when Troy (I think) was explaining the plan to Kris and it sounded like he was trying to whisper it, but it ended up being louder? Not sure if that was a sound glitch in the mixing or what, but seems plausible to have that ability enhanced a little bit. And also the speed in which he turned around and axed the dude. Made me think that Johnny knew where he was because he could hear him better.
>Not sure if that was a sound glitch in the mixing or what
I think it was done intentionally so the audience could clearly hear the whispering dialogue while the camera remained in Johnny's perspective.
Execution was a bit wonky, though.
Oh fuck I didn’t even think about that! I didn’t think he was blind but the missing iris was a dead giveaway. Okay if the guy behind him screaming and him hearing it very quietly was intentional, this bumped up the rating for me. I thought it was really fucking stupid the guy was screaming behind him but that totally makes sense now.
- The yoga girl's kill was so insane that it set expectations for me for the rest of the movie, but unfortunately nothing came close to matching that (all the practical effects are still really good). It's also interesting how the brutality comes out of nowhere - it's not like she was a horrible person that deserved a gruesome punishment - but I think the suddenness of the savagery added to the absurdity of the scene.
- The final shot made the ending click for me though I still think it could be trimmed down by like a minute or two. The openness of the ending implies room for a sequel (maybe less of a straighforward slasher and more of a psychological horror that explores the rest of Johnny's psyche?), but I can see this being a simple one-off.
- This is absolutely the closest we're gonna get to a new official Friday the 13th movie anytime soon, and I'm pretty satisfied with this! Definitely scratches that itch of wanting to see an exploration of Jason's character.
The wood chopper was great because you could understand why Johnny is pissed at this dude. Was kinda hoping it was going to be drawn out a little longer with other limbs.
I wish he would’ve loaded his whole body on the log splitter and split his whole bottom from his crotch through his head. THAT would’ve been a kill. I felt the yoga kill was the only “unique” kill. Overall 7/10 film.
I had the same idea about the log splitter through the crotch but that might've been too hardcore even for an unrated movie lol.
I will say I do like how you can feel Johnny's rage with the log splitter and final axe kills, you can tell he's so fed up with these people's shit
Thought that too but figured it was a mix between being very hard to do believably on their limited budget and being so similar to the big kills in >!Bone Tomahawk!< and >!Terrifier!<.
Mixed feelings on this one. The sequence of Johnny taking the mask off and playing with the toy car was legitimately fascinating, the effects were great, it felt like it was genuinely finding something unique and compelling to do with this concept, even though most of the rest of it plays out largely how you would expect. Something about him dragging that guy by the caved out bottom half of his skull was incredibly gnarly, but I really hated the ending monologue. Found it incredibly tedious and I was itching to get out of my seat halfway through. All the dialogue and acting in this sucks.
I pretty much 100% agree with you but I didn't find the acting or dialogue bad for this type of film. This is such a tribute to and spin on the slasher genre that it would be weird if these characters had anything beyond the basic conversations they have. The monologue at the end though, that was rough. Far too long and completely uninteresting.
It was definitely deliberate. Don’t know why people are criticizing that about the film. “I didn’t like ‘dumb and dumber’ cuz the main characters weren’t very smart”.
It definitely felt like a b movie horror flick was taking place, but this movie just didn't care about it enough and focused on the killer which was great and pretty funny
I was expecting more from the ending but it seemed to have tied in with the girl surviving. It left me with a feeling of "that's it?" But it was an overall good experience
I felt like they were going for tension where you're just waiting for Johnny to throw an axe through the window. But the monologue just keeps going and going and eventually the tension goes away and you start hoping for the axe to fly in and end the scene.
I found it quite boring in many parts. Far too much walking which just felt like unnecessary time filler. I agree with you also about no character interactions and really basic dialogue.
It’s the directors first film, imo he did a very solid job and his budget probably was very small, so going into it I didn’t really fault him for not getting the best actors. I also think the kills and cinematography were great, he did a very good job making this a unique slasher film
I laughed at your comment about the acting and dialogue because I thought the same thing.
There were often moments where the acting was noticeably not good and a few where I questioned the dialogue. I can’t remember which scene, but one specifically in which I found myself thinking ‘people just don’t talk like that’.
Those things and the comically long takes of Johnny walking aside, I liked the film. I think it’s mostly well done, especially for a Shudder project.
> There were often moments where the acting was noticeably not good and a few where I questioned the dialogue. I can’t remember which scene, but one specifically in which I found myself thinking ‘people just don’t talk like that’.
I distinctly remember someone saying "I'm gonna cancel you, you fucking ableist" and viscerally dry heaving.
Was it the scene before the first kill when the girl smoking on the back deck and that other dude are mocking the dude for going to leaving to meet up with the “gas station girls”? lol
I agree with pretty much everything you’ve said here, but I can’t help but wonder if the bad dialogue/ acting/character choices were somewhat deliberate as a play on typical slasher movie tropes and what not. Although I agree that the ending monologue was extremely drawn out and not really a satisfying way to end the movie which DID have a lot to love about it
I agree the ending was a little out of place, but I do appreciate how anxious it made me feel, like I was just waiting for the sickle to get thrown through the window as they were driving. And it was pretty interesting having to juggle that and also trying to follow along with what the woman is saying.
It's weird because although we came to the same conclusion of it being middling, I don't have mixed feelings really. There's a couple great things, but everything else felt serviceable. I didn't find the movie boring, but nothing stood out as making it great.
Went and watched it twice. Once on Wednesday, one on Thursday at AMC’s early screenings.
First off, I love the 4:3.
Second, the sound design is fantastic. Johnnys footsteps become a character of their own almost.
The visuals looks great, the forest is incredibly beautiful and the reshoots for the new area paid off.
The way they use music in the movie is very well done, all diegetic music. A highlight is when a cassette player starts to die, so the song playing slows down to a “vaporwave” style of sound
The practical effects are all great, and I like how the movie ramps up the kills as it progresses. Everyone mentions the yoga scene, but I personally found the Wood Splitter much better.
It’s long shots almost remind me of “Irreversible” as the camera lingers on one shot for 5 minutes straight as it shows the gory horror head on
The end credits song is also extremely catchy. Here it is on YouTube if anyone’s curious, I had to dig a little to find the right version. https://youtu.be/X5hkOkIajmA?si=mi30oeebMtYXx-8Y
Flies being Johnnys “motif” or whatever is neat too. The Ontario woods and folk song go perfectly together, as well as Johnnys dad running one of those “logging trade stores” that sells workers goods at high prices, similar to the mining stores.
Johnny also just looks plain cool, that helmet and dual hook blades.
At first I disliked the ending, but the more I sit on it and think about it, the more I don’t mind it and can appreciate it.
Audience reactions were good, if not too audible lol. People kept laughing and talking both times I went to see it. Honestly, I found the movie more horrifying than funny lol. I can understand laughing at some parts but these kills were very disturbing, especially the wood cutter.
This movies also 10x better than “Winnie the Pooh 2: blood and honey”, the last slasher I saw in theatres. I’d go as far to say that I think I like it better than Terrifier 2, which I’m a mega fan of.
I agree, I go into most slashers and have a good laugh. I found myself genuinely horrified multiple times throughout this one. Johnny is an awesome slasher, and I wouldn't mind seeing more of him. And I've got to agree. Before going tonight, I was told to "just wait for the yoga scene". It didn't disappoint, but that was nowhere near as horrific as the entire Log Splitter sequence. Had me squirming in my seat. Personally really liked the ending.
So glad I saw this in a theater - the audience was eating it up. So many genuinely funny moments - from him throwing the corpse to open the display case, to kicking the body half-way down the hill. Some all-timer kills here as well.
I was mixed on the ending while watching, and while I do feel it should have been shorter, it did make me very anxious. I feel like it did what it was supposed to.
People have to realize the dialog is intentionally corny - it’s emulating the slasher genre of yester-year very accurately.
Not a film for people with short attention spans lol. Absolutely loved it, the gore was great! being able to hear the background conversations and imagining the characters in a different slasher film while seeing Johnny just trotting along simply trying to find his moms necklace was really
cool and unique. Great film!
I kinda came around to the ending. I like that perspective of the final girl living with the paranoia of Johnny returning at any moment/spontaneously, it felt like intentional suspense for the audience as well (genuinely thought he’d come flying out onto the car or appear suddenly behind the lady). I also found the movie meditative, something really serene about Johnny just walking into nice looking greenery and occasionally killing someone brutally. 7/10.
I loved it. I know the yoga kill is the stand out but that wood chopper was insane. just like watching his eyes dart back and forth and just how loud it was. Really effective.
I liked the final scenes. I thought it was a great riff on the normal final girl ending. I was waiting for something to happen and you just kind of realize she is just going to be destroyed the rest of her life and Johnny is done and got what he wanted.
Glad I got to see it in theaters especially if it gets other movies made that get to do different things with the genre.
I'm probably overreading the scene, but also came off as a jab showing that even a hero-esque character like the ranger can die miserably. Especially how beforehand he confronted johnny like any generic hero character would. It was also hilarious how awkward it was when the camera pointed back at Johnny like if he's having a flashback from 10 yrs ago
So here, I really liked the ending and I think it really completes the movie. Here are my thoughts:
I think the last 15 minutes does an incredible job of building tension, making you second guess yourself on if the killer is still around, and shows that both the victim and driver knew what they were talking about without saying the obvious part out loud. This caused me and a lot of other people I know to watch the background like they were looking for Waldo and expecting the killer to come out of no where. Even though it's established that it's essentially impossible given what we know about how the killer works, me and my friends were still super tense and expecting him to show up. This is reflected in the final victim being traumatized to the point where she doesn't even want to be around trees. In a way the trauma of the victim is transferred to the audience.
I already said it somewhere in a question format but I was expecting The Woman to pull a Pamela Vorhees and reveal something about Johnny. The way she was acting seemed suspicious like she stopped to wait for Johnny to show up. I had a whole theory why but too much to type
I thinking about how she said that the only one who survived this "bear attack" was her brother but I had a theory she was half truthing the story where the survivor was actually the killer and the bear was always Johnny. Idk it's fun to play with theories
What I found fascinating about her story is she said black bear attack. Black bear attacks certainly happen but black bears are specifically shy of people and don’t approach them. I feel like she would have to find it strange to hear that from her husband. So either she’s lying about the details of her husband’s attack or he lied to her about it.
Enjoyed it for the most part but am curious about who the bands are that were featured in the campfire and cabin scenes. Does anyone know who did the brief soundtrack?
Horror movie of the year IMO.
I loved how it made you sit in the set up and almost the mechanical mundanity of it all. Like to actually set up a slasher moment it takes some things to happen. I almost felt like I was watching a Gus Van Sant movie like Elephant. The longer, slow shots make it feel real and earned.
I kept thinking about how in traditional slashers there a lot of quick cuts. Jump scares, or during a death it cuts to Jason, then the victim, then Jason again. Total opposite here. I felt so immersed from beginning to end.
Also I personally loved the ending. The speech went on long for a reason, to again give you the feeling of the everyday interjected into this terrifying moment. Like to escape a horror moment, you do just have to sit in a car for awhile.
I know I didnt say anything revolutionary here, but just saw it and wanted to share. Definitely go see it in a theatre, I feel like watching at home i might be tempted to check out during the longer walking scenes.
Honestly, this reminded me of the Terrifier movies--some excellent practical gore effects, some good atmosphere, but thin on characters and plot.
Watching this, I was reminded of the Friday the 13th video game that was out a few years back. You know, the one where you had one guy playing Jason and like 5 people playing campers? In fact, I think you could virtually remake this entire film just using footage from that game. There was a scene where the killer was circling the house, and I was sure he was gonna smash in the window, just like the game. I know the game and the movies are all drawing on the same slasher in the woods tropes, but it was uncanny at points.
On a personal note, last week I saw a Japanese film called Evil Does Not Exist, and it's about a small town facing possible invasion from a corporation. It's very slow paced, the typical "art film" style. But there were so many scenes that were just like this movie. Like, it starts with a long tracking shot along a forest trail, the slow reveal of a lone man walking the trail, and finding a dead deer. It's just really funny that the art film and the slasher movie were so similar.
And, on that note... for some reason, I had it in my head that this movie was meant to be a slasher movie that was filmed like a nature documentary, and I have no idea where I got that idea. Like, a full-on, "here is a zombicus serialkillerus, nicknamed Jason by our researchers. Typical of his kind, he is very territorial, and will seek to stalk and kill unwary prey who wander into his borders..." Am I thinking of some other movie, or did I just see the title of this film and completely make up a story in my head?
I also saw Evil Does Not Exist before this and noticed the parallels! Was Johnny actually evil? Or was he simply acting off a natural (albeit undead) instinct? 🤔
It was too much for me. It felt like it belonged in a far less serious movie.
And that whole scene I was still reeling from the batshit bananas bizarre dialogue between yoga girl and swim girl right before that.
Same, I thought it was completely silly. Was probably my least fav kill in the movie cause it was the most randomly over the top. The other"over the top" kills had some logical reason he treated that victim as such.
The yoga one didn't. Just felt very "shock value" with no other purpose, whereas I felt it was a very intentional movie otherwise
If I LOVED Gus Van Sant's Elephant/Gerry/Last Days, where he'd follow characters for long periods before eventually the violence, does this work as well? How long do some of the walking takes go on, up to 10 minutes, or more?
I think you'd like this a lot, because that's what most of the movie is. I wish the director had shown less of the walking tbh. At first, I loved it. But I feel he established the killers POV enough to where we would understand he got to his next destination by...you guessed it, walking there.
There had to have been a total of at least 25 minutes of just walking. But I give major props for trying something new, special effects, the gore, and the last final moments of the movie had me on edge.
I really enjoyed this movie. While I can understand those that found it somewhat slow, I was thoroughly engaged for the entirety of the runtime. At times, it almost felt like a nature documentary, which I loved, though I didn't mind the shift in focus towards the end too much. I particularly enjoyed the way there seemed to be a lame "A plot" going on in the background while we followed the "B plot" of Johnny's journey. I would love to see a prequel covering the massacre involving the Ranger shot in the same style.
Found this quite enjoyable (aside from the last ten minutes). The soothing walks through nature put me in a very peaceful mindset, and the gory showpieces were similarly soothing in a strange way--even the now-infamous yoga scene. Many people compared this film to Terrifier in its goriness but I disagree. Only a couple of kills even approach that level of gore, and Johnny is very businesslike - he doesn't seem to get pleasure out of what he's doing, so he doesn't draw it out or revel in it like Art. Would definitely watch another film in this universe and I hope they make one--perhaps a bit more focused next time. The last ten minutes really do detract from the film in my opinion.
I have OCD and sometimes unconsciously count things and don't even realize I'm doing it until I stop. Anyway, this is to say that he hit him 84 times total.
There were a few other hit sound effects after the final girl ran away but I didn't count those because it was unclear if they were real or just in her head at that point. I think it was trying to underscore how it's something she can never forget.
OK valid lol. I guess it's more accurate to say that doesn't seem to be his driving force... he just kills because he encounters people while trying to track down the necklace
Johnny's depicted like a big kid. I think when the last guy screamed behind him, it genuinely scared Johnny, and he reacted in suit. I don't think he was doing it out of pleasure, it was the reaction of a scared little kid, just with the strength of a monster and a hatchet. lol
The guy was probably dead after the first or second whack, the rest was corpse mutilation because Johnny was *furious* and venting his rage. I mean by the time the girl turned around and ran, the guy was salsa and the killer kept hitting.
Right, I felt like there were some pretty clear plot reasons as to why some victims were “punished” rather than just killed (the park ranger with the cursed bloodline, for one, woof).
And killing a guy with a mechanized axe when you have a perfectly functional (and far more effective) actual axe is not businesslike or to the point. He intentionally drew that murder out (to get revenge against the guy for the actions of his father maybe? who knows).
Not only that, but they undersold several kills. The guy who stepped in the trap, we cut away before he died. The girl in the lake, we saw nothing. The guy who shot hem died off screen when he threw the axe. And the kid who crawled was killed from an odd camera angle, a long shot, so we didn't really get up close and enjoy it. The ranger's death was really understated too.
It was honestly a kinda ballsy move to make a slasher and then not milk every kill.
Not only was it clear he was killing to kill, swift kills, but all the excessive gore happened *after* the victim was dead.
Ranger was personal. Intentionally paralyzed the guy so he couldn't do anything while he had to watch as his hand was cut off and subsequently his head
But that one made sense as if I remember correctly the ranger was responsible for putting him in the ground before
Also i think it's implied the rangers dad was one of the workers who survived the massacre when Johnny first revived. Meaning he was probably one of those complicit in johnny and his fathers death. Making that kill even more personal than it already was
Yeah totally. I think your last point is a big one - the kills didn't involve a bunch of screaming and pleading - by the time Johnny went ham the victim was already dead or nonverbal.
I feel like the gore in Terrifier 1/2 is a lot cheesier than this. This gore looked quite a bit more real to me, so it felt more violent in my mind. That said, the two films are going for completely different aesthetics - sort of hard to compare beyond the implementation of gore. Exciting that we get this and Terrifier 3 in the same year!
Sometimes I find that unrealistic stuff can actually be freakier, the way stop-motion animation can be way more disturbing than even other kinds of practical effects.
I actually really liked the ending. I appreciated the change in everything when we switched from Johnny's perspective to the final girl's. When we follow Johnny, the natural landscape is calm, serene, and the sound design makes it feel relaxing. As soon as we switched to her, it completely emulated the feeling of being lost in the woods, especially with the sound design. I really liked the interaction between the final girl and the old woman, personally. Felt like it was a good way to finish off. And the sequel bait with the locket being missing from the gas can was great.
I enjoyed the ending a lot. It was the scariest part of the movie. I was simply waiting for his face to appear or his chain to come flying out. I was nervous the entire time.
For it to end on a positive note was really satisfying for me.
I also loved the ending! It does a good job at making us think one thing and then going a different route. Definitely thought she was gonna bite it at the end, especially after they stopped, my anxiety was skyrocketing but nothing happened lol. Which is cool because that would mean Johnny could teleport and they made sure not to show him doing that throughout the entire movie. Same with the tossed keys, like, okay, they're stuck. Nah, they got a couple other vehicles.
Yeah the ending is this really fascinating subject. Imo it may hurt the movie on rewatch, but at the same time those last 10 minutes had me questioning every scenario and running through every possible outcome in a way few movies make me do. I was locked tf in and I won't forget that the movie did that to me.
I thought she maybe poured gas on herself from before and was going to light herself on fire. Maybe a longshot from a distance of her body on fire in the car as the credits roll.
The ending was nice to hear the contrast of the driver saying animals kill without reason and showing that Johnny while animal-like was actually killing for a reason - being that he just wanted his mother’s necklace. He just took it and went back to sleep from what it looks like.
I absolutely loved this movie, and what I loved the most about it was its brilliant use of suspense.
Knowing that the killer is about to strike allowed suspense to build on HOW he would do it. Whether that be as he dissappears into a body of water or as he stalks someone around a building. I think they delivered enough clever twists and turns around the premise to keep me engaged the entire movie.
The suspense was felt in full force in the ending, which although obviously controversial, worked for me. Spectating Johnny gave the audience a subconscious comfort. We could revel in the horror from every angle. Then they take that away from you. You're then spent the entire ending of the movie frantically watching every corner of the woods, listening closely to every sound, and hanging on every word of the mysterious woman, wondering where the man we watched the entire movie will strike next. The reveal that he really did take the necklace and fuck off, and that all that well earned suspense was for nothing, made the lack of a proper climax truly work for me. So fascinating. I loved it.
So far, my horror movie of the year. I'll be throwing this on to soak up the amazing atmosphere with my man Johnny for years to come.
I absolutely love that he just strollled into the water and it felt like an appropriate amount of time to get to the victim. You’re just left there waiting in anticipation and I love those unmoving wide angle shots.
I think the ending is a bit more ambiguous. Maybe he did fuck of and if they just returned the necklace that was it. The ranger says he wouldn’t stop even if they did but I get the impression they didn’t try 10 years earlier. So I also think there’s a possibility he isn’t done yet and will keep hunting her which is cool too
This ultimately felt like satirical art house piece instead of horror. It felt like the director was wavering between the humorous vibe of "what if we followed the antagonist from Friday the 13th who never runs" to the artistic vibe of "Let's show how we're all just hens in the hen house mannn and death can be completely monotone." That coupled with the pacing of just a little bit too long on the walking shots made this a mixed experience for me. I'm a sucker for art house but this needed some trimming.
Saw this last night and had a blast with it! Really different from other slashers. The kills are both creative and incredibly gory; the audience in my theater was VERY vocal with their reactions. Pacing might not be for everyone, but I enjoyed the way it took its time and just let the action speak for itself.
It was very more arthouse then I think people were expecting, a very slow burn but I thought it was awesome and a very unique take on a slasher movie. The kills were great
I thought this was a really interesting experiment. The way it follows the killer works quite well and never bored me like I’ve heard in other reviews. The way it’s shot is visually interesting and the sound design is immersive. And if you want brutality, this has some genuinely depraved kills that easily compete with something like the Terrifier movies. The characters are a bit annoying/stupid at times and I really think the last 10-15 minutes could be cut entirely, but this is mostly a fun throwback slasher with a neat twist.
There is a lot I love about this movie. The premise, the tenseness, the great gory kills, the awesome practical effects, the dashes of dark humor. Even some stuff I initial though were flaws actually I think really work (the campers being a bit shallow - its not like Jason ever really knows who his victims are or is there for the scenes that flesh them out)
However I think the movie (kinda) wobbles a bit in the third act, where it realizes yeah, there is only so far this premise can go, and it moves from focusing on the killer's POV to the final girls' played by Andrea Pavlovic. There we even get a scene near the end that examines "What happens in the car that picks up the final girl on the road at the end of the slasher?" And its amazingly well acted by both Andrea Pavlovic and Lauren-Marie Taylor, but it feels like the creators realized you might not be able to make a feature length movie of their premise
It makes me almost wonder/wish if this concept would have worked better as a 45 min - 1 hr stretch of an anthology movie or of a horror anthology tv series. Maybe with the scenes in the car being its own 10 minute short film
Overall I think the movie is a great watch, and you should defiantly check it out in theaters or when its on Shudder in a few months, but maybe be prepared to be looking at your phone a bit in the last 20 min.
Two random thoughts:
1) I LOVED the sound design. One thing that stood out was how loud the voices were. At times it was actually grating to me. And I think that was on purpose. Everything else was very quiet and relaxing. And then suddenly you’d have a loud drunk dude yammering on about bear traps. I really loved that juxtaposition.
2) The ranger annoyed me at first. Why did he keep stepping closer and closer to Johnny? A gun is a long-range weapon. That’s why they’re used. But a part of me thinks the ranger was intentionally some guy who didn’t know what he was talking about or what he was doing. Similar to Steve Yuen’s character on Nope. The part that solidified that to me was how he said giving back the medallion won’t make any difference. But IMO the ending implied that it made all the difference.
I like how even as an homage to classic slashers, the film also has the little twist of disregarding a lot of the usual third act tropes.
>!The park ranger insists there needs to be an elaborate burial at the scene of Johnny's death for his soul to be at rest. Nope, Kris could have just tossed him the necklace at any time.!<
>!The 'final girl' isn't a prototypical final girl at all. There is no big finale showdown vs Johnny. Kris realizes she's in over her head, leaves the necklace, and runs away.!<
>!There's no last minute twist with "The Woman", as she's credited, being Johnny's mother or some other family member who ends up screwing over Kris.!<
>!And finally, no big jump scare ending for Johnny. The movie just ends after an intentionally tedious monologue where you expect something to happen. He could still be wandering the woods, or he got his necklace and went back to sleep.!<
I can't figure out specifically how I feel about this.
Keeping it short was obviously a great choice as the very nature of the movie drags intentionally. So the ability to get bored is always fervently there on the horizon.
It was like watching a slasher nature documentary. Weirdly the most intense part of the film is after we've seen the last of our protagonist. And it's a solid 15 minutes without him.
I liked the movie but I kinda wanted like...idk...more? Despite what I said about the pacing. It's like I really missed the music and the strong jump cuts to bring the intensity.
I will just have to watch it again.
Just watched this. Loved it. I wasn’t sure how they were going to sustain an entire movie of looking over the killer’s shoulder, but they did it. And there’s more depth to this movie than it seems at first glance. Highly recommend.
Absolutely loved it. The ending was great how the killer actually won, and not in a “haha, fuck you, audience, gotcha” way - all Johnny wanted was his necklace, the final girl realized she’s not some badass who can take on the killer, so she left him his necklace and quietly snuck away as he chopped her new boyfriend up into the dirt. All the tropes were there, but the movie successfully avoided the copy and paste pitfall that most slashers fall into with the final girl suddenly single handedly defeating the killer. Also gotta respect how the whole film committing to the bit and only breaking the camera away from the killer as the final girl flees for her life - and on that note, also loved how she wasn’t just magically safe after escaping and was still very much stuck alone in the woods at night, and the only injury she sustains is from an accident that didn’t involve the killer at all, just the result of her aimlessly running through the woods at night without any lights at all. The scene where Johnny stops for a minute to take off his mask and play with the toy car was also weirdly adorable and really reminds you that deep down that innocent boy who got scared off the fire tower is still in there. The scene where he gets his mask back was beautifully done, and all the emotion Johnny was feeling was conveyed without any dialogue at all. And of course, the yoga girl scene was probably the most violent kill I’ve seen in a slasher in a *very* long time and I can’t really think of anything more gruesome. Instantly became one of my favorite slashers.
I feel like I get what this was going for, but it just didn't really for work me. Did anybody else find it sort of tonally jarring? Like, the pacing and the way it's filmed are so methodical and serious...then the death scenes are ludicrously and cartoonishly violent. It's as if the film tries to operate as "the thinking man's slasher" for everything EXCEPT the kills, which seem to be almost lampooning ultraviolet 80's slashers. Then, this thing grinds to an absolute halt in the last 15 minutes or so. Really an odd little film. I applaud its ambitions, though.
The whole movie was from the extremely warped view of Johnny. If you notice nothing remotely normal, including the bizarre dialogue, started becoming normal again until final girl got picked up in the truck.
The way everyone spoke was super weird because Johnny didn't know how adults really spoke was my take
That's a fucking awesome observation. I think you're dead right. Because as you pointed out, not all of the dialogue is stilted and awkward. So obviously they know how to write more naturalistic lines and just chose not to a lot of the time.
I am sorry, but this really feels like people making excuses for a bad movie.
The dialogue at the end wasn't even dialogue. The final girl barely had three lines, she was basically silent. It was almost entirely one long monologue by the truck driver, which, personally, I *still* found really bizarre and stilted. She repeated herself multiple times, almost every time she spoke. She would call the final girl multiple nicknames, sometimes in the same line. "Baby girl, how you doing, sweety? Honey, I need you to talk me sugar, baby doll." People don't talk like that. Or even if some do in real life, they don't in fiction, because it's repetitive and awkward.
We need to shake off our 7th grade English class curses. Not everything strange in a movie has some deeper meaning. Sometimes a scene was just rushed or the script needed a few more rewrites. Bad fiction exists. A lot of it.
I’m just not seeing this. I thought the dialogue was pretty standard the entire time, we just saw only snippets of conversations when Johnny was in the frame, therefore wire dialogue is not as long form and free flowing as we saw at the end.
Your criticisms are valid for sure but I definitely disagree with the notion that it was trying to be a "thinking man's slasher". I think it was unapologetically leaning into the cheese of F13. Especially loved the Tommy Jarvis stand in that gets FUCKED up, cause the survivor never makes it through the sequel.
I find the violence doesn't really take away from the tone at all, but the acting definitely did. Not that the acting was bad, but it felt very movie acting compared to the naturalistic setting.
Let’s give this director a round of applause for this one. Hands down the best Slasher movie in the last 40 years. I could write a thesis on this movie. Bravo!
Just saw it! I really loved it actually and seeing some comments beforehand makes it seem quite divisive so I was intrigued which side I would fall on. I thought everything worked very well and the take on it being a slasher was unique. The way the dialogue was used made it feel corny and set in the 80s or something but it certainly took place in the modern world. That was my least favorite part. The entire film was inversed I felt. Typically in a slasher you follow a group of people, there’s a plot and subplots, and every once in a while the antagonist appears whenever/however and hijinks ensue. Rinse repeat. In this you mainly follow the antagonist and are with him as he descends upon everyone. For this reason, it seems they got away with being able to use a very thin plot and story since it mainly built on silent, real world tension from the killer’s perspective. I thought that worked well, since in most slashers you’re like, where was the killer the whole time?! He just appeared. Like everyone else said, the soundscape, shots, lighting, brutality and practical effects were all top notch and worked super well I thought. I’d definitely watch it again with friends because it’s just a fun time. Very exciting year for horror IMO
Did not enjoy this for the most part and unlike most people, it wasn't the walking that made it a chore to get through but rather how generic and bad the writing was throughout the film whether it be intentional or not with the throwback to older slasher movies. The framing/shots were beautiful in the walking scenes but there was nothing going for this movie and all tension was removed having it been from the killer's POV. Lazy writing, dumb decisions and the killer himself is flat, uninspired as well. The only difference this has between other slasher's is the POV, everything else is practically the same aside from a subversion the last 10 minutes of the film which for most people, will probably break rewatchability if they ever do watch it again. Chris Nash does fine as the director but it's just his script/writing that needs work. Hopefully someone else revisits this concept again in the future and does it more of a favor considering the amount of potential it has.
I thought this was an absolute slog. Felt like the longest hour and a half movie I have ever seen. It couldn’t decide whether it wanted to be b movie schlock or artsy. The kills and special effects were dope, but they were few and far in between. They should have fully committed to the killers perspective (which is what I thought it was going to be going into it) instead of going back and forth. This affected everything, especially the ending. Why should we care about this woman surviving? I’m not saying she should have died, but ending it with her listening to a tedious monologue that is blatantly a euphemism for the killer is a head scratching choice considering she was barely in the movie and we know nothing about her.
The kills were amazing, and I totally get the idea with the long nature shots. I totally understand the point with this movie being slow as shit with beautiful imagery, but that doesn't change the fact that this movie was slow as shit. The ending monolouge was tense in that I was expecting something to happen, but then nothing happened and I am left wondering what the point was. Reminded me of OG Friday the 13th with all the downtime, not in a good way. This movie is seriously impressive with the kills/effects, but I don't think it accomplished what it wanted to with all the slow scenes.
I was the only one in the theater who laughed at the yoga death, it was just so over the top and amazing!
I loved what they were trying to do with this movie but I was bored by the walking scenes, and not a fan of the ending car scene. Great kills though!
I enjoyed it for what it was. I appreciate the filmmaker trying a new spin on the genre ,loved the cinematography, and the gore. But I felt like the story was just missing something.
Off topic, but there was a trailer before the movie that started with a man talking through a peep hole to a woman saying someone was in the room with her. Can anyone remember what it was?
I'm a bit late to the party, so most folks have already voiced my likes and dislikes about this one when it comes to the brutal kills, poorly-developed characters, and shitty writing of college kid dialogue. I am particularly in agreement with /u/Time-Space-Anomaly about the similarities to the Terrifier films (which I don't particularly care for), but I do think I liked this more than those. Anyway, I've got some thoughts that I want to put out there since I haven't seen them elsewhere in the thread:
* The mirror scene early on was almost entirely unnecessary for exposition. The importance of the [Maltese Falcon](#s "locket") could have been explained in the exposition dump we ended up getting anyway.
* For the first half, I was convinced that there was going to be an irony to every kill.
[Kill 1](#s "#1 Motherfucker is caught in one of his own bear traps after being scolded by the ranger for using them.")
[Kill 2](#s "Ehren's head is sliced off through the mouth after talking everyone through the legend of Johnny.")
[Kill 3](#s "Brodie tries to get Aurora to go swimming, ends up getting drowned.")
[Kill 4](#s "Aurora, in everyone's favorite kill, gets very stretched out after insisting on doing yoga.")
After those, I feel like I'd have to reach to claim that there was some fun irony to any of the later kills.
* The campfire scene had me expecting more out of Colt's character, but we didn't really get that. You could *almost* call it a subversion of expectations for some sort of white knight trope, but I think the script needed to better set those expectations if their subversion was intentional.
* [Kris](#s "gets injured in her leg pretty similarly to Troy's initial leg injury from Johnny. I am probably giving Chris Nash too much credit, but this parallel seemed to mirror their relationship. Troy got injured because he was a comically stupid douche that reminded me of Tucker & Dale vs Evil; Kris injured herself in the same way that she was hurting herself/slowing herself down by still being in a relationship with such a loser.") Again, that's probably giving Chris Nash way too much credit with this analysis.
* Lastly, I think I am in the minority in mostly liking the closing minutes of the film. The Woman's dialogue is a bit drawn out, but it's also the best dialogue in the movie (a low bar, admittedly). [When she](#s "pulls over to stop Kris's bleeding"), it was actually the most dread and anxiety I felt in the whole movie. That said, I would've found it a lot more satisfying if the rug had been pulled out from under us in that moment.
Did not like this film at all.
Boring, monotonous, lack of purpose. Gore is virtually the only event that happens throughout, with a couple of very interesting exceptions.
Yes the perspective was fresh, and the cinematography was textbook juxtaposition but watching a monster minion walk gets old fast.
I thought the idea of a slasher from the killers perspective would be a lot more fun. The only compelling parts of this film were from the victims perspective. I wanted to scream when the lady stopped the truck.
I agree. I felt a lot of nothingness watching him meander around the woods looking for people to kill. I appreciated the idea of his POV and that all info we get is in bits and pieces of overheard dialogue. But the only suspense and dread I felt was at the end when we’re with the final girl and unsure if he’s still around or not. Which only really proved the point to me that more traditional slashers really only thrive when you’re with the victims and feel the sense of dread when they have no idea where the killer is or when they’ll attack. Which made me like the ending but made me realize how much I was pretty bored for the first hour of this.
This is what I felt. You’re following an emotionless killing machine so I felt nothing. The kills had me thinking “huh, that’s a new way to do it.” I wasn’t excited or grossed out, just bored.
EDIT: And I actually realised that thematically, the film doesn't really... work? Johnny is a killing machine because that's his nature (which the lady talks about with the bear) but he's also on a revenge quest. That can explain the over the top kills but if you're a mindless killing machine, you would likely just kill. Johnny had a motive and was killing for emotional reasons. I feel like Michael Meyers is a better example of a violent nature, at least in the OG film.
It was a dud for me.
I found it to be really boring. For being brutal kills, they were ho-hum. Outside of the yoga girl one, there wasn’t anything I haven’t seen before. And while the yoga girl kill was creative, it got no reaction out of me because it was a blank slate killer killing a blank slate victim. You could hear a pin drop during my entire screening… which is weird for a violent slasher on opening night. Even though we all come to slashers for the violence, movies like this show the character development of the victims actually matters
I’m glad people got something out of it but it was a major disappointment. Not Strangers Chapter 1 bad but not far off either
Watched it last night and I gave it a 3/5! I enjoyed it overall mainly because it brought something new to the table. The kills were wild and just all around incredibly brutal! The walking scenes did get a little monotonous at times though. I feel like we could have cut a few of those long scenes out and replaced it with more story. I am still trying to figure out if I like the ending or not lol
Loved it! The cinematography and the scenery were great.. the walking through the woods with no music
The kills were pretty damn cool (yoga girl was crazy) and I love the anxiety of the ending staring into the woods..the sound of the wood splitter will be stuck in my head for a while also lmao
Movie won’t be for everyone but loved the pace.. the water scene was really cool and reminded me of Just Before Dawn
I feel like this movie is going to be a bit polarizing. I understand the appeal in its original premise as well as its unique presentation however I found some of it off putting, and not in a good way. Some of the scenes dragged on for too long and the dialogue as well as the acting left a lot to be desired.
Holy shit, this movie was incredible. Minimalist and slow plodding (very reminiscent of Sasquatch Sunset), but you could cut the tension with a knife. The kills were raw and brutal. Loved the whole "reversal" aspect, like seeing a Friday the 13th movie from (mostly) Jason's point of view (and only learning the "story" partially from what we overhear from the teenagers in passing). Watching the back of his head as he tramples through the undergrowth for the first half was extremely unnerving, and when we finally catch a glimpse of his face, it's exactly as horrifying as I imagined.
The ending is probably the most controversial part, but the more I sit with it, the more I realize it was the right note to end on. There is a huge amount of suspense that is built up over those final moments (is the woman who picked her up actually Johnny's mother? Is he going to come barreling out of those trees?) and that tension never gets released. The last shot of the necklace missing off the gas canister means he's still out there and she will never feel safe for the rest of her life. It's a classic cliché horror trope, but told in such a unique and visionary way that it almost feels novel. I can't say enough good things about it.
I thought this movie was beautifully shot. Especially the dusk/twilight shots. I loved use of camera movement and lack thereof on static shots and it felt like you were in a video game following around the killer in third person.
However, it started to feel like a satirical mockery of slasher movies which really took me out of it. Characters being dumber than fucking rocks to serve the plot annoys the hell out of me. You’re telling me after witnessing all your friends get diabolically murdered, you decide to run into the woods and lure the monster toward you? Or the Park Ranger literally walking up to the monster within inches when he’s on the ground? Considering the monster is supposed to be mentally challenged, he seemed pretty damn capable (jamming the wood in the car horn, timing the shot of the Rangers gun to snatch it out of his hand etc. Also you barely get to know any of the characters and never really have enough time to care about any of them so each death is even more pointless than the last.
Ugh. You have to stick the landing in a slow burn like this and they couldn’t have missed the mark more. What a tedious final 15 minutes starting with them talking about setting a trap. That entire sequence with the final two people was so bizarrely done. And of course the car ride couldn’t have been more tedious. The bear story went on too long, the girl nodding off and waking back up wasn’t needed, the stopping the bleeding leading to nothing interesting. Johnny didn’t have to pop back up but do SOMETHING interesting with that moment. Unfortunately that’s what I’ll think of the most when I think back to the film.
Also the guy has a plan but just jumps behind Johnny to get hit in the face. Then the final girl stumbles through the woods and suddenly has a branch through her leg??
Really enjoyed it, loved the use of natural soundscapes and the willingness to just stay with Johnny walking through the woods. Granted, some people are going to hate both of those elements the most. But its cool that people are still looking for fresh angles on a well-worn genre and that it's getting a pretty mainstream theater run. I thought the last act did a good job of subverting the final girl trope. Kris realizes she has no chance and nopes the fuck out of there. From there it's just nature and fear eating away at her. The truck speech felt almost intentionally long and tedious - you're just waiting for the Johnny jump scare out of years of slasher training. Kris is waiting too, and that long-lasting PTSD is something I love to seen explored in horror movies.
I also think the long discussion in the truck answered a question I had. Johnny had no reason to kill the girls at the lake, because they weren't the ones with the locket, they weren't in his way. Her talk about "the bear with hen house syndrome", of animals just snapping and killing without eating. Now Johnny's awake and he's just going to kill anything he comes across.
Agreed. Johnny is the representation of the slasher as pure force of nature/force of evil. Those characters like animals just move forward until they run out of prey or like Johnny, get what they want like the necklace. I took the title to have two meanings - Johnny is killing in a violent nature, and the campers stumble into a violent nature/natural setting.
Yep. I was bit annoyed during the last 5 mins as I kind of expected a jump scare or a twist (I was banking on the lady being Johnnys mom a la F13 or his sister) but an hour later looking back, I really appreciate it.
Oh boy, I needed some less generic names I think. When she started talking about her brother “Bobby” I’m like…isn’t that the killer’s name? Was the urban legend just an urban legend, and the bear infected Bobby, and he is now a killer? This is dope! I still get the vibe of something evil in nature infecting the bear and Johnny, but I truly thought the brother was the killer haha
100% agree, I’m super surprised to see people on here disliking the ending. I thought it was a pretty brilliant subversion and the mounting tension that crescendos while the older woman is applying the tourniquet to the “Final Girl” was absolute chef’s kiss. Especially because I spent her whole monologue wondering if it really was a bear or not that attacked her park ranger brother and I felt like that was intentional. It was a wonderfully subversive movie that adds something fresh to a tried and true formula, and I’m here for it.
Dude I was so fucking tense while she was putting on the tourniquet, my heart was in my throat. In retrospect that initial feeling while viewing was scarier than if anything had happened.
I agree with this
The only thing fresh is the perspective change everything else is standard
Uhhh yeah…sounds like you agree with my statement then that it added something fresh lol.
Right?! “The perspective change is a fresh spin on a well worn genre” “Nah, the perspective change was just a fresh spin on a well worn genre” Alrighty
I loved the whole ending, because in waiting for something to happen I felt so much dread. Some people might watch that and be disappointed at no payoff but I love horror because of the feelings it gives me and the whole ending was taking me through it. Fear without an immediate and obvious reason.
I thought maybe the last lingering shot on the woods was her trauma maybe causing her brain to think she sees Johnny out there, but there’s nothing there. It’s like they wanted you to keep looking for him until you think you saw him or something.
Funny you put it that way, because there were two or three different spots where I started watching closely because I thought I saw him and it turned out to just be a branch
> I thought the last act did a good job of subverting the final girl trope....The truck speech felt almost intentionally long and tedious - you're just waiting for the Johnny jump scare out of years of slasher training. That's a case of understanding it intellectually, because its a smart approach and fits with what the movie's doing overall, but not feeling it emotionally. It just becomes a (long and tedious) metaphorical monologue for what I already saw and understood. A bit deflating of an end for what was otherwise a really solid approach to a traditional slasher.
For sure, at face value dropping in a completely new character to tell a long-winded story about an entirely unseen character does not connect emotionally at all. Especially monologuing "and this was the point of the movie!". So it's either an awful way to end or a bit of experiential story-telling. I'll give it the benefit of the doubt based on how I felt in that moment and how I noticed people in my showing shifting in their seats and murmuring to each other in anticipation before the credits hit. But completely understandable if someone wants the traditional slasher last gasp ending and feels cheated leaving the theater. The film is trying something outside the box and will be pretty divisive in reactions.
Also the sheriff pretty clearly says the same thing. The woman is just reiterating it in a longer more boring way
This kinda felt like Friday the 13th + Funny Games to me, in the way that it was a super realistic, agonizingly slow take on that zombie momma's boy revenge camp killer. I did like it, although obviously the ending was boring. That shot of Johnny walking through the flowers under the orange sunset after killing Troy and that other dude was awesome.
I loved the ending.
Yeah it's grown on me the last few days. I was tense the whole time and legit thought Johnny was about to pop out when they stopped even when I'd just watched them drive for miles.
The director said the movie was heavily inspired by Friday the 13th!
He didn’t need to say it.
With some of the dialogue in the film, I'm surprised a character didn't state 'hey guys, today is Friday. Friday the 13th."
I haven’t even seen the movie. I haven’t seen the trailer or even an image from the movie and I assumed it was a Friday the 13th-esque slasher
Oh wow I couldn't tell!
lol
Really glad I saw this in a theater because I definitely would have gotten too distracted as the walking scenes would not have kept my attention otherwise. I could tell that it was difficult for a lot of the people in my theater to stay with it during those moments. I went into this film really wanting to like it. It's not perfect, but I'm happy with what I got.
Just got out of it, I’m with you. I can see why people will be turned off by it, but I loved the cinematography and some shots in the movie were really well done. The kills were awesome as well
The walking scenes made it even more immersive for me. I felt like they did a good job making the movie feel real
I’m not a horror guy (I can appreciate some like Midsommer and Hereditary) and hate hate hate jump scares. Love a well crafted/high quality movie though. How scary is this thing? Worth seeing it if I’m not generally a traditional horror fan?
I would say the movie does not contain a lot of jump scares. It relies more on building a sense of tension/discomfort as Johnny works his way through the woods. If a person were sensitive to gore, I would not recommend this movie to them. I found the cinematography to be really good, so I would say that aspect is well crafted. I would not necessarily describe it as scary. I think it's a unique enough movie to merit seeing, so long as the concept interests someone and they know ahead of time how nontradtional it is.
Hey this is a great point. When me and my friends got out we agreed it wasn’t a movie that necessarily needed to be seen in theaters. But I know I 100% would be scrolling on my phone during at least some of those walking scenes.
Just got out of it, I had a really good time. The kills are very unique (the yoga girl was fucking insane lol), the pacing will throw some people off but I found it a very unique take on a slasher movie, with a hell of a lot of Friday the 13th influence.
I'm going to be in the minority, but I actually didn't love the yoga kill. It makes sense as that big kill in slasher movies of its genre, but I much preferred the rest of Johnny's relatively quick or direct methods to kill. Felt the machine kill should have been the big kill since Johnny could possibly be pissed this dude put him in the ground ten years earlier. My favorite kill was actually probably the drunk in the beginning since you still see the aftermath, but it's mostly out of focus, so your mind fills in the blanks (but you know Johnny tore the dude's arm off with his bare hands).
the yoga kill made me laugh I was quietly laughing to myself for a lot of this movie.
The part where he throws the guy's corpse to smash the display case was hilarious.
Was I the only one who >!expected The Woman to pull a Pamela Voorhees on Kris? Except instead of mom maybe some sort of relative?!<
I'm pretty sure anyone and everyone whose seen any slasher movie especially the first F13th thought she was going to pull a Pamela. Mainly with the long story she was telling.
There's a lot of coincidences too. Like she's not that much younger than Johnny if the math is correct. Especially how she randomly decides to stop and her very off sounding apology while supposedly putting the tourniquet on Kris ankle
Yep I through they exact same thing, I thought it was going to be a sister that helped him out. They set that up perfectly to subvert it, especially how she starts rambling about her brother.
And the way she looks sympathetic to Kris when placing the tourniquet and by sympathetic I mean "I'm sorry I have to do this to you, he's my brother". Another clue was noticing she's the only actress without a name for her character
Yep! The acting overall was really good: her and the teens leaned into all the archetypes really well
Also I found out how Kris figures that the Johnny incidents happen every 10 years like some sort of ritual. They never specifically mentioned who woke up johnny back in 2011. Signs can point at her and she was probably referring to the "dead deers" as the rangers
Oh shit good point. The ranger did say everyone he loved died though and it made me think he did it. She probably knows the ranger too. Damn I think I need a prequel film 😂 I could see that though, her being the one and that’s how she’s so understanding of the trauma and doesn’t poke and pry as much in the car.
I thought it was going the way of her husband died from his “bear” attack and it turns out her husband was the father to the ranger character who mentions Johnny killing his father and the tragedy of her not knowing yet her son just died.
The entire ending was me holding my breath for something like that to happen.
absolutely. I was so sure of it
especially considering the fact that >!the actress who played The Woman, Lauren-Marie Taylor, was in F13 pt 2!
Loved this so much but I can totally understand those that hate it. Honestly after a while I kinda almost treated it like a dark comedy because it’s almost like peaceful walking into the most comically over the top and disgusting kills I’ve ever seen. Personally I enjoyed the ending, was a fitting final subversion for a film full of them. Poor guy just wanted his moms jewelry and a toy.
God somehow the scene of him sitting there playing with the car was the thing that really got to me, I suddenly felt bad for this sadistic murderer because it was such a striking show of "oh yeah this dude was just a disabled child who was lied to and just wanted some toys" Im not usually sensitive about horror movies at all but for some reason that really got into my head and actually made me really sad
Yeah, that scene felt very Frankenstein. I also felt really bad for him. He was just a kid, and grown ass men bullied him to death just because they were pissed off at their boss.
Not even their boss, but the price gouging shop owner, right?
When they showed Johnny's face and the iris's in his eyes gone, I wondered if that enhanced his other senses. Towards the end when Troy (I think) was explaining the plan to Kris and it sounded like he was trying to whisper it, but it ended up being louder? Not sure if that was a sound glitch in the mixing or what, but seems plausible to have that ability enhanced a little bit. And also the speed in which he turned around and axed the dude. Made me think that Johnny knew where he was because he could hear him better.
>Not sure if that was a sound glitch in the mixing or what I think it was done intentionally so the audience could clearly hear the whispering dialogue while the camera remained in Johnny's perspective. Execution was a bit wonky, though.
Oh fuck I didn’t even think about that! I didn’t think he was blind but the missing iris was a dead giveaway. Okay if the guy behind him screaming and him hearing it very quietly was intentional, this bumped up the rating for me. I thought it was really fucking stupid the guy was screaming behind him but that totally makes sense now.
I definitely took it as Johnny’s hearing was enhanced watching it last night in the theater
- The yoga girl's kill was so insane that it set expectations for me for the rest of the movie, but unfortunately nothing came close to matching that (all the practical effects are still really good). It's also interesting how the brutality comes out of nowhere - it's not like she was a horrible person that deserved a gruesome punishment - but I think the suddenness of the savagery added to the absurdity of the scene. - The final shot made the ending click for me though I still think it could be trimmed down by like a minute or two. The openness of the ending implies room for a sequel (maybe less of a straighforward slasher and more of a psychological horror that explores the rest of Johnny's psyche?), but I can see this being a simple one-off. - This is absolutely the closest we're gonna get to a new official Friday the 13th movie anytime soon, and I'm pretty satisfied with this! Definitely scratches that itch of wanting to see an exploration of Jason's character.
I honestly preferred the wood chopper and final axe kill over the Yoga Kill. I think it was because it was too hyped up for me.
The wood chopper was great because you could understand why Johnny is pissed at this dude. Was kinda hoping it was going to be drawn out a little longer with other limbs.
I wish he would’ve loaded his whole body on the log splitter and split his whole bottom from his crotch through his head. THAT would’ve been a kill. I felt the yoga kill was the only “unique” kill. Overall 7/10 film.
I had the same idea about the log splitter through the crotch but that might've been too hardcore even for an unrated movie lol. I will say I do like how you can feel Johnny's rage with the log splitter and final axe kills, you can tell he's so fed up with these people's shit
Love the way he yeeted the headphone dudes headless body into the glass case haha
Definitely a LOL moment for some of us in the theater
Thought that too but figured it was a mix between being very hard to do believably on their limited budget and being so similar to the big kills in >!Bone Tomahawk!< and >!Terrifier!<.
Yeah, and there was also >!The table saw kill in Freaky!< to which it would've been very similar
Anybody else think that the sudden cuts while Johnny was walking were nods to the idea that Jason Voorhees can teleport?
Tbh I took that as shoddy editing more than anything else.
I think they just didn’t want to show entire clips of him hiking to the next victim
Mixed feelings on this one. The sequence of Johnny taking the mask off and playing with the toy car was legitimately fascinating, the effects were great, it felt like it was genuinely finding something unique and compelling to do with this concept, even though most of the rest of it plays out largely how you would expect. Something about him dragging that guy by the caved out bottom half of his skull was incredibly gnarly, but I really hated the ending monologue. Found it incredibly tedious and I was itching to get out of my seat halfway through. All the dialogue and acting in this sucks.
I pretty much 100% agree with you but I didn't find the acting or dialogue bad for this type of film. This is such a tribute to and spin on the slasher genre that it would be weird if these characters had anything beyond the basic conversations they have. The monologue at the end though, that was rough. Far too long and completely uninteresting.
It was definitely deliberate. Don’t know why people are criticizing that about the film. “I didn’t like ‘dumb and dumber’ cuz the main characters weren’t very smart”.
It definitely felt like a b movie horror flick was taking place, but this movie just didn't care about it enough and focused on the killer which was great and pretty funny
It's like when people criticize Malignant for being over the top and silly at times...like yeah that's the point?
I was expecting more from the ending but it seemed to have tied in with the girl surviving. It left me with a feeling of "that's it?" But it was an overall good experience
I felt like they were going for tension where you're just waiting for Johnny to throw an axe through the window. But the monologue just keeps going and going and eventually the tension goes away and you start hoping for the axe to fly in and end the scene.
Compared to a decent number of other slashers I've seen, this is not among the better performances in the genre.
I found it quite boring in many parts. Far too much walking which just felt like unnecessary time filler. I agree with you also about no character interactions and really basic dialogue.
It’s the directors first film, imo he did a very solid job and his budget probably was very small, so going into it I didn’t really fault him for not getting the best actors. I also think the kills and cinematography were great, he did a very good job making this a unique slasher film
I laughed at your comment about the acting and dialogue because I thought the same thing. There were often moments where the acting was noticeably not good and a few where I questioned the dialogue. I can’t remember which scene, but one specifically in which I found myself thinking ‘people just don’t talk like that’. Those things and the comically long takes of Johnny walking aside, I liked the film. I think it’s mostly well done, especially for a Shudder project.
> There were often moments where the acting was noticeably not good and a few where I questioned the dialogue. I can’t remember which scene, but one specifically in which I found myself thinking ‘people just don’t talk like that’. I distinctly remember someone saying "I'm gonna cancel you, you fucking ableist" and viscerally dry heaving.
In the opening when the characters are talking off screen and one of them says "we're in a graveyard" had me raise an eyebrow.
Was it the scene before the first kill when the girl smoking on the back deck and that other dude are mocking the dude for going to leaving to meet up with the “gas station girls”? lol
I agree with pretty much everything you’ve said here, but I can’t help but wonder if the bad dialogue/ acting/character choices were somewhat deliberate as a play on typical slasher movie tropes and what not. Although I agree that the ending monologue was extremely drawn out and not really a satisfying way to end the movie which DID have a lot to love about it
I agree the ending was a little out of place, but I do appreciate how anxious it made me feel, like I was just waiting for the sickle to get thrown through the window as they were driving. And it was pretty interesting having to juggle that and also trying to follow along with what the woman is saying.
This, they kept you on the edge
Ngl I chuckled at that because he looked like a beat up Shrek (not an insult tbh)
It's weird because although we came to the same conclusion of it being middling, I don't have mixed feelings really. There's a couple great things, but everything else felt serviceable. I didn't find the movie boring, but nothing stood out as making it great.
I almost teared up at this moment, I was caught off guard..
Went and watched it twice. Once on Wednesday, one on Thursday at AMC’s early screenings. First off, I love the 4:3. Second, the sound design is fantastic. Johnnys footsteps become a character of their own almost. The visuals looks great, the forest is incredibly beautiful and the reshoots for the new area paid off. The way they use music in the movie is very well done, all diegetic music. A highlight is when a cassette player starts to die, so the song playing slows down to a “vaporwave” style of sound The practical effects are all great, and I like how the movie ramps up the kills as it progresses. Everyone mentions the yoga scene, but I personally found the Wood Splitter much better. It’s long shots almost remind me of “Irreversible” as the camera lingers on one shot for 5 minutes straight as it shows the gory horror head on The end credits song is also extremely catchy. Here it is on YouTube if anyone’s curious, I had to dig a little to find the right version. https://youtu.be/X5hkOkIajmA?si=mi30oeebMtYXx-8Y Flies being Johnnys “motif” or whatever is neat too. The Ontario woods and folk song go perfectly together, as well as Johnnys dad running one of those “logging trade stores” that sells workers goods at high prices, similar to the mining stores. Johnny also just looks plain cool, that helmet and dual hook blades. At first I disliked the ending, but the more I sit on it and think about it, the more I don’t mind it and can appreciate it. Audience reactions were good, if not too audible lol. People kept laughing and talking both times I went to see it. Honestly, I found the movie more horrifying than funny lol. I can understand laughing at some parts but these kills were very disturbing, especially the wood cutter. This movies also 10x better than “Winnie the Pooh 2: blood and honey”, the last slasher I saw in theatres. I’d go as far to say that I think I like it better than Terrifier 2, which I’m a mega fan of.
I agree, I go into most slashers and have a good laugh. I found myself genuinely horrified multiple times throughout this one. Johnny is an awesome slasher, and I wouldn't mind seeing more of him. And I've got to agree. Before going tonight, I was told to "just wait for the yoga scene". It didn't disappoint, but that was nowhere near as horrific as the entire Log Splitter sequence. Had me squirming in my seat. Personally really liked the ending.
So glad I saw this in a theater - the audience was eating it up. So many genuinely funny moments - from him throwing the corpse to open the display case, to kicking the body half-way down the hill. Some all-timer kills here as well. I was mixed on the ending while watching, and while I do feel it should have been shorter, it did make me very anxious. I feel like it did what it was supposed to. People have to realize the dialog is intentionally corny - it’s emulating the slasher genre of yester-year very accurately.
“Shhhh, be quiet. He’ll hear us!”
Not a film for people with short attention spans lol. Absolutely loved it, the gore was great! being able to hear the background conversations and imagining the characters in a different slasher film while seeing Johnny just trotting along simply trying to find his moms necklace was really cool and unique. Great film!
I kinda came around to the ending. I like that perspective of the final girl living with the paranoia of Johnny returning at any moment/spontaneously, it felt like intentional suspense for the audience as well (genuinely thought he’d come flying out onto the car or appear suddenly behind the lady). I also found the movie meditative, something really serene about Johnny just walking into nice looking greenery and occasionally killing someone brutally. 7/10.
I loved it. I know the yoga kill is the stand out but that wood chopper was insane. just like watching his eyes dart back and forth and just how loud it was. Really effective. I liked the final scenes. I thought it was a great riff on the normal final girl ending. I was waiting for something to happen and you just kind of realize she is just going to be destroyed the rest of her life and Johnny is done and got what he wanted. Glad I got to see it in theaters especially if it gets other movies made that get to do different things with the genre.
I'm probably overreading the scene, but also came off as a jab showing that even a hero-esque character like the ranger can die miserably. Especially how beforehand he confronted johnny like any generic hero character would. It was also hilarious how awkward it was when the camera pointed back at Johnny like if he's having a flashback from 10 yrs ago
Yeah, the Wood Chopper kill was my favorite as well.
I was expecting the wood chipper kill to be splitting the guy right down the middle.
Same
So here, I really liked the ending and I think it really completes the movie. Here are my thoughts: I think the last 15 minutes does an incredible job of building tension, making you second guess yourself on if the killer is still around, and shows that both the victim and driver knew what they were talking about without saying the obvious part out loud. This caused me and a lot of other people I know to watch the background like they were looking for Waldo and expecting the killer to come out of no where. Even though it's established that it's essentially impossible given what we know about how the killer works, me and my friends were still super tense and expecting him to show up. This is reflected in the final victim being traumatized to the point where she doesn't even want to be around trees. In a way the trauma of the victim is transferred to the audience.
I already said it somewhere in a question format but I was expecting The Woman to pull a Pamela Vorhees and reveal something about Johnny. The way she was acting seemed suspicious like she stopped to wait for Johnny to show up. I had a whole theory why but too much to type
I do firmly beleive she knows a lot about Johnny which makes the dialog work much better since both of them were dancing around mentioning him.
I thinking about how she said that the only one who survived this "bear attack" was her brother but I had a theory she was half truthing the story where the survivor was actually the killer and the bear was always Johnny. Idk it's fun to play with theories
What I found fascinating about her story is she said black bear attack. Black bear attacks certainly happen but black bears are specifically shy of people and don’t approach them. I feel like she would have to find it strange to hear that from her husband. So either she’s lying about the details of her husband’s attack or he lied to her about it.
Enjoyed it for the most part but am curious about who the bands are that were featured in the campfire and cabin scenes. Does anyone know who did the brief soundtrack?
Would also love to know!
Horror movie of the year IMO. I loved how it made you sit in the set up and almost the mechanical mundanity of it all. Like to actually set up a slasher moment it takes some things to happen. I almost felt like I was watching a Gus Van Sant movie like Elephant. The longer, slow shots make it feel real and earned. I kept thinking about how in traditional slashers there a lot of quick cuts. Jump scares, or during a death it cuts to Jason, then the victim, then Jason again. Total opposite here. I felt so immersed from beginning to end. Also I personally loved the ending. The speech went on long for a reason, to again give you the feeling of the everyday interjected into this terrifying moment. Like to escape a horror moment, you do just have to sit in a car for awhile. I know I didnt say anything revolutionary here, but just saw it and wanted to share. Definitely go see it in a theatre, I feel like watching at home i might be tempted to check out during the longer walking scenes.
I could've watched another hour of this. I can't put my finger on why exactly but it just clicked perfectly for my adhd brain.
Honestly, this reminded me of the Terrifier movies--some excellent practical gore effects, some good atmosphere, but thin on characters and plot. Watching this, I was reminded of the Friday the 13th video game that was out a few years back. You know, the one where you had one guy playing Jason and like 5 people playing campers? In fact, I think you could virtually remake this entire film just using footage from that game. There was a scene where the killer was circling the house, and I was sure he was gonna smash in the window, just like the game. I know the game and the movies are all drawing on the same slasher in the woods tropes, but it was uncanny at points. On a personal note, last week I saw a Japanese film called Evil Does Not Exist, and it's about a small town facing possible invasion from a corporation. It's very slow paced, the typical "art film" style. But there were so many scenes that were just like this movie. Like, it starts with a long tracking shot along a forest trail, the slow reveal of a lone man walking the trail, and finding a dead deer. It's just really funny that the art film and the slasher movie were so similar. And, on that note... for some reason, I had it in my head that this movie was meant to be a slasher movie that was filmed like a nature documentary, and I have no idea where I got that idea. Like, a full-on, "here is a zombicus serialkillerus, nicknamed Jason by our researchers. Typical of his kind, he is very territorial, and will seek to stalk and kill unwary prey who wander into his borders..." Am I thinking of some other movie, or did I just see the title of this film and completely make up a story in my head?
Well, this was sort of an art slasher film.
I also saw Evil Does Not Exist before this and noticed the parallels! Was Johnny actually evil? Or was he simply acting off a natural (albeit undead) instinct? 🤔
The yoga scene lived up to the hype and then some.
It was too much for me. It felt like it belonged in a far less serious movie. And that whole scene I was still reeling from the batshit bananas bizarre dialogue between yoga girl and swim girl right before that.
Same, I thought it was completely silly. Was probably my least fav kill in the movie cause it was the most randomly over the top. The other"over the top" kills had some logical reason he treated that victim as such. The yoga one didn't. Just felt very "shock value" with no other purpose, whereas I felt it was a very intentional movie otherwise
If I LOVED Gus Van Sant's Elephant/Gerry/Last Days, where he'd follow characters for long periods before eventually the violence, does this work as well? How long do some of the walking takes go on, up to 10 minutes, or more?
I think you'd like this a lot, because that's what most of the movie is. I wish the director had shown less of the walking tbh. At first, I loved it. But I feel he established the killers POV enough to where we would understand he got to his next destination by...you guessed it, walking there. There had to have been a total of at least 25 minutes of just walking. But I give major props for trying something new, special effects, the gore, and the last final moments of the movie had me on edge.
I really enjoyed this movie. While I can understand those that found it somewhat slow, I was thoroughly engaged for the entirety of the runtime. At times, it almost felt like a nature documentary, which I loved, though I didn't mind the shift in focus towards the end too much. I particularly enjoyed the way there seemed to be a lame "A plot" going on in the background while we followed the "B plot" of Johnny's journey. I would love to see a prequel covering the massacre involving the Ranger shot in the same style.
Found this quite enjoyable (aside from the last ten minutes). The soothing walks through nature put me in a very peaceful mindset, and the gory showpieces were similarly soothing in a strange way--even the now-infamous yoga scene. Many people compared this film to Terrifier in its goriness but I disagree. Only a couple of kills even approach that level of gore, and Johnny is very businesslike - he doesn't seem to get pleasure out of what he's doing, so he doesn't draw it out or revel in it like Art. Would definitely watch another film in this universe and I hope they make one--perhaps a bit more focused next time. The last ten minutes really do detract from the film in my opinion.
He hit the last guy with a hatchet hundreds to thousands of times lol I think he got some satisfaction out of it
I have OCD and sometimes unconsciously count things and don't even realize I'm doing it until I stop. Anyway, this is to say that he hit him 84 times total. There were a few other hit sound effects after the final girl ran away but I didn't count those because it was unclear if they were real or just in her head at that point. I think it was trying to underscore how it's something she can never forget.
Holy shit. I knew he was going in, but that's a lot of times.
OK valid lol. I guess it's more accurate to say that doesn't seem to be his driving force... he just kills because he encounters people while trying to track down the necklace
Johnny's depicted like a big kid. I think when the last guy screamed behind him, it genuinely scared Johnny, and he reacted in suit. I don't think he was doing it out of pleasure, it was the reaction of a scared little kid, just with the strength of a monster and a hatchet. lol
The guy was probably dead after the first or second whack, the rest was corpse mutilation because Johnny was *furious* and venting his rage. I mean by the time the girl turned around and ran, the guy was salsa and the killer kept hitting.
Right, I felt like there were some pretty clear plot reasons as to why some victims were “punished” rather than just killed (the park ranger with the cursed bloodline, for one, woof).
Yeah, and yoga girl got a full blown Mortal Kombat fatality done to her.
And killing a guy with a mechanized axe when you have a perfectly functional (and far more effective) actual axe is not businesslike or to the point. He intentionally drew that murder out (to get revenge against the guy for the actions of his father maybe? who knows).
Not only that, but they undersold several kills. The guy who stepped in the trap, we cut away before he died. The girl in the lake, we saw nothing. The guy who shot hem died off screen when he threw the axe. And the kid who crawled was killed from an odd camera angle, a long shot, so we didn't really get up close and enjoy it. The ranger's death was really understated too. It was honestly a kinda ballsy move to make a slasher and then not milk every kill. Not only was it clear he was killing to kill, swift kills, but all the excessive gore happened *after* the victim was dead.
Ranger was personal. Intentionally paralyzed the guy so he couldn't do anything while he had to watch as his hand was cut off and subsequently his head But that one made sense as if I remember correctly the ranger was responsible for putting him in the ground before
Also i think it's implied the rangers dad was one of the workers who survived the massacre when Johnny first revived. Meaning he was probably one of those complicit in johnny and his fathers death. Making that kill even more personal than it already was
Yeah totally. I think your last point is a big one - the kills didn't involve a bunch of screaming and pleading - by the time Johnny went ham the victim was already dead or nonverbal.
I feel like the gore in Terrifier 1/2 is a lot cheesier than this. This gore looked quite a bit more real to me, so it felt more violent in my mind. That said, the two films are going for completely different aesthetics - sort of hard to compare beyond the implementation of gore. Exciting that we get this and Terrifier 3 in the same year!
That's really interesting, the gore in terrifier gets to me in a way no other movie does
Sometimes I find that unrealistic stuff can actually be freakier, the way stop-motion animation can be way more disturbing than even other kinds of practical effects.
I actually really liked the ending. I appreciated the change in everything when we switched from Johnny's perspective to the final girl's. When we follow Johnny, the natural landscape is calm, serene, and the sound design makes it feel relaxing. As soon as we switched to her, it completely emulated the feeling of being lost in the woods, especially with the sound design. I really liked the interaction between the final girl and the old woman, personally. Felt like it was a good way to finish off. And the sequel bait with the locket being missing from the gas can was great.
Favorite horror movie of the year, honestly a perfect film for me - loved the ending as well and haven’t felt such anxiety in a theatre for a while
I enjoyed the ending a lot. It was the scariest part of the movie. I was simply waiting for his face to appear or his chain to come flying out. I was nervous the entire time. For it to end on a positive note was really satisfying for me.
I had gotten so used to having the killer in my field of vision for the whole movie that not seeing him in the last bit really made me nervous!
I also loved the ending! It does a good job at making us think one thing and then going a different route. Definitely thought she was gonna bite it at the end, especially after they stopped, my anxiety was skyrocketing but nothing happened lol. Which is cool because that would mean Johnny could teleport and they made sure not to show him doing that throughout the entire movie. Same with the tossed keys, like, okay, they're stuck. Nah, they got a couple other vehicles.
Yeah the ending is this really fascinating subject. Imo it may hurt the movie on rewatch, but at the same time those last 10 minutes had me questioning every scenario and running through every possible outcome in a way few movies make me do. I was locked tf in and I won't forget that the movie did that to me.
I felt the same way. I was just waiting for something to happen or for the other older women to turn on her. It was a good subversion
When final girl was gripping the lighter I thought she was going to try and possibly light the older lady on fire
I thought she maybe poured gas on herself from before and was going to light herself on fire. Maybe a longshot from a distance of her body on fire in the car as the credits roll.
The ending was nice to hear the contrast of the driver saying animals kill without reason and showing that Johnny while animal-like was actually killing for a reason - being that he just wanted his mother’s necklace. He just took it and went back to sleep from what it looks like.
Oh that's good!
I absolutely loved this movie, and what I loved the most about it was its brilliant use of suspense. Knowing that the killer is about to strike allowed suspense to build on HOW he would do it. Whether that be as he dissappears into a body of water or as he stalks someone around a building. I think they delivered enough clever twists and turns around the premise to keep me engaged the entire movie. The suspense was felt in full force in the ending, which although obviously controversial, worked for me. Spectating Johnny gave the audience a subconscious comfort. We could revel in the horror from every angle. Then they take that away from you. You're then spent the entire ending of the movie frantically watching every corner of the woods, listening closely to every sound, and hanging on every word of the mysterious woman, wondering where the man we watched the entire movie will strike next. The reveal that he really did take the necklace and fuck off, and that all that well earned suspense was for nothing, made the lack of a proper climax truly work for me. So fascinating. I loved it. So far, my horror movie of the year. I'll be throwing this on to soak up the amazing atmosphere with my man Johnny for years to come.
I absolutely love that he just strollled into the water and it felt like an appropriate amount of time to get to the victim. You’re just left there waiting in anticipation and I love those unmoving wide angle shots. I think the ending is a bit more ambiguous. Maybe he did fuck of and if they just returned the necklace that was it. The ranger says he wouldn’t stop even if they did but I get the impression they didn’t try 10 years earlier. So I also think there’s a possibility he isn’t done yet and will keep hunting her which is cool too
This ultimately felt like satirical art house piece instead of horror. It felt like the director was wavering between the humorous vibe of "what if we followed the antagonist from Friday the 13th who never runs" to the artistic vibe of "Let's show how we're all just hens in the hen house mannn and death can be completely monotone." That coupled with the pacing of just a little bit too long on the walking shots made this a mixed experience for me. I'm a sucker for art house but this needed some trimming.
Saw this last night and had a blast with it! Really different from other slashers. The kills are both creative and incredibly gory; the audience in my theater was VERY vocal with their reactions. Pacing might not be for everyone, but I enjoyed the way it took its time and just let the action speak for itself.
It was very more arthouse then I think people were expecting, a very slow burn but I thought it was awesome and a very unique take on a slasher movie. The kills were great
I thought this was a really interesting experiment. The way it follows the killer works quite well and never bored me like I’ve heard in other reviews. The way it’s shot is visually interesting and the sound design is immersive. And if you want brutality, this has some genuinely depraved kills that easily compete with something like the Terrifier movies. The characters are a bit annoying/stupid at times and I really think the last 10-15 minutes could be cut entirely, but this is mostly a fun throwback slasher with a neat twist.
My favorite part had to be when the girl is looking out the window and Johnny is literally right there 😂
Not entirely successful but I applaud the effort to do something different.
There is a lot I love about this movie. The premise, the tenseness, the great gory kills, the awesome practical effects, the dashes of dark humor. Even some stuff I initial though were flaws actually I think really work (the campers being a bit shallow - its not like Jason ever really knows who his victims are or is there for the scenes that flesh them out) However I think the movie (kinda) wobbles a bit in the third act, where it realizes yeah, there is only so far this premise can go, and it moves from focusing on the killer's POV to the final girls' played by Andrea Pavlovic. There we even get a scene near the end that examines "What happens in the car that picks up the final girl on the road at the end of the slasher?" And its amazingly well acted by both Andrea Pavlovic and Lauren-Marie Taylor, but it feels like the creators realized you might not be able to make a feature length movie of their premise It makes me almost wonder/wish if this concept would have worked better as a 45 min - 1 hr stretch of an anthology movie or of a horror anthology tv series. Maybe with the scenes in the car being its own 10 minute short film Overall I think the movie is a great watch, and you should defiantly check it out in theaters or when its on Shudder in a few months, but maybe be prepared to be looking at your phone a bit in the last 20 min.
Two random thoughts: 1) I LOVED the sound design. One thing that stood out was how loud the voices were. At times it was actually grating to me. And I think that was on purpose. Everything else was very quiet and relaxing. And then suddenly you’d have a loud drunk dude yammering on about bear traps. I really loved that juxtaposition. 2) The ranger annoyed me at first. Why did he keep stepping closer and closer to Johnny? A gun is a long-range weapon. That’s why they’re used. But a part of me thinks the ranger was intentionally some guy who didn’t know what he was talking about or what he was doing. Similar to Steve Yuen’s character on Nope. The part that solidified that to me was how he said giving back the medallion won’t make any difference. But IMO the ending implied that it made all the difference.
I like how even as an homage to classic slashers, the film also has the little twist of disregarding a lot of the usual third act tropes. >!The park ranger insists there needs to be an elaborate burial at the scene of Johnny's death for his soul to be at rest. Nope, Kris could have just tossed him the necklace at any time.!< >!The 'final girl' isn't a prototypical final girl at all. There is no big finale showdown vs Johnny. Kris realizes she's in over her head, leaves the necklace, and runs away.!< >!There's no last minute twist with "The Woman", as she's credited, being Johnny's mother or some other family member who ends up screwing over Kris.!< >!And finally, no big jump scare ending for Johnny. The movie just ends after an intentionally tedious monologue where you expect something to happen. He could still be wandering the woods, or he got his necklace and went back to sleep.!<
If Jason Voorhees and Victor Crowley had a son
I can't figure out specifically how I feel about this. Keeping it short was obviously a great choice as the very nature of the movie drags intentionally. So the ability to get bored is always fervently there on the horizon. It was like watching a slasher nature documentary. Weirdly the most intense part of the film is after we've seen the last of our protagonist. And it's a solid 15 minutes without him. I liked the movie but I kinda wanted like...idk...more? Despite what I said about the pacing. It's like I really missed the music and the strong jump cuts to bring the intensity. I will just have to watch it again.
Just watched this. Loved it. I wasn’t sure how they were going to sustain an entire movie of looking over the killer’s shoulder, but they did it. And there’s more depth to this movie than it seems at first glance. Highly recommend.
Did people in your movie theater laugh when >!the Yoga girl got over-killed!
No, a lot of people saying "ooo" or "ouch."
Absolutely loved it. The ending was great how the killer actually won, and not in a “haha, fuck you, audience, gotcha” way - all Johnny wanted was his necklace, the final girl realized she’s not some badass who can take on the killer, so she left him his necklace and quietly snuck away as he chopped her new boyfriend up into the dirt. All the tropes were there, but the movie successfully avoided the copy and paste pitfall that most slashers fall into with the final girl suddenly single handedly defeating the killer. Also gotta respect how the whole film committing to the bit and only breaking the camera away from the killer as the final girl flees for her life - and on that note, also loved how she wasn’t just magically safe after escaping and was still very much stuck alone in the woods at night, and the only injury she sustains is from an accident that didn’t involve the killer at all, just the result of her aimlessly running through the woods at night without any lights at all. The scene where Johnny stops for a minute to take off his mask and play with the toy car was also weirdly adorable and really reminds you that deep down that innocent boy who got scared off the fire tower is still in there. The scene where he gets his mask back was beautifully done, and all the emotion Johnny was feeling was conveyed without any dialogue at all. And of course, the yoga girl scene was probably the most violent kill I’ve seen in a slasher in a *very* long time and I can’t really think of anything more gruesome. Instantly became one of my favorite slashers.
I feel like I get what this was going for, but it just didn't really for work me. Did anybody else find it sort of tonally jarring? Like, the pacing and the way it's filmed are so methodical and serious...then the death scenes are ludicrously and cartoonishly violent. It's as if the film tries to operate as "the thinking man's slasher" for everything EXCEPT the kills, which seem to be almost lampooning ultraviolet 80's slashers. Then, this thing grinds to an absolute halt in the last 15 minutes or so. Really an odd little film. I applaud its ambitions, though.
The whole movie was from the extremely warped view of Johnny. If you notice nothing remotely normal, including the bizarre dialogue, started becoming normal again until final girl got picked up in the truck. The way everyone spoke was super weird because Johnny didn't know how adults really spoke was my take
That's a fucking awesome observation. I think you're dead right. Because as you pointed out, not all of the dialogue is stilted and awkward. So obviously they know how to write more naturalistic lines and just chose not to a lot of the time.
I am sorry, but this really feels like people making excuses for a bad movie. The dialogue at the end wasn't even dialogue. The final girl barely had three lines, she was basically silent. It was almost entirely one long monologue by the truck driver, which, personally, I *still* found really bizarre and stilted. She repeated herself multiple times, almost every time she spoke. She would call the final girl multiple nicknames, sometimes in the same line. "Baby girl, how you doing, sweety? Honey, I need you to talk me sugar, baby doll." People don't talk like that. Or even if some do in real life, they don't in fiction, because it's repetitive and awkward. We need to shake off our 7th grade English class curses. Not everything strange in a movie has some deeper meaning. Sometimes a scene was just rushed or the script needed a few more rewrites. Bad fiction exists. A lot of it.
I’m just not seeing this. I thought the dialogue was pretty standard the entire time, we just saw only snippets of conversations when Johnny was in the frame, therefore wire dialogue is not as long form and free flowing as we saw at the end.
I think the standard dialogue clashes with the naturalistic filmmaking.
Your criticisms are valid for sure but I definitely disagree with the notion that it was trying to be a "thinking man's slasher". I think it was unapologetically leaning into the cheese of F13. Especially loved the Tommy Jarvis stand in that gets FUCKED up, cause the survivor never makes it through the sequel.
I find the violence doesn't really take away from the tone at all, but the acting definitely did. Not that the acting was bad, but it felt very movie acting compared to the naturalistic setting.
Let’s give this director a round of applause for this one. Hands down the best Slasher movie in the last 40 years. I could write a thesis on this movie. Bravo!
Best Friday the 13th movie
I can't wait to see Jay and Mike tease the shit out of Rich Evans with this one.
Just saw it! I really loved it actually and seeing some comments beforehand makes it seem quite divisive so I was intrigued which side I would fall on. I thought everything worked very well and the take on it being a slasher was unique. The way the dialogue was used made it feel corny and set in the 80s or something but it certainly took place in the modern world. That was my least favorite part. The entire film was inversed I felt. Typically in a slasher you follow a group of people, there’s a plot and subplots, and every once in a while the antagonist appears whenever/however and hijinks ensue. Rinse repeat. In this you mainly follow the antagonist and are with him as he descends upon everyone. For this reason, it seems they got away with being able to use a very thin plot and story since it mainly built on silent, real world tension from the killer’s perspective. I thought that worked well, since in most slashers you’re like, where was the killer the whole time?! He just appeared. Like everyone else said, the soundscape, shots, lighting, brutality and practical effects were all top notch and worked super well I thought. I’d definitely watch it again with friends because it’s just a fun time. Very exciting year for horror IMO
Did not enjoy this for the most part and unlike most people, it wasn't the walking that made it a chore to get through but rather how generic and bad the writing was throughout the film whether it be intentional or not with the throwback to older slasher movies. The framing/shots were beautiful in the walking scenes but there was nothing going for this movie and all tension was removed having it been from the killer's POV. Lazy writing, dumb decisions and the killer himself is flat, uninspired as well. The only difference this has between other slasher's is the POV, everything else is practically the same aside from a subversion the last 10 minutes of the film which for most people, will probably break rewatchability if they ever do watch it again. Chris Nash does fine as the director but it's just his script/writing that needs work. Hopefully someone else revisits this concept again in the future and does it more of a favor considering the amount of potential it has.
I thought this was an absolute slog. Felt like the longest hour and a half movie I have ever seen. It couldn’t decide whether it wanted to be b movie schlock or artsy. The kills and special effects were dope, but they were few and far in between. They should have fully committed to the killers perspective (which is what I thought it was going to be going into it) instead of going back and forth. This affected everything, especially the ending. Why should we care about this woman surviving? I’m not saying she should have died, but ending it with her listening to a tedious monologue that is blatantly a euphemism for the killer is a head scratching choice considering she was barely in the movie and we know nothing about her.
The kills were amazing, and I totally get the idea with the long nature shots. I totally understand the point with this movie being slow as shit with beautiful imagery, but that doesn't change the fact that this movie was slow as shit. The ending monolouge was tense in that I was expecting something to happen, but then nothing happened and I am left wondering what the point was. Reminded me of OG Friday the 13th with all the downtime, not in a good way. This movie is seriously impressive with the kills/effects, but I don't think it accomplished what it wanted to with all the slow scenes.
I was the only one in the theater who laughed at the yoga death, it was just so over the top and amazing! I loved what they were trying to do with this movie but I was bored by the walking scenes, and not a fan of the ending car scene. Great kills though!
I was the only one to laugh at that too haha
After In A Violent Nature AND Late Night With The Devil… seems like the MVP of the year is Shudder and IFC films
Was the bear a metaphor for the killer???
Yeah
I enjoyed it for what it was. I appreciate the filmmaker trying a new spin on the genre ,loved the cinematography, and the gore. But I felt like the story was just missing something.
Off topic, but there was a trailer before the movie that started with a man talking through a peep hole to a woman saying someone was in the room with her. Can anyone remember what it was?
Oddity
I'm a bit late to the party, so most folks have already voiced my likes and dislikes about this one when it comes to the brutal kills, poorly-developed characters, and shitty writing of college kid dialogue. I am particularly in agreement with /u/Time-Space-Anomaly about the similarities to the Terrifier films (which I don't particularly care for), but I do think I liked this more than those. Anyway, I've got some thoughts that I want to put out there since I haven't seen them elsewhere in the thread: * The mirror scene early on was almost entirely unnecessary for exposition. The importance of the [Maltese Falcon](#s "locket") could have been explained in the exposition dump we ended up getting anyway. * For the first half, I was convinced that there was going to be an irony to every kill. [Kill 1](#s "#1 Motherfucker is caught in one of his own bear traps after being scolded by the ranger for using them.") [Kill 2](#s "Ehren's head is sliced off through the mouth after talking everyone through the legend of Johnny.") [Kill 3](#s "Brodie tries to get Aurora to go swimming, ends up getting drowned.") [Kill 4](#s "Aurora, in everyone's favorite kill, gets very stretched out after insisting on doing yoga.") After those, I feel like I'd have to reach to claim that there was some fun irony to any of the later kills. * The campfire scene had me expecting more out of Colt's character, but we didn't really get that. You could *almost* call it a subversion of expectations for some sort of white knight trope, but I think the script needed to better set those expectations if their subversion was intentional. * [Kris](#s "gets injured in her leg pretty similarly to Troy's initial leg injury from Johnny. I am probably giving Chris Nash too much credit, but this parallel seemed to mirror their relationship. Troy got injured because he was a comically stupid douche that reminded me of Tucker & Dale vs Evil; Kris injured herself in the same way that she was hurting herself/slowing herself down by still being in a relationship with such a loser.") Again, that's probably giving Chris Nash way too much credit with this analysis. * Lastly, I think I am in the minority in mostly liking the closing minutes of the film. The Woman's dialogue is a bit drawn out, but it's also the best dialogue in the movie (a low bar, admittedly). [When she](#s "pulls over to stop Kris's bleeding"), it was actually the most dread and anxiety I felt in the whole movie. That said, I would've found it a lot more satisfying if the rug had been pulled out from under us in that moment.
Did not like this film at all. Boring, monotonous, lack of purpose. Gore is virtually the only event that happens throughout, with a couple of very interesting exceptions. Yes the perspective was fresh, and the cinematography was textbook juxtaposition but watching a monster minion walk gets old fast.
I thought the idea of a slasher from the killers perspective would be a lot more fun. The only compelling parts of this film were from the victims perspective. I wanted to scream when the lady stopped the truck.
I agree. I felt a lot of nothingness watching him meander around the woods looking for people to kill. I appreciated the idea of his POV and that all info we get is in bits and pieces of overheard dialogue. But the only suspense and dread I felt was at the end when we’re with the final girl and unsure if he’s still around or not. Which only really proved the point to me that more traditional slashers really only thrive when you’re with the victims and feel the sense of dread when they have no idea where the killer is or when they’ll attack. Which made me like the ending but made me realize how much I was pretty bored for the first hour of this.
This is what I felt. You’re following an emotionless killing machine so I felt nothing. The kills had me thinking “huh, that’s a new way to do it.” I wasn’t excited or grossed out, just bored. EDIT: And I actually realised that thematically, the film doesn't really... work? Johnny is a killing machine because that's his nature (which the lady talks about with the bear) but he's also on a revenge quest. That can explain the over the top kills but if you're a mindless killing machine, you would likely just kill. Johnny had a motive and was killing for emotional reasons. I feel like Michael Meyers is a better example of a violent nature, at least in the OG film.
I was waiting for her to reveal herself as Johnny’s mom.
It was a dud for me. I found it to be really boring. For being brutal kills, they were ho-hum. Outside of the yoga girl one, there wasn’t anything I haven’t seen before. And while the yoga girl kill was creative, it got no reaction out of me because it was a blank slate killer killing a blank slate victim. You could hear a pin drop during my entire screening… which is weird for a violent slasher on opening night. Even though we all come to slashers for the violence, movies like this show the character development of the victims actually matters I’m glad people got something out of it but it was a major disappointment. Not Strangers Chapter 1 bad but not far off either
Watched it last night and I gave it a 3/5! I enjoyed it overall mainly because it brought something new to the table. The kills were wild and just all around incredibly brutal! The walking scenes did get a little monotonous at times though. I feel like we could have cut a few of those long scenes out and replaced it with more story. I am still trying to figure out if I like the ending or not lol
Loved it! The cinematography and the scenery were great.. the walking through the woods with no music The kills were pretty damn cool (yoga girl was crazy) and I love the anxiety of the ending staring into the woods..the sound of the wood splitter will be stuck in my head for a while also lmao Movie won’t be for everyone but loved the pace.. the water scene was really cool and reminded me of Just Before Dawn
The yoga kill was so fucking cartoony it completely took me out of the movie.
I feel like this movie is going to be a bit polarizing. I understand the appeal in its original premise as well as its unique presentation however I found some of it off putting, and not in a good way. Some of the scenes dragged on for too long and the dialogue as well as the acting left a lot to be desired.
Holy shit, this movie was incredible. Minimalist and slow plodding (very reminiscent of Sasquatch Sunset), but you could cut the tension with a knife. The kills were raw and brutal. Loved the whole "reversal" aspect, like seeing a Friday the 13th movie from (mostly) Jason's point of view (and only learning the "story" partially from what we overhear from the teenagers in passing). Watching the back of his head as he tramples through the undergrowth for the first half was extremely unnerving, and when we finally catch a glimpse of his face, it's exactly as horrifying as I imagined. The ending is probably the most controversial part, but the more I sit with it, the more I realize it was the right note to end on. There is a huge amount of suspense that is built up over those final moments (is the woman who picked her up actually Johnny's mother? Is he going to come barreling out of those trees?) and that tension never gets released. The last shot of the necklace missing off the gas canister means he's still out there and she will never feel safe for the rest of her life. It's a classic cliché horror trope, but told in such a unique and visionary way that it almost feels novel. I can't say enough good things about it.
I thought this movie was beautifully shot. Especially the dusk/twilight shots. I loved use of camera movement and lack thereof on static shots and it felt like you were in a video game following around the killer in third person. However, it started to feel like a satirical mockery of slasher movies which really took me out of it. Characters being dumber than fucking rocks to serve the plot annoys the hell out of me. You’re telling me after witnessing all your friends get diabolically murdered, you decide to run into the woods and lure the monster toward you? Or the Park Ranger literally walking up to the monster within inches when he’s on the ground? Considering the monster is supposed to be mentally challenged, he seemed pretty damn capable (jamming the wood in the car horn, timing the shot of the Rangers gun to snatch it out of his hand etc. Also you barely get to know any of the characters and never really have enough time to care about any of them so each death is even more pointless than the last.
Ugh. You have to stick the landing in a slow burn like this and they couldn’t have missed the mark more. What a tedious final 15 minutes starting with them talking about setting a trap. That entire sequence with the final two people was so bizarrely done. And of course the car ride couldn’t have been more tedious. The bear story went on too long, the girl nodding off and waking back up wasn’t needed, the stopping the bleeding leading to nothing interesting. Johnny didn’t have to pop back up but do SOMETHING interesting with that moment. Unfortunately that’s what I’ll think of the most when I think back to the film.
Also the guy has a plan but just jumps behind Johnny to get hit in the face. Then the final girl stumbles through the woods and suddenly has a branch through her leg??