Those who follow Stephen King on social media will know that the lore of X/Twitter feed is about as rich as any number of his novels, and the author has taken to the platform once more.
The author has long used X/Twitter as the site of his book, television and movie recommendations, most recently sharing his opinions about The Fall Guy, 3 Body Problem, and Stephen King’s Maine: A History & Guide.
Now, King has informed his 7 million Twitter/X followers of a new film, this time making a comparison to the Despicable Me franchise. The author took to the platform on June 4 to discuss In A Violent Nature, the new Canadian slasher film written and directed by Chris Nash. Starring a largely unknown cast, the film has made waves for its original, slow-burn take on the slasher genre, a filmmaking choice noted by King in his social media post.
“If you need a slasher movie, this one will do the job,” the It author wrote. He went on to describe the film — which multiple publications said has the most gruesome movie kill of the year — as “leisurely [and] almost languorous,” at least until the antagonist begins his killing spree. “When the blood flows, it flows in buckets,” King added. The author is presumably referencing Johnny, the masked serial killer who hunts a group of teenagers in the Ontario wilderness throughout In A Violent Nature.
While that brief synopsis alone, and the mention of bucketsful of blood, might suggest a film reminiscent of Texas Chainsaw Massacre or Saw, King somewhat undercut the apparent horror of In A Violent Nature with questionable comparison, saying the masked Johnny character “looks like the world’s most terrifying Minion.”
While the comparison might seem far-fetched at first, a closer inspection will find that the Despicable Me franchise has caught the attention of horror enthusiasts in the past, inspiring multiple fan-made horror trailers and Reddit threads.
Heck, the Minions TikTok craze of 2022 could itself be considered a horror film, especially when all this writer wanted to do was order a large bucket of popcorn at his local cinema. In any case, we assume Nash will be chuffed with the praise from a horror pioneer like King, especially given his less-than flattering takes on other films in recent years.
Alongside In A Violent Nature, King has shared his thoughts on fellow horror titles like Late Night with the Devil, Infested and Night Swim. Given Hollywood’s track record of unoriginal spinoffs and sequels, we wouldn’t be surprised if Wes Craven was tapped for a new film titled Gru: The Gru-some Killer.