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I snagged The Dead Pit on 2-disc DVD this past weekend for 10 bucks.  I didn't even know that a special edition of it had been planned. It was actually the cover art caught my eye in the horror section and made some VHS memories come flooding back.

What I remembered was the VHS box edition of it in which there was a button you could press which would cause green lights in the cover zombie's eyes to light up/blink.  I think they did the same thing with the VHS box for Frankenhooker come to think of it.

The case proudly proclaims "from the director of The Lawnmower Man and Virtuosity" which isn't exactly the greatest selling point for people not already familiar with The Dead Pit.

This is a really bad movie, but a fun one at that. It takes place at a mental hospital where in the late 60's  a crazed doctor was doing experiments on patients that went way over the line.  Another doctor played by Jeremy Slate seeks to stop him and winds up shooting him in the head and sealing up the dungeon type area where a pit is located that the bodies are kept.

At that point, a gorgeous girl known only as Jane Doe and played by the amazingly hot Cheryl Lawson shows up, an earthquake happens, the evil doctor comes back in semi-zombie form, torments Jane Doe, starts killing patients again and lots of nonsensical zombie type shenanigans and further bad acting ensues.

Regardless of how bad this movie is, I have always gotten a big kick out of it.  The DVD is the complete uncut director's cut which is about 7 minutes longer than the R rated version released on VHS back in 1989.  It's not really as balls to the wall violent as I remembered it being which was more a result of the film's minuscule 150 thousand dollar budget. 

Anyway, has anyone else seen this movie and what do you think of it?

I bought a copy of the DVD off Ebay a while back.  I think it's uncut, I seem to remember Ms. Lawson getting her shirt removed with a fire hose  :twirl:  I enjoyed it quite a bit;  good atmosphere, kind of an interesting story, and then of course Ms. Lawson wandering around the hospital in her undies.

What's on the second disk?  I'm wondering if it would be worth upgrading.

Well, on the 1st disc, you get a commentary track with the director, producer and star Jeremy Slate along with 4 interviews with the director/writer, producer/co-writer, and 2 of the stars.

On the 2nd disc there's all kinds of behind the scenes and on the set footage to go through. Pretty classy set for a flick such as this.   

Oh yeah, it's also presented in 1.85:1 anamorphic widescreen as well with the original mono soundtrack.

This is rather an odd one. Overall I was rather disappointed with the movie, but that was largely because, as I felt, this one had some promise to be more than what it was. The director and film crew did a good job in many places; interspersed in some places where the low budget shows through and a lot of places where the script is just not up to par.


(paraphrased) "They're pretty damn smart for dead people."

Aside from the firehose scene with Cheryl Lawson, that scene and that line in response to the zombies disabling a vehicle by cutting some wires to the distributor (http://5g8.net/smileys/lol-049.gif) really sticks in my mind; as does the well done opening to this film.

The middle of this films drags. The opening is really well done. The last part is over the top with several WTF moments along for the ride. The ending is right out of Bad Movies 101.

If someone were to ask me if I would recommend this movie,...uh...well no, but you may want to watch it anyway and make up your own mind.

I was disappointed with the film as a whole, but, as I said it is an odd one and is strangely likeable. I may well watch it again.

If I were to rate it, I may well have to take the fifth on it (and having a fifth may not be a bad idea when watching this :drink:) or just simply develop a split personality:  :thumbup: :thumbdown:


I had seen the VHS box for this in my local video store well before I succumbed to renting it. Not once had I seen the eyes blink. Classic box cover that I wouldn't mind getting just for the cover. Does anyone know if the battery is replaceable? :teddyr:

 :cheers:

I haven't been able to find this in stores yet.  Any of the major retailers carrying it?  I definately want to add this to my collection, hopefully for a reasonable price.

I got mine at Best Buy so if should be pretty easy to get online if not in a store.

I enjoyed the movie up until the zombies arrived.  After that, I pretty much lost interest.  I think the thing that put me off was that the zombies were rather boring, run-of-the-mill zombies.  Sure, there are worse zombies movies out there (The Dead Hate the Living, anyone?), but this one struck me as underwhelming in its contribution.  There is little memorable about the film, and as such I don't think I have a completely high opinion of it. 

All in all, it's not horrible, but it's not quite a memorable experience. 

I wasn't completely blown away by the movie, but the firehose scene more than made up for the film's shortcomings (and I'm not even that much of a t_t man, but my GAWD).  :bouncegiggle: