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GUT PILE
Produced by Ron Bonk
Written and Directed by Jerry O'Sullivan
Edited by Ron Bonk and Jerry O'Sullivan
Director of Photography - Whit Blanc
Dan - Jeff Forsyth
Mike - Ronk Bonk
Bob - Ed Mastin
Deputy - Sasha GrahamWith a title like GUT PILE, one would think this movie is a wall-to-wall splatter-filled orgy of death and dismemberment. While not the landmark in puke-cinema that the title might suggest, GUT PILE delivers it's fair share of ax-driven atrocities told with early Sam Raimi style. That last part alone should be enough to entice any self proclaimed horror aficionado.
There's more than just gore here, which is something many Raimi devotees forget to add to their movies, there's a story with an emotional core propelling the events and the lightening pace at which it is told. GUT PILE isn't gore for gore's sack; it's a film about coming to terms with the wrong decisions we sometimes make and how to survive their consequences.
Dan is a hunter who seems to go out every year only because his friends do. (His friends come across the same way - funny group.) After waiting in the woods with clock-watcher impatience, Dan takes a shot at the first twig snap he hears sans visual confirmation. Since no one in this movie wears the regulation Blaze Orange, Dan can't really be blamed for bagging another hunter, can he? Any moral ambiguity is lost the second Dan decides to bury the body without mentioning a word to his friends.
The next year, when Dan and his friends return for the new hunting season, they find themselves the prey. Facing the business end of a supernatural shotgun, the group is picked off one by one. Think "10 Little Indians" for gore obsessed.
After the feature, the VHS has an interview with director Jerry O'Sullivan. At one point O'Sullivan discusses the films inspired GUT PILE, the primary being Sam Raimi's EVIL DEAD. That influence isn't just carried over in the supernatural storyline, but in the look of GUT PILE as well. While the EVIL DEAD inspired visuals are nice to look at, they are overdone to the point of motion sickness. Looking back, I can't remember a single static shot; the camera just never stops moving. If the shotgunned corpses or the dissected body parts don't make you nauseous, then the ever-spinning camera will.
To come down on the gorgeous visuals of GUT PILE might seems like nit-picking, but the thing to remember about Raimi is that while he is known for moving the camera in interesting ways, the movements served a purpose, which is something ALL Raimi devotees seem to forget. It's nice for someone at the micro-budget level to put so much effort into their shots, but some restraint would have been nice. Too much of a good thing seems to detract from the story and the strained relationships between those within. Oh well, I guess putting up with original camera work is a small price to pay for the chance to sit though wildly original filmmaking.