The Dead Pit (1989)
- Cody Iden
- Oct 14, 2021
- 2 min read
Release Date - October, 1989
Synopsis:
A crazed surgeon is shot dead and entombed in the basement of an asylum along with his fiendish experiments, but twenty years later an earthquake and the arrival of a young amnesiac woman at the asylum lead to the unsealing of the horrors in the basement.
Directed by - Brett Leonard
Written by - Brett Leonard and Gimel Everett
Produced by - Gimel Everett
Cinematography - Marty Collins
Music by - Dan Wyman
Distribution Company - Imperial Entertainment
Cast:
Jeremy Slate - Dr. Gerald Swan
Danny Gochnauer - Dr. Colin Ramzi
Steffen Gregory Foster - Christian Meyers
Introducing:
Cheryl Lawson - Jane Doe
Geha Getz - Sister Clair
Joan Bechtel - Nurse Kygar
Mara Everett - Nurse Robbins
Randy Fontana - Orderly Jimmy
Michael Jacobs - Bud Higgins
Run Time - 1 hr. 42 min. Rated - R
Budget - $350,000 Gross - Unknown
Review:
This low-budget effort from director Brett Leonard (The Lawnmower Man, Virtuosity) manages to deliver an interesting story with some pretty good special effects. The film really starts off strong with a great prologue scene that sets up the story well, things do slow down for a while with the introduction of our main character, a young amnesiac played by newcomer Cheryl Lawson who does a pretty good job in the film. The middle of the movie stretches on a little too long before we finally get to the finale in which an undead doctor and his zombie experiments are unleashed onto the asylum grounds. The zombies look decent considering the low-budget and some of the kills are pretty gruesome. The rest of the cast is pretty good as well with character actor Jeremy Slate as the doctor who killed the villain for the first time twenty years prior. Steffen Gregory Foster as another asylum patient is also quite enjoyable. Overall the film is a very entertaining experience from start to finish with only a few slow spots in the middle act and it is well worth a watch for fans of the horror genre, proving that you don’t necessarily need a huge budget to deliver a good story
My Score: 59
Plot - 6 Cinematography - 6
Attraction - 6 Editing & Special Effects - 6
Theme - 5 Sound & Music - 6
Acting - 6 Directing - 6
Dialogue - 5 Enjoyability – 7
Trivia:
Filmed in the high security wing of Agnew State Hospital in Milpitas, California which had been closed for many years at that point.
The ‘pin in the brain’ scenes were cut from the American theatrical release for being too graphic but were later reinstated on the home video release.
The VHS of the film sold very well, partly because of a gimmick in which the zombie’s eyes on the cover would glow green at the press of a button.
Availability:
Watched in October, 2021
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