PopHorror Let's Get Scared
I remember going to the video store with my mom one Saturday afternoon around Easter when I was in 7th grade and seeing The Pit on the shelf among several other new releases and knew that I had to see it. I thought that the cover looked awesome and after reading the synopsis on the back of the VHS box I was sold and told my mom that we had to rent it. She agreed and we got it and watched it with my dad when he got home from work later that evening.
So, was it everything that I’d hoped it would be or should it have been called The Pits instead?
Keep reading to find out!
Synopsis
A weird little boy named Jamie (who is most likely on the spectrum) discovers a pit in the woods full of meat eating little prehistoric monsters and decides to feed them the people in the neighborhood that are mean to him.
I’ll admit, The Pit is a weird little movie and isn’t for everyone, but I have always dug it for some strange reason I can’t quite explain. I think it has an interesting premise, a nice dark sense of humor, some fun death scenes, and just an overall creepy feeling in general that makes it a winner. I loved it when I first saw it all those years ago and bragged about it to all my friends at school and still enjoy it even today.
Directed by Lew Lehman (Phobia, Killers of the Wild) and written by Ian A. Stuart (The Highland Regiments of Canada, Teddy Told Me To) this movie is a kooky little flick that is a lot of fun in my opinion. We have a little boy named Jamie played by Sammy Snyders (The Last Chase, Tomorrow Never Comes) who is just different and doesn’t quite fit in anywhere and who is bullied by his classmates and even the adults in his town. His only friend is a creepy teddy bear named Teddy (that seems to talk to him) and some little carnivorous monsters he calls Troglodytes that he finds in a pit in the middle of the woods. He is determined to take care of them so he decides to feed them the people that are mean to them so that they can survive. All goes well until he falls for his new babysitter and he decides to introduce her to his little friends, leading to tragic results.
One of the things that I enjoy most about the film is that it is left up to the viewer to decide if the monsters in the pit are real or if they are just in Jamie’s head. It’s also up to you to decide if Teddy is really talking to him or if Jamie is just nuts. I’ve heard people argue about it for years and the novelization by author John Gault heavily leans in the direction of one of these theories over the other, but it’s fun to watch the movie and decide for yourself (I like to think that even though Jamie is an oddball the little monsters are real and there is more to Teddy than meets the eye).
I also thought that the cast did a wonderful job. Snyders does a wonderfully creepy job as Jamie, and there is just something about him that is just downright disturbing for a number of reasons. I assume he is most likely Autistic, but I could be wrong. He is just a painfully awkward kid that obviously has problems with social interactions, so even though he is creepy as they come you can’t help but feel a little sorry for him.
I also think that Jeannie Elias (Over the Hedge, Nomads) does an excellent job as his babysitter Sandy as well. Sandy is just your average girl-next-door type that is a genuinely good person and cares for Jamie, so you can see why he eventually develops romantic feelings for her since she is one of the only people in the world that is kind to him. I thought that Jamie and Sandy’s interactions came off as natural and realistic, and this is due to the fact that both people playing their parts do a phenomenal job and have a natural chemistry.
Did I mention that the Trogs are terrifying? They scared the crap out of me when I was a kid and I always worried about coming up on a pit of them in the middle of nowhere when my friend Dusty and I would explore the woods near our houses after I saw this movie. They are just creepy as they come and something about them is unsettling. I love the fact that the movie doesn’t explain where they came from or how they ended up in the pit as it makes them more mysterious and scary in my opinion. These little guys love eating meat and their hunger seems to be insatiable, so I know I definitely would not like to be thrown down into the pit with them as I am sure they would tear me apart and devour me in seconds. This never sounded like a good way to go for me, and this is one of the reasons that I was always nice to that kid at school that was a little different that everyone else made fun of.
Final Thoughts
I dig The Pit and have introduced it to several people over the years who enjoy it as much as I do. It has a lot going for it including a weird, creepy little kid, man-eating monsters, and a very dark ending that I didn’t see coming. That final scene will stay with you longer after you watch the movie and to me it is just a perfect ending. Check this movie out if you haven’t seen it, you will be glad you did because it is one of those movies that you can watch repeatedly and never get tired of.
