Gut is a Horror Thriller originally released on October 26th 2012, written and directed by Bostonian going by the name Elias. Officially selected for countless Horror film festivals, and winner of four, it stars Jason Vail (Paranormal Captivity 2012), Nicholas Wilder (The Paradigm Shift 2008) and Sarah Schoofs (Phobia 2013).
- Still from Gut
The film follows the life of two men, Tom and Dan, who are best friends and also share the same job where their desks are in plain sight of one another. Tom is married with a daughter and Dan is single and leads a very quiet life. They both are very bored with their lives and Dan finds a solution to their boredom when he stumbles onto a site online that sells footage of actual murders. Dan orders it and it arrives in a white blank sleeve with no envelope which means it was not mailed but just left in his mailbox by an unknown person. Dan likes the thrill of what this DVD could bring and decides to keep the mystery of how the DVD was delivered to himself and invites Tom over to watch it, which he originally declines but eventually accepts, and they watch the footage together.
On the DVD they see a close up of a naked female stomach on a table. Then a hand holding a scalpel enters the frame and starts to open up the gut of the body. Tom is grossed out but can not look away. He says to Dan that it is sick and that he should get rid of it whether it is real or not. After Tom leaves and heads home, he is plagued by visions of the film and even starts to have nightmares of killing his wife in the same way. The fascination that both Tom and Dan start to have with this footage starts to dismantle their lives. When more footage starts to arrive at Dan’s house, it starts to threaten their lives and destroy everything they have.
- Still from Gut
Gut is a very low budget film that depends on its actors and dialog to control the tension and atmosphere. This is a very slow burn and will be lost on viewers who have little patience. The acting in the film is on and off throughout, showing the range of the two leads. The wife, played by Schoofs, is very convincing throughout and it is a shame that she was not utilized more since she is the best actor on screen.
- Still from Gut
The plot is pretty simple and not much goes on in the film, but Gut still seems to maintain its tension throughout the runtime despite some lulls that seem like filler. The film is mostly about the drudgery of everyday life for the nine to fivers. That desire to put a little thrill into your boring mundane life, and then once you get into the danger, all you want to do is go back to the way things were, but it may already be too late. Gut does a good job of conveying hopelessness and desperation, but ultimately the ending falls a little flat even though it is not a complete waste of time either. The director had a vision and he stuck to it. The film knows what it is and sticks to it. It is a daring film that is not afraid to be itself, which gives it charm. Gut is recommended to viewers that like slow burns and an escape from films that follow a formula. CrypticRock gives Gut 3 out of 5 stars.
- ANDERSON DIGITAL
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