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.

It's strange that some low or even no budget flicks get a good release. Gut Pile is a perfect example. It's clearly to see that indeed no budget was involved but what made it watchable was the way it was shot and edited by the director Jerry O'Sullivan.

I liked it and just for one reason. It reminded me a lot of Within The Woods (1978), the short that spawned The Evil Dead (1981). So yes it's a kind of rip-off but only in the way Sam Raimi (the director of Within The Woods) made his shots. It works but still not that much gore is seen as in Raimi's classic.

But by clocking in under 55 minutes it really never bored me. The acting was rather good. And the score use did add something to the scariness of this flick. Although it never frightened me it entertained me. Here and there a piece of soft gore and some blood here and there. If you liked Within The Woods then you will like this but if you can't stand no budget keep away from it because it looked as it was made in the eighties, no white balance, no grading afterwards...

Gore 2/5 Nudity 0/5 Effects 1/5 Story 2/5 Comedy 0/5

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.

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.