This Canadian horror film goes for the kill.

As “In a Violent Nature” begins in the Ontario wilderness, a group of guys, whom we don’t see their faces, stumble upon a collapsed fire tower, where one of them takes a locket. Never dreaming it would resurrect a dead murderer named Johnny (Ry Barrett), whose father gave him the locket as a boy. It was his dead mother’s. There’s a story or two behind him, and how he ended up in the ground, but I don’t want to spoil anything for you. I want you horror fans to see it for yourselves.

This zombie slaughters anyone he comes across with, sometimes in the goriest fashion, the kind that Jigsaw or Rob Zombie would enjoy. Even if one of them shoots him, it’s clear they didn’t see “Zombieland” or “Scream” (2022), because you’re supposed to give him the Double Tap. If you didn’t see those films, it means you’re supposed to shoot them in the head to make sure they stay dead.

Or maybe this guy is so persistent to get his pocket back that those rules don’t work on him. I don’t know. I just review movies; I don’t write them. Or maybe he’s the one who does the Double Tap, because he likes to make sure his victims stay dead, and he’ll rip them, saw them, and hack them to death. And again, he doesn’t need a score to capture those horrors.

“In a Violent Night” is a Canadian film released by IFC Films and Shudder, which is sure to find fans of elevated horror films for a number of reasons. One of them being the camera angles. Parts of the movie has long shots of the killer walking through the woods, which are chilling and patient. Another would be this killer has the potential to be a cult villain, one who doesn’t need dialogue, but a knack for evil, and how he takes no prisoners. And the lack of score sets the mood and tone of the film in a haunting manner.

There’s not much character development in the victims, who are a group of friends renting a cabin in the woods. I think “Baghead” has the better appeal (if you recall me talking about it in my review of “The Strangers: Chapter 1”), and the last 15 minutes could have lived up to its potential. But I don’t think the movie is supposed to be about them.

It’s about one killer and how he walks around the forest wearing a fire mask and doing his own gory version of the Double Tap. And when he’s not wearing the mask, he looks so decomposed that his eyes look blind. But if he was blind, then how could he see the weapons and mask he steals? How does he know where his victims are and how to kill them? I think the answer has to do with senses-sound and smell.

I’m not even sure if Johnny is blind. I do know he’s mute, so he doesn’t talk. And I admire how “In a Violent Nature” is presented through his perspective in most parts. This is beautifully photographed by writer/director Chris Nash and cinematographer Pierce Derks. This movie should be a cult movie, but with a better appeal than “Winnie the Pooh: Blood & Honey,” and I skipped that bomb and its sequel.