In a Violent Nature 2: Ry Barrett on Johnny's Kills, Prep & the Sequel

In a Violent Nature 2 is coming, and we got to sit down with the man who makes Johnny tick. Ry Barrett — actor, stuntman, and the face (well, mask) of one of the most talked-about slasher characters in recent horror memory — joins Arthur and Meaghan for a full conversation about what it takes to play a silent killer, how he prepared for the sequel, and what fans should expect when Johnny hits a summer camp. We get into the physicality of playing Johnny: the shoulder-first movement system, the checklist Ry ran through before every take, and the work cinematographer Pierce Derks put in just to keep pace. The bear attack videos that shaped how Ry moved through the first film. The shark attack footage he watched for the sequel — and what that hints at for Johnny's energy in In a Violent Nature 2. Ry talks about the moment of humanity he fought to keep in the original, the Steven Kostanski makeup that made it possible, and why he thinks Johnny works as a slasher villain in a way that stands alongside the classics. We compare notes on Canadian horror icons — Black Christmas, My Bloody Valentine, Ginger Snaps — and what it means to have Johnny take his place in that lineage. There's a panel story involving Kane Hodder, Lee Waddell, and Tom Morga that you'll want to hear. Plus: the plan for a third film, the possibility of a Fantasia premiere, and Ry's personal zombie apocalypse survival strategy (it involves duct tape).   The Physicality of Playing a Silent Slasher Ry Barrett built Johnny's movement from a checklist — specific posture elements he ran through mentally before every single take to keep the character consistent across shooting days. The shoulder-first movement was a collaborative system developed with cinematographer Pierce Derks, who hand-held and followed Barrett through every scene — a physical cue system so Derks could frame correctly without verbal communication on a live take. Barrett studied bear attack footage to shape Johnny's baseline energy in the first film: smooth and territorial until the moment it becomes an attack, at which point the animal shifts completely. [LINK: In a Violent Nature (2024)] For In a Violent Nature 2, he switched to shark attack footage — which he hints connects directly to the sequel's tone and pacing, though he's deliberately cagey about the specifics. In a Violent Nature 2: What to Expect The sequel picks up directly after the events of the first film — no time jump — and moves Johnny into a summer camp setting, leaning further into the Friday the 13th tradition while doing something genuinely different with it. Barrett describes the sequel's Johnny as already operating at the heightened viciousness of the end of the first film, sustained throughout. He estimates there are at least three kills on the level of the yoga scene — and then more. The script, written by Chris Nash and directed by Nathaniel Wilson, still preserves the mystery around Johnny — the unreliable narration of the mythology remains intact — while adding new angles on the character. A tentative late summer/early fall 2026 window is discussed; Barrett also floated the possibility of a Fantasia Film Festival premiere without confirming anything. [CONFIRM: release window with IFC Films/Shudder before publishing] Canadian Horror and the Slasher Icon Question Arthur and Meaghan make the case for Barrett's Johnny as the Canadian answer to Kane Hodder's Jason — a comparison Barrett takes seriously given Hodder's status as the definitive physical performer behind a masked slasher. Barrett has met Kane Hodder multiple times — including once at a Nashville convention where he found himself on a panel alongside Hodder, Lee Waddell (original Ghostface in Scream), and Tom Morga (the only actor to play Jason Voorhees, Leatherface, and Michael Myers on screen) and describes mostly just listening in awe the entire time. The episode touches on the deep bench of Canadian horror films that tend to get absorbed into the general horror canon without their origins being noted: Black Christmas, My Bloody Valentine, Ginger Snaps — and now In a Violent Nature. [LINK: Canadian Horror Film Recommendations] The Horror Community and Making Indie Film Barrett traces his career in indie horror back to a micro-budget film made with friends in 2002 — which ended up being distributed worldwide through Lions Gate/Alliance Atlantis and basically set the course for everything after. He talks about the horror community as a self-sustaining ecosystem of fans, filmmakers, and convention culture — more accessible and more genuinely welcoming than most other genre communities he's encountered. The practical demands of the role: months of physical preparation, the reality of working in