The October Zombie-Thon - Day 15: The Dead Pit
Posted by Trevor Snyder on 10.15.2008
The coolest video box of all time, but how about the movie?
THE DEAD PIT (1989)
Directed by: Brett Leonard
Written by: Gimel Everett & Brett Leonard
Country: USA
Ahhh, The Dead Pit. The very mention of its name brings back fond memories of the ‘80s, and scouring the shelves of the little independent video-stores that dominated the market before the Blockbusters and Hollywood Videos of the world put most of them out of business. Any horror-fans my age or older will probably remember the awesome oversized video box for The Dead Pit, depicting a zombie rising up out of the ground whose eyes, when you pressed his face, would actually light up. When you're an easily amused kid, that's pretty cool stuff.
Believe it or not, though, as incredibly distracting as that box was, I never really got around to seeing the movie itself, and had pretty much forgotten all about it over the years. Thanks to a recent long-awaited DVD release, however, I finally have the opportunity to see if the movie actually lives up to the promise of its memorable case, or if it's just another worthless piece of ‘80s horror trash.
As the movie begins, we meet the brilliant but psychotic surgeon Dr. Ramzi (Danny Gochnauer), a madman with a penchant for torturing and experimenting on his patients. His hobby is discovered by the more humane Dr. Swan (Jeremy Slate), who responds as any learned, rational doctor would – he shoots Ramzi in the head and buries him in a pit with the bodies of his victims. Wow, I guess it never occurred to Swan to just report him to the Board.
Cut to twenty years later, and a mysterious amnesiac known as "Jane Doe" (Cheryl Lawson) arrives at the very same institute where Ramzi is still buried in the basement. This Jane Doe is one strange bird – not only does she claim her memories were "stolen" from her, but she also seems to have psychic abilities, which unfortunately manifest in the form of an earthquake that rips open a hole in the ground, releasing Ramzi (who looks pretty good for being underground for twenty years – must be some of that Black Demons dirt). This is where things start to get a little hard to follow. You see, the movie seems to be pretty clear on the fact that Ramzi has indeed returned from the grave, yet most of the time only Jane can see him. How does that work? It's obvious they're going for a Nightmare on Elm Street vibe, with Jane as Nancy and Ramzi as Freddy, but since the villain here is walking around in the real world, it only serves to confuse matters.
Anyway, this strange cat-and-mouse game between Jane and Ramzi goes on for so long you might start wondering where the hell the zombies promised by the box cover are. You gotta be patient with this one, as it takes over an hour for Ramzi's former patients to rise from the pit and start raising hell. It's worth the wait, though – thanks to some impressive make-up these zombies are some nasty-looking mofo's, and while the zombie attack scenes that follow are a little goofy, the resultant gore is abundant and well-done. And it all sets the stage for a climactic battle between Jane and Ramzi in which all questions are answered…or, at least, I'm sure that was the idea.
Earlier in this Zombie-Thon, I chided The Chilling for lacking that special something to make it a deserving ‘80s cult-classic. This is more like it. The Dead Pit is pure cheese from beginning to end, but it's stylish cheese, and a lot of fun. It's hard not to fall under the spell of its go-for-broke attitude, even as you're shaking your head at the moronic nature of it all. This can be primarily chalked-up to director Brett Leonard, here making his feature-film debut. Leonard obviously has visual-style to spare, and he puts it to great use here. At times, his striking use of color, shadow, and skewed angles is reminiscent of early Argento, although that's probably heaping a bit too much praise on this one. A more down-to-earth compliment would be that The Dead Pit looks like a really-great ‘80s music video. Come to think of it, with its glowing-eye villain, back-lit sets, and smoky visuals (the institute must have had a pretty high fog-machine budget), it looks a lot like the video for Bonnie Tyler's "Total Eclipse of the Heart." Could it be that The Dead Pit is a prequel?
The performances in the film are nothing special, but that never distracts from the overall charm. In fact, Cheryl Lawson spends most of the movie in a small belly shirt and panties (and sometimes even less), which I believe is an adequate substitute for acting ability. And I'll admit to enjoying the hammy overacting of Stephen Gregory Foster as Christian, a former bomb-maker and fellow patient who befriends Jane. Despite his checkered past, we know Christian is really a good-guy, thanks to his noble British accent. And if you're wondering if his past bombing proclivities might just come into play here, well….come on.
More than just a great example of the kind of movies they just don't make anymore (although it is that, too), The Dead Pit holds up even today as a goofy but pleasurable treat for horror fans. Unfortunately, Brett Leonard's career hasn't really stood the test of time. After a brief flirtation with mainstream success thanks to special-effects showcases like Lawnmower Man and Virtuosity, Leonard stumbled badly with the misguided Dean Koontz adaptation Hideaway, and has never really recovered. Most recently, he directed Highlander: The Source, one of the most asinine films to ever be hoisted upon the public (and that's coming from someone who liked Highlander: Endgame). All things considered, The Dead Pit is actually Leonard's best flick, which is no knock given how much of a blast this movie is.
FINAL SCORE: 3.5 out of 4 Bubs (Highly Recommended)
