The Pit

The Pit is a great film not in the traditional sense. If you are looking for an award winning movie, go look at something else. The Pit is great on B movie levels. This is the definition of a cult classic.

Jamie is what you call an "Autistic" child. Getting in trouble by running around in his underwear with a superman cape on at the age of 12 is rather unusual. He also has a good friend, that being his Teddy, his Teddy bear. He also has a few more friends. They live in a big hole in the ground. They are called trollalogs and they like to eat... people that is! When Jamie discovers that they aren't getting enough food and that they may die, Teddy tells him he should start luring all the people that have been mean to him to the pit.

This is such a strange movie. Originally, I don't even think it was suppose to be a horror film. The idea of the pit, originally, was suppose to all be in Jamie's head but the directer didn't want to have such a serious approach. Thus, we end up with the silliness that is The Pit. Not to say that the film doesn't have a few gory moments or not to say that this movie dosen't have a few decent scary moments in it, because it does have a few very memorable scenes, in general it is just hilarious though. Look for scenes like when Jamie is pushing an old blind lady in a wheelchair to the pit. If you don't laugh during that scene there is something seriously wrong with you.

Anyway, The Pit is an awesome film and if you are a fan of B horror I highly recommend this movie. 9/10

Jamie is a 12 year old boy that cannot seem to get attention from his parents or avoid getting picked on. Left home alone with the babysitter, he begins to fixate on her. And when he discovers a pit full of Trogs (man-eating creatures), he seeks his revenge on his bullies.

Jamie is exceptionally creepy and well-acted by Sammy Snyders. Director Lehman effectively shows the child's abuse at the hands of his peers and how he is outcast. He is punched for wanting to join a club, called a weirdo for admiring a young girl's bike, and called a hippie by an old lady for just standing on a sidewalk. But there are the more disturbing scenes like when he talks to his Teddy and Teddy talks back! When his parents abandon him amidst his weird personality changes, he begins to fall in love with his nubile babysitter Sandy. Sandy is cherub faced and acts just as angelic with her endless patience with the weird kid. There are a variety of scenes with Jamie hitting on Sandy. He sneaks in when she showers, watches her sleep with her breast exposed (because women never notice drafts!), and makes her bath him in a tub because he is "dirty".

When he discovers the Trogs, he notices that they like fresh meat. He begins buying meat wherever he can get it and then turns to people when the money runs out. Soon he is luring random "mean" people into the woods and then into the pit. He even hijacks an old lady in a wheelchair and pushes her through the city, through the woods, into the pit, and then the cruises around in her wheelchair after.

There is a cute scene where he has exhausted his resources meat-wise and must feed the Trogs. He attempts to kidnap a cow, but it won't budge. He talks to it and tries to convince it that it will die anyway, so might as well be for his friends. It doesn't work by the way.

Jamie begins to run into trouble when a pesky librarian notices his penchant for art (nudes) and animal husbandry (carnivores). One scene of interest would be when he sneaks to her house, phones in as a man that kidnapped her daughter, and makes her strip in front of the window for him to take pictures! Produced by Amulet Pictures, it clocks in at a solid 96 minutes with an Aspect Ratio of 1.85:1.

Weird Fact: The director's wife refused to let him shoot the nude scenes, so the screenwriter shot them instead. The only shot involving nudity that the director was allowed to film was the "skinny dipping" scene and only because the actress was his daughter. Umm, this sounds incredibly gross and creepy to me. Also, this is the only film Lehman ever directed.

Favorite Quote: An 8 year old girl asks her mom, "What is wrong with boys? Is that boy Jamie crazy? They are all the same. Always stressing." DVD Extras: Just the poster and some stills.

Bottom Line: The movie is a weird combo of a serial killer flick and a troll movie. Good acting plus the strange premise helps it to hold up well over time.

Rating: 7/10 by Molly Celaschi www.HorrorYearbook.com

I first saw this on a couple of UHF (pre-cable for me) stations in the late 80s or early 90s. The first time was, I think, on Grampa Munster's (Al Lewis) Saturday morning B-movie show on TBS (which is a broadcast station for the Atlanta area). The second time was on another Saturday on our then Fox affiliate, WATL. Like any traumatic experience that defines one's life from then on, I have a great love-hate relationship with this movie. The second time I saw it was like looking through a photo album from an extremely romantic and cherished relationship...albeit with the eating of human beings, a teddy bear with an oscillating head, snakes, frogs, abuse of the handicapped elderly, childhood cruelty, jealousy, and lust. This movie really is quite effective. The composition of the shots works well, the movie is technically competent, the acting...is creepy. As mentioned previously, Sandy is almost just as unsettling a presence as Sammy. Personally, a couple of my favorite characters are the cartoonishly prim librarian (check out those glasses) and her butt-ugly daughter who laughs hysterically at Jamie. Oh yea, who can forget the beginning scene with the Halloween party and Jamie getting punched in the face and being laughed at. This film has a...rawness too it that's hard to put into words. It's more disturbing than most movies with twice the dialogue, twice the names and twice the violence. You must see it.

I totally agree with Mike from K.C. This film is obviously bad, but you will definitely find yourself enjoying it. I am lucky enough to have a local video store that carries loads of obscure horror movies quite like this. I am spending much of my free time in the summer watching eccentric horror movies at night and this time I wasn't let down. I personally believed Jeannie Elias (Ms. O' Reilly) was a total babe. The funniest thing about this film was the fact that the little trolls resemble the stage costume of Rob Zombie. G'day, eh!

When twelve-year-old alienated boy Jamie Benjamin stumbles across a deep pit housing centuries-old troll-like creatures,he takes it upon himself to see that the monsters are well fed.But the finances of a twelve-year-old go only so far.After stealing both money and meat prove to be dead ends,Jamie decides to take the advice of his perverse teddy bear and lure all the unfriendly members of town into the inescapable bowls of 'The Pit'."The Pit" by Lew Lehman is a mixed bag:it definitely has an interesting concept and the acting is surprisingly decent,however the plot is quite boring and there is a minimal amount of blood and gore.Still the relationship between Jamie and Teddy is well-developed and has to be the strongest aspect of the film.Despite some obvious flaws "The Pit" is a truly original horror flick that kept me entertained.Give it a look.7 out of 10.