GamerTab That was an excellent one.

filippaberry84 I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

Portia Hilton Blistering performances.

Isbel A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.

Idiot-Deluxe A low-budget, off-beat, horror/comedy, 1981's "The Pit" can be a pretty entertaining movie, if you keep your expectations at a humble level.That Jamie Benjamin, he's a real "funny person" (yep, that quote, said by the movies youngest cast member, is actually meant as an insult).Jamie Benjamin, the movies lead character - is a nerdy and sexually precocious, 12 year-old, autistic boy, who tends to rove around the neighborhood day and night causing mischief - just for kick's. But his brand of fun can get quite devious at times and an about hour into the film we see him graduate from a peeping tom to a reluctant serial killer. This is cheap, off-beat little film certainly does has it's moments of charm and humor, plus, there are are some pervy peeping tom interludes, that should definitely bring a grin - and they establish that part of his personality in the opening minutes. The movie seems to be at it's best when Jamie, our homely 12 year-old star performer, is running around causing mischief and enjoying himself to the fullest, that's when his performance shines the brightest - of which there are a handful of deviously lively scenes scattered about throughout the film. Personally I wish they had taken the peeping tom angle a bit further.Also starring is the beautiful actress Jeannie Elias, who plays the role of the foxy, young, babysitter, who stays with him for the next week or so, while his parent's go "check out a house in Seattle" that they're considering purchasing. And no sooner after his parents have left and just as Jamie's mom had warned her, he predictably develops a crush on his babysitter (he's gone through a lengthy succession of them in his 12 years - but Sandy's "the one" for him) and several mildly amusing instances, some of which involve brief nudity, proceed to occur between the two on a regular basis - mostly in bedrooms and bathrooms. You're seeing the world through the eyes of a "budding" 12 year-old, so expect to see many scenes revolving around youthful sexual curiosity and "voyeuristic activities", it'll be obvious that peeping's a favorite pass-time of his, however it sometimes goes beyond that - Jamie's a little perv (in fact that's the very word they used).The meat of the story however, is a hole in the ground, a pit, THE Pit and more importantly, what is it that's lurking in the bottom of it. What Jamie has found is a small pack of knew found, yet presumably ancient, carnivorous, fur-suit, hole-dwellers of a low level of intelligence; he refers to them as "Trogglodytes" and he takes up something of a parental guardian role towards them. In actuality these trolls or troglodyte's or whatever the hell you wanna call them, pretty much appear to be midgets in furry costumes with glowing orange eyes - I must say the costumes aren't nearly as bad as you'd think, considering the budget they were working with. It's with this pit and the furries that dwell within it, that the movie takes a dark turn and as mentioned earlier Jamie literally turns into a serial killer, either by luring or by physically pushing six people (all of which have "irked" him in the past) into the pit to be devoured by his... pets.Tragically, Sandy, Jamie's lovely young babysitter, in a moment extreme carelessness, inadvertently becomes their next meal and poor-poor Jamie is utterly devastated by her demise (though it won't be the last time he see's her, as some visitations from beyond the grave are in the plans) and completely grief-stricken, he runs home and cries to Teddy (Who? You'll see) and in his characteristic dulcet tones he comforts and consoles his grieving friend. The next day after having exhausted all his meat-buying-money and also having run out of "bad people" who he considers to be worthy and ripe for the slaughter, he sets them loose by throwing a pair of ropes into the pit and soon afterwards carnage ensues; in the form of a string of grizzly murders - leaving the police baffled. Meanwhile Jamie-boy plays it coy and ignorant with his gullible, just-back-from-Seattle parents and the coppers, who are naturally inquiring about Sandy's disappearance.For the next 8 to 10 minutes you'll have to do without the immense star-power and singular screen presence of Sammie Snyders/Jamie Benjamin; as a few more unsuspecting victims fall prey and more investigating unfolds. Which eventually culminate's in a manhunt with the sheriff leading a couple dozen shot-gun-toting-yokels out in the sticks, that ends in a blaze of gunfire. Then a bulldozer comes in and makes short work of The Pit! If by any chance you haven't seen enough of the likes of the little rascal Jamie, don't worry, because at the end he's due for a visit at his grandparents place, who have a house out in the country. Nearby is the seemingly sweet little neighbor girl "Alicia" - whose all smiles. They quickly buddy-up and off they go, giddily frolicking through the forest, where we see Jamie in his Toughskins striding along following Alicia's lead, then suddenly, lone and behold, another pit comes into view, Jamie wonders up to the edge AND! A good twist-ending.If, by any chance, you haven't noticed, Jamie's very nerdy and half the fun is watching this homely and awkward dweeb run around in his dorky clothes and badly-dated hair-cut. Having a raspy voice and a wiry frame, Sammie Snyders doesn't exactly scream: movie-star-in-the-making, not surprisingly his acting career was a brief one. However the beautiful Jeannie Elias would go on to co-star in more films, but mostly she's a highly prolific voice-over actress. The voice of "Princess Toadstool" from the Super Mario Brothers cartoon (remember that one). Also there's a Seinfeld cameo in there ("The Bris"), where she has a single, yet spirited, line: "DON'T TOUCH HIM!!!"

Zeegrade I've got news for all of you. All twelve year old boys are obsessed with boobs. Well, most of them are. Sammy Snyders really makes this movie stand out as he really amps up the creep factor as Jamie Benjamin the neighborhood outcast that nobody, and I mean nobody, likes. This misfit is beaten up at school, teased by the local redheaded brat, looked down upon by most adults and has a strained relationship with his father who has grown tired of his antics. The only "friend" Jamie can confide in is Teddy, his stuffed animal that talks back to him and him alone. When his parents leave for an extended period of time they hire Sandy who is just the latest in a string of hired help that must look after the little pervert while keeping the house clean. Jamie is immediately smitten by Sandy and begins his own special way of wooing the older woman like staring at her naked breasts while she is asleep. Not a good start. After this odd morning encounter Jamie tells Sandy his secret. There is a massive pit about a mile from the house and inside this pit are little apelike trolls that only Jamie knows about. Sandy immediately dismisses the story as pure fantasy and tries to reign the little sex-fiend in. When Jamie learns that the "tralops" or whatever he calls them are carnivorous he at first tries to keep them fed by buying meat bought from a butcher until his money supply becomes quickly depleted. Teddy gives Jamie the idea of feeding the monsters all the bad people who have angered him over the years. This leads to one of the most amusing scenes as Jamie lures the people to the hole, knocks them in, quips sarcastically, and exits the forest with whatever booty he acquired from the victims. Eventually taking care of the beasts prove to be too much so Jamie drops a line down into the pit allowing the trogs to run rampant in town. A very enjoyable horror flick from the early eighties with enough naked breasts, goofy plots, and the aforementioned disturbing performance by Sammy Snyders. My only gripe is the fact that the relationship with Teddy is never really hashed out. In one scene the bear's head turns on its own indicating a supernatural explanation rather than Jamie just hearing his own voice during his conversations with it. What was the connection between Teddy and the monsters in the pit or was it just two separate details that just happened to have converged? Needless to say, this doesn't really detract from the movie as even the ending is pretty satisfying. A rather obscure movie that not a whole lot of people refer to when talking about good horror movies of the early eighties and I didn't even need my teddy to tell me that.

movieman_kev A creepy, murderous kid listening to his demonic teddy bear lures various people to their doom in a pit he found in the woods; that is when he's not spying on older women in this weird but campy classic from the '80's. Filled with unnecessary close-ups, ridiculous laugh-out-loud dialog, and hokey acting, this oddity still remains constantly amusing (well truth be told it does lose steam about 20 minutes before the ending) That remains an obscure gem that's highly watchable.Eye Candy: Jeannie Elias, Laura Hollingsworth, and Jennifer Lehman all get topless briefly My Grade: B Anchor Bay DVD Extras: Posters & Stills gallery (on a double-bill with "Hellgate" on this flip-side DVD)

billybrown41 It took me a long time to finally get around to tracking this one down and checking it out. I first saw the box for this in a video store well-over a decade ago and that cheap-looking box art has stayed in my head for so long it's a wonder that with all of my b-movie obsessiveness, I didn't find this one earlier. I really wish I had because now that I've seen it, it joins the ranks of "The Burning" and "Sleepaway Camp" as one of my favorite 80s horror flicks. Although it's less-than-perfect, there's a certain charm to it that kinda defies explanation.Although it doesn't have quite the replay value of "The Burning" (I dunno, maybe time will tell), nor does it have any recognizable faces or an abundance of gore. What it does have is pure originality. This is one crazy little flick. That's for sure.(Note: The movie starts with one of the strangest openings I've ever witnessed. I don't want to give too much away but the same five-minute scene is repeated half-way into the movie. Yeah, it's a cool scene and all and it definitely gets your attention but it kinda spoils a little of what's about to come so I'm going to start my summary of what happens after that scene)See, this twelve year-old kid Jamie is that awkward-looking, somewhat introverted kid you might remember from your own school days. He's got this vibe about him that tends to repel and creep people out, while making him the target for constant abuse and rejection. A born-loner, it goes without saying that he has no friends. He's taunted by a little girl for looking at her bicycle, yelled at and called a "hippie" by an elderly blind woman in a wheelchair(for no apparent reason), and punched in the face by an older kid for asking if he can join his club. To top things off, his folks are about to leave him with a babysitter for an indefinite amount of time (why they're leaving is never really explained, although it's presumed that they just want a break from their son). In fact, things are going so badly for the kid that I really sorta felt sorry for him at first. See, people are creeped out by Jamie for a purpose. He's more than just a little creepy. He talks to his teddy bear, "Teddy", and (get this) the bear even talks back. Oh, and did I mention that Jamie is a perv with a capitol "P"? He's already developed a crush on his new babysitter, Sandy, and he's not above a little peeping-tom business either. Jamie also has four other friends who reside in a hole in the ground out in the woods. When Jamie takes it upon himself to start feeding these troll-like critters ("tralalags"), he discovers that they are indeed carnivorous and a twelve-year old kid can't afford that much hamburger meat. Well, you probably see where I'm going with this.It's never made clear if Jamie was this screwed up from the beginning or if he was supposed to have just snapped at some point. Maybe it was a gradual thing. Who knows and who cares? All I know is that I'm glad that the film-makers never took the matter serious enough to delve too deeply into Jamie's noggin because "the Pit" is so much fun to watch that any explanation for Jamie's insanity probably would have dulled the overall effect. It seems like the crazier that Jamie gets, the more crazy the film gets. While it may be predictable in places, there's so many odd moments thrown into it that you won't even care. And the ending is a force to be reckoned with. Those last twenty minutes are a hoot and just thinking about it makes me want to watch it again right now.Yeah, there's LOADS of stuff for any MST3K-wannabes out there to have a field day but a lot of the laughs, I'm sure, HAD to be intentional. First off, this "pit" is a 15' by 6' hole that's maybe 10' deep. A decent sized hole, but yet half of the victims run right into it without even noticing it's there (in broad daylight, no less). Good stuff. What about the scene where Jamie takes an old lady in a wheel chair, wheels her out in the woods, dumps her in the hole, and then later rides around in the wheelchair? Oh, and what about the scene where a Sheriff finds the very same wheelchair, sits in it, then runs it into a wall. You can't tell me that there's any director in the history of cinema who could've ever filmed a scene like that with a serious-minded approach. Then there's the matter of the dialog. I can rattle off at least a dozen quotes right away and I've only seen the film once. This has some of the quirkiest dialog I've ever seen in a horror flick and that's a good thing.All in all, "The Pit" sounds like something that shouldn't work at all, but somehow, as a whole, despite it's flaws and its (awesome) weirdness, it works way better than you would think and it's loads of fun to watch.