Dead Pit

It's fair to say I've earned my stripes in regard to zombie movies. Through the course I've taken to delve deep into horror, I've seen countless titles given the highest honors to the lowest scum-of-the- earth production values cinema has ever witnessed. From A to Z grade, however, there stands a few shining stars that are worth discussing. "The Dead Pit" is one of these last glimmers of hope. Brett Leonard, the man responsible for both writing and directing 1992's "The Lawnmower Man," made his directorial debut with this undead feature; he did a fine job in presenting it.

The story begins at a mental hospital in California. Dr. Ramzi, a deranged doctor at the facility, has been murdering and experimenting on patients in the basement. Dr. Gerald Swan learns of his sinister activities; in fear of jeopardizing his career at the hospital, he decides to eliminate Dr. Ramzi and bury the truth for 20 years. Jane Doe, an unidentified woman suffering from amnesia, is admitted to the facility. After an earthquake occurs, visions allow her to slowly uncover the dark secret buried deep beneath.

This movie seems to function greatly for a variety of reasons. Although a few typical 80s production clichés exist they all seem to apply perfectly in the given scenarios the plot uncovers - the use of smoke machines in correlation with intense back lighting are exhausted thoroughly. The bumbling policemen standing outside discussing donuts was also a nice touch. I expect certain predictable elements to exist within the era I'm experiencing. It all works tremendously. The vacant hospital wings that were chosen as set pieces for this film are outstanding. The director clearly knew what he was doing; as a viewer, I felt isolated. The cast of actors/actresses hired to fill the character roles did a decent job - certainly no Emmy nominations to be had, but a solid enough attempt in their own right. As far as the musical score is concerned, expect typical, 80s off-beat harmonics - which, in my opinion, is what I look forward to. Clearly anything with a dark melody is par for the course.

This film can be classified as a zombie flick but it requires a bit of patience from the viewer. The pace seems sluggish for the first 40 minutes of the film but picks up nicely. There is plenty of violence and gore to satiate the blood thirst of any gore hound. The special effects and makeup are worth noting. Although I reserve a special pedestal for Tom Savini, the artists responsible for "The Dead Pit" are truly remarkable and come in a close second - their work displayed here is even a few notches down from , in my humble opinion, the greatest zombie masterpiece of all time, George A. Romero's 1985 feature "Day of the Dead." I consider this a true accomplishment; many Z grade zombie flicks from the 80s, primarily ones with an Italian-schlock quality (I'm not including Lucio Fulci when I speak of schlock, so please don't send a lynch mob to my doorstep!), fail miserably in achieving the same success.

When it comes to zombie movies in general, I think most could agree that Romero was responsible for reinventing and trend-setting a particular brand of undead fiend in 1968's "Night of the Living Dead." I don't consider it a crime if his influence is shared by directors and production teams alike. Although not in the top 5 of classic zombie re- tellings, "The Dead Pit" surely makes the top 10 - give it a try and you won't be disappointed.

The Dead Pit (1989)

* 1/2 (out of 4)

A demented doctor is doing experiments on mentally ill patients at a hospital. Another doctor learns of the experiments and kills him, leaving his body in the basement. Twenty-years later an earthquake causes the evil doctor to return to life and soon his experiments continue.

If you were around in the video store era then you probably saw THE DEAD PIT on your local video store. The movie was a major staple back in the day and the amazing looking case is something that grabbed your attention even if you weren't a fan of the genre. With that said, the film itself certainly couldn't live up to that VHS cover and the end result certainly isn't something I'd recommend.

The biggest problem with this film is that there's really not much going on for the first hour. At 101-minutes, the film is way too long for its own good and especially since there's nothing going on during the first hour. We're introduced to the mad doctor. We're introduced to the current Jane Doe (Cheryl Lawson) who lives in the updated mental hospital. The majority of the running time has her running around, screaming and basically being scared of something in the hospital. This gets very boring very quickly.

The film finally comes to life during the final thirty-minutes when all Hell breaks loose. This is where the good stuff happens and that includes plenty of gore, zombies and some violence. If you're a fan of the zombie genre then I'd still recommend this movie but I'd keep the remote handy so that you can fast-forward to the finale. These final scenes are certainly a lot of fun and it helps that the energy level picks up.

THE DEAD PIT is a very flawed movie but I give director Brett Leonard credit for at least making the finale good. It's really too bad that the first hour didn't have a better pacing to it and it's really too bad that it took so long for the zombies to show up.

Brett Leonard (Lawnmower Man, Hideaway) gives us in his directorial debut a pastiche of De Moro's HELLHOLE and Fulci's CITY OF THE LIVING DEAD, and it holds it's own with those two heavy-weights from opposite poles of the extreme-film spectrum. This movie has raving mental patients, psychotic doctors, people being buried alive, ritual murders in boiler rooms, flesh-hungry zombies, high-quality gore effects, and hot women. Very atmospheric for taking place in a clichéd setting = a mental asylum. Probably the creepiest one caught on film. There are dead bodies all over this movie. Amazing dialog like this doesn't hurt either: -"My God! You're a Doctor! You're supposed to be saving lives!" -"I've done life. Now I'm doing death." Not a disappointment for zombie fans looking for something different, or slasher fans doing the same. Solid. A must see.

An avid horror fan this one has somehow evaded me since 1989, until I picked up a copy on VHS. Set in a mental institution (always a good location for horror movies) The Dead Pit delivers zombies, a crazed, evil doctor, a buxom heroine, lots of gore, some laughs (some possibly unintentionally?) and a very good use of colours (blue, green and red) 1980's style. This is a B-movie so expect some cardboard acting (Stephen Gregory Foster in particular), and some of the special effects/make up looks a bit cheap, it is also perhaps a tad long, but it is fun, perhaps best watched with a few beers.

If anyone ‘s checked my list of write-ups, you'll see that mostly I tend to review slashers. The Dead Pitt isn't exactly one of those flicks, but for a fair part of the runtime it incorporates some of the genre's defining elements. There's a psychopathic, surgical masked serial killer that has the trademark heavy breath and only the heroine can see him (Halloween). And some similar themed stalking set pieces and fairly gruesome murders (Just about every slasher that's ever been released!). It's like an insane mix of Exquisite Tenderness, Dawn of the Mummy and strangely enough, The Exorcist! But overall it's a zombie movie; alas it's an original one, with an exquisite surrounding for the plot to unravel in! I suppose the question that you really want answered if you're reading this is, - is it any good?

In the beginning, Jane Doe is admitted to the State Mental asylum (sorry but they don't give us the name) with amnesia. She protests that she hasn't lost her memory, but it was in fact stolen from her! Her arrival spells bad news for the other inmates however, when an earthquake rocks the institution. Soon after, everyone starts freaking out and people begin to disappear although Jane knows that they have been brutally murdered. She begins seeing a deranged looking surgeon with a bullet hole in his head hanging around the complex, but no-one else spots him and the nurses assume that it's just her insanity creating illusions. Dr. Swann tries her under hypnotherapy, which provides some shocking, if a little unexpected results! The only person that does listen to her is Christian, a patient that becomes close friends with the distraught female. The two set out to solve the mystery of the bizarre disappearances, unaware of the evil that's growing in the clock tower opposite them!

This was Cheryl Lawson's first movie and impressively she managed to land herself the lead part. I can't understand why though, she's one of the worst actresses that I've ever seen! She spends most of the runtime in a tight T-shirt (obviously without a bra, I mean come on!) and small knickers. That's great for us because she's lick-lippingly gorgeous and exceptionally well endowed, but it's pretty unflattering for any female to have to dress like that more than once in her movie debut. Tight clothes and good looks are still no substitute for talent and sadly watching her unconvingly wine and warble her way through the script can become almost nauseating at times! The rest of the cast is equally unimpressive and the only real ‘stars' are the extras that play the deluded inmates of the asylum. Some of the portrayals of dementia are fairly conclusive and add a welcome feeling of uneasiness to the proceedings.

Director Brett Leonard didn't disappear after this like the myriad of other horror helmers from the eighties. Instead he managed to climb on to better things; most noticeably Lawnmower Man. It's obvious from his experimental photography that he could indeed handle his place in ‘the hot seat', although at times he struggles to create suspense when it felt like it was most needed. He also co-wrote the screenplay, which somewhat lowers his credibility, because it has more holes than a keep-net! For example: How did a doctor that was locked in a basement with a bullet in his head manage to find the time to erase Jane's memory? How can he be dead for twenty-one years and only rot slightly? How did the zombies manage to take the distributor caps from the car engines to prevent escape, aren't they supposed to be the walking DEAD? And most importantly, were they deliberately aiming for paroxysms of laughter with their method for stopping the hordes of zombies? It has to be seen to be believed! Answers on a postcard please…

The Dead Pitt is essentially a patchwork of a movie, and not just because it attempts to be a successful crossbreed of horror sub-genres. The excellent lighting that is evident in the opening scenes seems to inexplicably evade the rest of the movie. The plot seems to crumble from imaginative to downright inept and it flies back and fourth from sluggish to energetic throughout. Surprisingly enough, the BBFC – who were at their strictest in the eighties - were implausibly lenient when they gave this an 18 certificate, they left an astonishing amount of gore unedited and the story benefits from it's presence.

A claustrophobic and affectively eerie atmosphere is created at times. But there are far too many ideas fighting for attention, which leaves the best of them struggling to be realised. Huge potential that should have been further developed is sadly wasted by the film's attempt to be a Jack of all trades. There are a few redeeming features that prevent it from complete failure, but ultimately far too much has been crammed into far too little. It is indeed a shame, but what could have been a benchmark in horror history is unforgivably flawed.