Gut Pile

Over the years, plenty of directors have been 'influenced' by low-budget horror classic The Evil Dead, but very few have tried to emulate that film as closely as Jerry O'Sullivan, whose uninspired 'evil spirit in the woods' flick Gut-Pile shamelessly 'borrows' every directorial trick in Sam Raimi's book, albeit with very little success.

Made by the aptly named Shoestring Films and released by Sub Rosa, this crappy effort revolves around three guys spending a hunting weekend in a remote cabin who find themselves at the mercy of a vengeful spirit. Complete with Raimi's 360 degrees rotation shot, his steadicam through the trees gimmick, and a variety of other very familiar camera angles, sound production tricks and lighting effects, this piece of highly derivative nonsense would be completely and utterly worthless if it wasn't for a half-decent 'wall-mounted decapitated head trophy' gag, some cheap and cheerful flying severed limb action, an eviscerated corpse (his guts left in a pile on the ground, hence the title) and the appearance of a silly scarecrow monster towards the end.

One of the best popcorn horror movies I've seen in a long time, and easily one of the best homages to THE EVIL DEAD. Director Sullivan and producer/actor Ron Bonk deserve high praise for putting entertainment back into low-budget horror movies.

OK, so it's not Spielberg but as straight to video "B" movies go its not that bad. I think the acting has room for improvement, but on the whole its pretty good. The other commenter pointed out the fake fire crackling sound "added" to the soundtrack. I beg to differ, I was there that night the sound is the real fire burning and is not augmented in any way.

A small bit of trivia, the explosion was an accident and not intentional, but it was "caught on tape" and added to the movie. I believe a couple of us lost some eyebrow and I fell over a log and pierced the palm of my hand on a stump! Ed Mastin, Bob

Not that it matters now because it's been ten years since Gut Pile was released, but to everyone who said it was too long even at 50 minutes: it was never meant to be released as a feature. Jerry (O'Sullivan, the writer/director) wrote it as one part of an anthology that he and I were producing. We actually shot the entire short on 16mm but ran out of funds to complete the anthology. Instead of trying to raise money to shoot the other segments, he was talked into "padding" the script and producing it as a feature and shooting it on video, something he agrees should never have been done. As a 20-minute short the story was tighter, there was a lot more tension, the acting was much better (different actors were used the first time), the pace was quicker, and the effects looked much better on film. Yes, there were some shots that were similar to Evil Dead, but not as many in the original short.

I'm hoping that we'll be able to construct the original 16mm version and include it on a DVD we'll be releasing of a feature we're currently working on. I think you'll like it better in its original form.

Title: Gut-Pile

U.S. Release Date: 24 February 2004 (DVD)

Directed by:Jerry O'Sullivan

Written by: Jerry O'Sullivan

Running Time: 51 minutes

Synopsis: After Dan (Jeff Forsyth) kills his buddy Mike (Ron Bonk) in a hunting accident, he covers up the incident by burying Mike in the woods where he fell and never speaking of it again. A year later (always the anniversary, right?), Dan returns to the woods for another hunting trip with a new group of (living) friends. But, unfortunately for them. . . they're the hunted!

Cause of Outbreak: Revenge and/or Demonic Possession

Review: The film is less than an hour long. And, to be honest. . . you should be grateful. There's nothing really new or interesting about it. The dialogue and acting is believable. I actually imagine they're hunting buddies. But, the film is essentially one giant fan film for 'Evil Dead.' The camera angles, plot, writing, etc., are all taken directly from Raimi's classic. It does take a little while to really get going, and when it finally does. . . there's not much to see and you feel like you wasted your time. Then again, watching a 50 minute no-budget zombie flick. . . why wouldn't you be wasting your time?

Final Verdict: 3/10

Recommended? Only if you've really got nothing else and less than an hour of free time. Otherwise. . . just watch Evil Dead. It's endlessly better.