There any many movies that should not be considered under the normal rules of film criticism, whatever those rules may be. One such film is the 1981 horror film (??), “The Pit.” Although one would have found “The Pit” in the horror section of his or her local video store in the 1980’s, upon watching the film, one would likely come to the conclusion that “The Pit” is not a horror film, but, rather, an exercise in fun film insanity. That is high praise. Not just any film can be labled as “fun film insanity.”
“The Pit” establishes itself as 90 minutes of good fun within the first five minutes when we watch young Jamie Benjamin, played by Candian actor, Sammy Snyders, leading a class bully and said bully’s girlfriend to a nearby woodsy area where there is a pit in the ground. The bully is led to believe by young Jamie that there will be a bag of various treasures in the woods. If you forget about what happens in this scene, don’t worry because this very same scene will be repeated about 45 minutes into the film. It was very nice of the filmmakers to give us a brief refresher course regarding this opening scene in the middle of the movie. So, Jamie pushes the bully and the bully’s girlfriend into the pit, after which we see an opening credits sequence that reminded me very much of the opening of a tv show. You’ll see what I mean. I was hoping to see a title card at the end of the opening credits that would inform me that this episode’s Special Guest Star would be Pernell Roberts, or, maybe a post-Star Trek/pre-T.J. Hooker William Shatner.
Through the course of the action in “The Pit,” we learn that Jaime’s parents are out of town. Jamie is being looked after by babysitter, Sandy O’Reilly, played by Canadian actress, Jeannie Elias. We learn, as well, that Jamie is given instructions from his teddy bear, Teddy, to feed the creatures that live in the pit, called trogs. At this point in the film, we have already been confronted with a few surrealistic elements which further the entertainment value of the film. It is established in the film that Jamie is 12 years old, however, the actor appears to be older, perhaps 14. The fact that this boy of 12 years who looks older, has a babysitter is not terribly strange. The fact that the boy sleeps with a teddy bear and the fact that his babysitter bathes him are interesting. These definitely amp up the cooky factor of the movie. Now—the fact that the teddy bear speaks to Jamie is not so strange. In a horror film, one expects extremely strange things to occur and I maintain that a teddy bear speaking to and giving directions to a young boy to push various people into a pit full of creatures called trogs is not out of the ordinary, given the circumstances. The strangeness simply presents itself in the form of awkward situations within the film. There are several instances in “The Pit” of awkward music cues. For example, there is a pit throwing into montage scene in which Jamie dispenses of three people within five minutes of screen time. After each kill, the music cue used is one of whimsy, such as what you might expect in a scene involving a cute dog rolling around in some leaves.
It is never clearly established why Jamie is of a mind to push people he does not like into a pit, however, because this film is so much goofy fun, I did not mind. If you are looking for any analysis into what is going on in the mind of Jamie, you will not receive any.
“The Pit” is an example of a movie that I wanted to see after looking at it’s one-sheet poster. The poster includes all the essential elements of the film: the strange kid, Teddy, some Polaroids, and the trogs. This sold me and I hope it sells you on seeking it out. I am forever thankful that I sought out this awesome film. If you are looking for a fun, strange film to enjoy, I recommend throwing yourself into “The Pit.”
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