Jamie wouldn't kill anyone...unless Teddy told him to!

"Down in the pit there's something alive. Half-human half-monster half-crazed. Prey to God it only kills you."Jamie Benjamin (Sammy Snyders) is a very socially awkward autistic boy who is picked on and humiliated by his peers. His neighbors find him very strange and his parents don't acknowledge him at all. One day Jamie stumbles across a huge pit in the woods and discovers that there are these weird creatures living at the bottom called troglodytes. Jamie begins to bring them things to eat and it is not until he makes a trip to the local meat market until he discovers what the trogs really want...meat. He tries to lure a cow and some chickens to the pit, but he ultimately fails. Jamie gets the idea from his teddy bear to luring the kids who pick on him, an old lady in a wheel chair and other random bystanders to the pit, providing the trogs with some human meals. Jamie's parents are gone for a while so he is living with the house sitter Sandy O'Reilly (Jeannie Elias). Sandy quickly finds out that Jamie is not a normal boy. Jamie tells Sandy the secret of the pit which she quickly dismisses as one of his fantasies, but soon she finds out the truth of what waits in the woods.

The Pit, aka Teddy, was directed by Lew Lehman and written by Ian A. Stuart. Stuart's first draft of the story had the Trogs just being a figment of Jamie's imagination, but Lehman did not like this and wanted the trogs to be real creatures, which they ended up agreeing on being the best way to go for the film.

Anchor Bay released The Pit on dvd on a double feature also including the film Hellgate. The transfer is not the greatest, it looks like VHS quality.

Sammy Snyders who plays Jamie did an absolute great job playing a disturbed young boy in a truly creepy performance. The film is just strange and hard to explain, you just have to see it to believe it. The trogs looked pretty weird and the special effects were good for 1981. The film also has a strange score, during the montage of when Jamie throwing people in the pit there is some cheerful music playing making it all that much more bizarre. The Pit is just a strange fun film to watch, I guarantee you have never seen anything like it. This is a recommend for all horror fans.

Rating: C

Review by Jason