Review: Gut - 2012

Gut

Director: Elias

2012

Drama/Horror/Thriller

Something is missing in Tom's life. Every day he goes through the motions, becoming increasingly detached from those around him. His best friend Dan thinks he has the answer, a mysterious video he's got to see to believe. What Dan shows him leaves Tom unsettled, flooding his mind with disturbing images and desires, and binding the two friends together with its ugly secret. As he tries desperately to forget what he saw, Tom's mounting feelings of guilt and disillusionment quickly give way to paranoia and fear. One video soon follows another and another, blurring the line between reality and voyeuristic fascination, and threatening to dismantle everything around them. 

I did not write the above description of the film but I found it being so informative that there was really no need to rewrite something original for the sole purpose of this review. Maybe I would have included that the film that might solve Tom’s problems and fascinates Dan is some kind of snuff-porn where a woman gets cut open with a scalpel. There’s really no need to leave this information out as the movies title kind of gives that away anyway.

The whole atmosphere in this movie within the movie is sexual but there’s no actual footage of sex or sexual encounters. Nor is there any real evidence of sexual arousal by the viewers of it. There is insinuated fascination but not really arousal. This means that the film is not there just to shock us but also to frighten us, which it does over time. To begin with Dan tells Tom that he ordered it online somewhere but later confesses that someone just sent it to him after he wrote his postbox number in some forum.

When Dan gets another DVD, and then another and another we realize that this is not sexual at all. At least not for the viewers. Tom and especially Dan can’t let go of it and feel themselves forced to watch. The fascination gets more prominent but we realize more and more that something about this is totally wrong. (when someone sends us DVDs of women being cut open we should feel kind of awkward don’t you think?).

What good about it is that there is a presence of the question what is real and what is not? Soon the DVDs start showing women that they know being cut open. Here stops the fascination and terror begins. Why are they receiving these DVDs? Who is sending them, and why? Are they even real?

The friendship of Tom and Dan are soon in jeopardy. They cannot support each other more than to a certain point. They just want the whole thing to end. In the end it’s all about mental instability and the need to protect ourselves. Looking out for number one and your own family is the prime directive. Your friends are really secondary!

I was surprised how well acted this was. Neither of them will get an Oscar nomination for their work but they portray the characters very satisfactory. The same thing goes for the directing and the visual effects are very good also! It was an exciting experience watching this and I feel that the suspense was there almost all along, which is truly uncommon for a low budget movie like this.

7/10

Photos by Will Serber, © Gut Productions, LLC

Review: Sick Girl - 2007

Sick Girl

Director: Eben McGarr

2007

Drama/Horror

Izzy is a young girl with some serious issues. She misses her older brother who joined up with the Marine Corps with whom she wanted to raise their little brother as their child. She’s overprotective about him and she stops at noting to teach bullies a lesson. She also kidnapped a schoolgirl and some dude who was unfortunate enough to pick her up when she was hitchhiking. And oh… She pissed a nun in the face…

I heard a lot about this movie and all of it was good too! This means that I got a little disappointed when I saw it just now. It’s always like that; you build up you expectations in your mind and the film comes out short. Don’t get me wrong, it’s a gruesome film that’s for sure, but the acting is less than good too much of the time. When they – and the girl who plays Izzy especially – act out emotions it’s just fine, but when it comes to deliver trustworthy dialog it’s an entirely different thing. But the dialog is quite bad too so I guess that evens it up a bit.

The weird stuff starts right away with Izzy pissing a nun in the face but after that it kind of slows down a bit. The story is told with several flashback and you need to stay alert to really understand what’s going on. There’s a lot of character building and it’s quite boring to watch if I’m honest. It doesn’t get interesting again until we get to see what Izzy keeps in the barn. And we gets to realize just how fucked up she really is!

Gradually the movie now gets more interesting even if the pace is on the slow side. When it comes to torture I think this movie falls short compared to other more explicit movies, but it’s so deranged that you can help but think what’s going on inside this girls mind! She keeps a straight face throughout the movie and that adds to the frightening feeling that this could be just anybody anywhere. You just can’t know what other people are thinking and what their most inner desires are. And once you realize it, it just might be too late!

6/10

Review: Grave Encounters - 2011

Grave Encounters

Director: The Vicious Brothers

2011

Horror

A reality show called Grave Encounters is about to record episode 6 of the show. This time they explore an old asylum which is supposed to be haunted. It’s obvious that the crew themselves don’t believe in the haunting for a second as they joke about it the first chance they get and when they’re not shooting essential material for the show. What we get to see it the unedited shoots of raw material of what was to be the last show of Grave Encounters…

This is obviously one of those found footage films that have been quite popular as of late. I don’t know what started the trend but horror wise I think that [Rec] and Paranormal Activity is most of all to “blame” for the boom. I don’t complain though, I feel that most of these films have something in common – a kind of tension! I like tension! That’s the main reason I watch horror flicks and thrillers most of the time. I’m not necessarily into splatter and gore just for the heck of it. I like suspense and these films can often give you that!

This particular film starts out pretty slow with a short presentation of what we are about to see. Some dude which is supposed to be some network guy tell us about the show Grave Encounters and that what we are about to see is the real deal!

The illusion is pretty good! The pace is quite slow to begin with and the team is obviously non believers of paranormal phenomenon. They’re just making the best TV they can do and as soon as they’re recording material for the show they look very serious about what they’re doing. It comes as no big surprise when the place eventually turns out to be hunted. The crew gets what’s coming to them and I can’t feel any pity over any of them. It’s not that they´re unlikable characters, I just don’t identify with them at all.

The chocking imagery it nicely made even if it’s quite sparse. I would have liked it to pick up the pace a bit more when the movie comes to an end. But you also have to keep in mind that the team is inside a mace of hallways and corridors and can’t find their way out. This is perhaps more frightening than the actual haunting of the place. The mental institution complex seems to move around its room, hallways and corridors just to keep them inside the building. It also seems that time works in a totally different manor than it normally should. Minutes seems like hours for the people trapped inside.

As a whole the movie is ok. It’s not terribly frightening and the pace is too slow but I’m still looking forward to the sequel!

6/10