The Payback is a short hard-boiled action thriller depicting the mechanics of a violent revenge. An unknown dock worker is chased down a city alley and savagely beaten by a corrupt union boss and his goon. Once caught, the camera assumes the P.O.V. of the victim alternating between film and video formats with each brutal blow. Inspired by Alan Barone's Blast of Silence and Elia Kazan's On The Waterfront, The Payback was the first film by Thomas C. Gaunt. It was made while Gaunt was an student at the School of The Art Institute of Chicago.