This week's offerings feature one of the best films I've seen in years, and one of the worst I've ever sat through. There's the bad - In A Violent Nature and the surprisgly good -in A Quiet Place
In A Violent Nature was so bad that the cinema screen even gave up about an hour in. The lights all flicked on, the movie paused, and I realised that quite a few audience members had already left. With the benefit of hindsight, it turns out this was a warning from the universe not to waste another second of my life on this tripe.
So what was so bad about it? The idea is interesting, I guess. It's a slasher movie from the perspective of the killer. Unfortunately, this means for about two thirds of the film (or at least it certainly felt that way), we just watch a man walking through the forest. Admittedly, it's a beautiful setting, and some nice tree cinematography can be enjoyed. But It's a bit like watching someone else playing a video game, but much less interesting than that.
The kills are brutal and extremely gory, the story about how a mystical stolen locket kickstarted our killer's violent blood soaked spree is fairly water-thin, and the whole thing just left a nasty taste in my mouth. Slow doesn't even begin to cover the pace of the film. I've read some reviews from people who loved it, and I seriously wonder if they watched the same thing as me. There is no music, no pacing, precious little interesting dialogue, and I just didn't care about any of the characters in any way. You might have gathered by now I'm not going to recommend you rush to watch this one. Watching paint dry would have been preferable!
Meanwhile, A Quiet Place : Day One was far more enjoyable than I expected it to be. There's even a production credit for Michael Bay, of Transformers fame, which might explain why so much stuff blows up. We are transported back to the day New York City (which usually emits 90 decibels) went entirely silent. Aliens who can't see but can hear the slightest sound are wiping out the population. I'd last about two minutes, because I'm one of the clumsiest people I know. I'd be the amuse bouche for these creatures, without a doubt, whilst they looked for a leaner snack.
I loved Lupita Nyong'o and Joseph Quinn's performances in this, but the best bit about it was undoubtedly the cat (played by two moggies, Nico + Schnitzel. The fact the cat wasn't computer generated really made the difference, and as a cat lover, I'm fairly sure our kitten Colin Cann might have freaked out a bit more than these two did during filming! Ours prefers hiding in the garden hedge.
There are some good jump scares, but it was the story and humanity I really related to in this film. The final scene, featuring one of my favourite songs of all time by Nina Simone, was note perfect. I even shed a tear or two. Watch if you can!
Alex B Cann film column - Thursday 6th November 2025
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Alex Cann’s weekly film blog - Thursday 16th October 2025
