As if you couldn’t guess from the movie’s subtle title, this is a horror film. Instead of the “Halloween” style of fright, however, it seems to want to revisit some of that “Evil Dead” feeling while going for a more EC-like ending. It sort of works.
The movie opens with Dan (Jeff Forsyth) accidentally shooting a fellow hunter. Instead of reporting the accident, Dan buries him because he thinks the cops won’t believe him that the shooting was unintentional. Flash forward a year, and Dan is back at the hunting camp with his two friends, Mike (Ron Bonk) and Bob (Ed Mastin). Once night falls, the terror begins as something awakens in the woods and begins its campaign of murder and mayhem.
“Gut Pile” has some creepy moments, but the acting (or lack of it) and transparent plot ruin any hopes of actually scaring an audience out of its pants. Why Sub Rosa decided to put this film out on DVD, complete with a few standard extras, is a mystery because there are far better films out there. This one is barely a blip on the radar, though it does reek of potential.
Nobody wants a horror movie where you can see the scares coming, and gore doesn’t really do much without some kind of point behind it. The lingering shots of the autumn-touched landscape, however, do lend an air of despair over this film and heightens the tension. It doesn’t add enough of those elements to save the movie, though.
There are better horror films, but if you’ve only got an hour to kill, this may fit the bill … as long as you don’t expect much out of it.
