Gut

Anyone who is ever seen a horror movie before will figure out right away what it is they're about to sit through another hour of dreadfully dull 2-dimensional characterization and seen-it-a-million-times-before filmmaking to find out. This could've been a 20 minute short film, and still wouldn't have been a terribly interesting one at that. I'm not sure how this even so release, and I am positive that the glowing reviews are fakes by people connected with this film, because there is absolutely no way an objective human being Who was familiar with the horror genre at all could lavish praise on this. This film doesn't even try to be good. The filmmakers had one unoriginal idea, and they thought that all they had to do was put that idea on screen and that would take place of plot, narration, character development, Robert themes or any deeper meaning at all, not to mention that this is the single least gory "torture porn" film ever, with a total of maybe two minutes of exceptionally tame blood & guts, so it doesn't even work if that's what you're into. So instead, we get a feature length view of barely-developed characters walk a treadmill to a conclusion that we can see already from near the beginning of the movie. This film makes "Paranormal Activity" look as action-packed as a Michael Bay film, as well-crafted as Hitchcock, and as intellectually challenging as Tarkovsky.

Look, if a couple of high school kids up the block made this movie, I would congratulate them for doing a great job… for a student film (although it wouldn't really be *that* great a job, even for students.) But as a film that got real attention and supposed awards and wound up on a major streaming site that I pay money for? No fargin' way.

Before I even get into the movie, their use of music amounts to torture in itself. It is worth taking several points off any rating. We meet Tom and Dan, friends for a long time, and Dan considers himself sort of a horror film maker, although one he did got really panned. They both work in an office, but what they do is impossible to guess, as Dan seems to do little, and Tom not much more. Tom is bored with his work, and Dan seems like the proverbial sad sack. Oh, Dan often wears his jacket while at work, and they frequent a diner for lunch, as regulars. Dan got an interesting DVD, and invites Tom to watch it with him. It is torture/snuff porn, but is it real? But it is addictive. Tom even gets visions about it. It starts to take over their lives. But it turns out there is a very, very dark side, and that is the latter part of the movie. In a movie, the music can set the mood, and in this movie, the mood is not to watch it. I did make it to the end, where the real horror is.

Hello, everyone! If all you horror buffs out there are on the prowl for the kind of interesting, compelling, and innovative horror-thriller that really isn't made anymore, that dares to *involve* the viewer in its horror (and not just splay it all out there graphically for the viewer to revel in), then "Gut" is absolutely the perfect movie for you! :) It's a terrific socio-psych horror film...think of it as "Fargo" with a Todd Solondz spin for the first half (with all the occasional dark humor that implies), with really great character development and humor, and an building sense of ambiguous mood/dread throughout (with Kubrick-esque sound design) that leaves your mind racing faster and faster. It has a Western/Jarmusch-esque alternation of quick cuts and long takes, but never in like a distancing or showstopping sort of way like Michael Haneke. And to top it all off, the underlying issues/theme of the movie are always clear and 100% relatable, about the neediness and isolated dependency and suppressed hostility of American suburbia, and the arrested development and uncommunicativeness that can result. The plot may revolve around snuff films, that is true (only VERY rarely seen on screen in slivers), but the film is REALLY about all the suppressed emotions and urges that get manifested *through* them. If you like movies like "Fight Club" and "Cape Fear", but on a smaller, more human indie-horror scale, this is most definitely the movie for you! Enjoy, everyone! :)

The acting, which has been frequently panned, looked pretty bad in the trailer but once you get into the film, it's really not that bad. The movie itself is pretty far removed from a snuff film, but snuff films are central to the story.

Yeah, it's pretty slow paced. But I've certainly seen worse. The two lead males (named Tom and Dan in the movie) end up being fairly likable and we're certainly rooting for Tom's wife and daughter to come out of all this crap the men got into unscathed. There are several things that I would've handled differently than Tom, but it's understandable why he tried to keep it all a secret...and then it spun all out of control.

If I listened to several reviews here, I would not have watched the movie at all, and that would've been a miss. I dislike when reviewers tell you "don't watch this movie, it's garbage." Everyone's got an opinion, and most opinions are just one point of view, so don't presume that nobody else will enjoy a film even when you did not.

Even if I hate a film, I won't ever tell people not to watch it. I won't proclaim it's an hour-and-a-half I can never get back (duh, no kidding). "Gut" is worth a shot. It won't be everyone's cup of tea, but for some viewers it's worth the time.

You have to endure a lot until the movie actually delivers. Which is the loaded end, that is really suspenseful and might keep you on the edge of your seat. If you let it, of course, because you might be so annoyed by that point that you don't care anymore. It's not only the "worst decision" possible thing, that brings the movie down, it's the essence that seems to be missing (would have worked a lot better as a short movie or with a better worked out script).

As it is, the end might leave you with a gut pun(ch), but not really satisfied. The acting isn't really good, the dialog either, nudity will either be considered positive or negative in your book, depends on you. Overall a decent first time effort, if you don't have anything against small budget (looking and feeling) movies