Some horror films are unsettling because of their monsters. Others are unsettling because of their human characters. The Pit manages to be unsettling because of both — but not in the “effective horror” way. This Canadian curiosity (filmed in Wisconsin, because even Canada didn’t want to take full credit) delivers 96 minutes of pure, weird discomfort, like watching a Leave It to Beaver episode where Beaver develops a fixation on his babysitter and starts feeding bullies to carnivorous mole-people.
Jamie Benjamin: The Most Punchable Protagonist in Horror
Our “hero,” Jamie Benjamin, is a 12-year-old misfit who is teased by classmates, old ladies, and, presumably, anyone who has ever met him. He’s played by Sammy Snyders, who radiates the kind of energy that makes you instinctively double-check your locks. Jamie spends most of the movie having full-blown conversations with his stuffed bear, Teddy — conversations we hear as if Teddy is alive, which is somehow both more and less creepy than if the bear actually moved.
When he’s not talking to his plush confidant, Jamie is busy making every female in his vicinity deeply uncomfortable. His obsession with his babysitter Sandy goes from “mildly inappropriate” to “you’re going to want to get a restraining order” in record time, culminating in the most awkward panty-staring scene since Porky’s.
Teddy the Bear: Life Coach from Hell
Teddy is essentially Jamie’s demonic Jiminy Cricket, offering helpful advice like “Feed your enemies to the monsters in the forest.” And Jamie listens. You know your life is on the wrong track when your moral compass is a stuffed animal that sounds like it’s been chain-smoking since 1973.
The Trogs: Hungry, Hairy, and Highly Underwhelming
The film’s supposed “threat” is a pit full of creatures Jamie calls “Trogs.” Imagine goblins designed by someone who had the budget for a Halloween mask and a flashlight, and you’re there. They don’t do much except sit in their hole until Jamie lowers them a snack — which, after he runs out of raw meat, becomes people.
The feeding scenes are pure absurdity: Jamie lures his tormentors to the pit, they lean over, and the Trogs yank them in. No one screams “Where did these goblins come from?” or “Why is there a flesh-eating cave in our backyard?” The town just shrugs, mutters “wild dogs,” and moves on.
Sandy: The Babysitter of the Year (If the Year Is 1981 and You Have No Other Options)
Sandy is the rare babysitter who somehow doesn’t quit after her charge steals her money, stalks her, and reveals he’s got a secret pit full of carnivorous beasts. Instead, she humors him — right up until she “accidentally” falls into said pit and becomes Trogs chow. Whether this is a tragic accident or her subconscious choosing a quicker death than enduring more dinners with Jamie is open to interpretation.
The Third-Act Chaos: Because the Movie Remembers It’s Supposed to Be Horror
After Sandy’s death, Jamie lowers a rope so the Trogs can climb out. They proceed to go on a rural rampage, which is exactly as chaotic and poorly choreographed as you’d expect from actors in rubber masks stumbling through Wisconsin woods. A militia shows up, guns them down, and blames the whole thing on wild dogs — which must be some reallyweird dogs.
The Ending: Evil Has a New… Pit?
The film closes with Jamie moving in with his grandparents and meeting a friendly girl named Alicia. In the ultimate “how do you like them apples?” moment, Alicia lures Jamie into the woods and pushes him into her pit. Which raises a lot of questions, such as: How many pits are there? Is Wisconsin secretly just riddled with these things? And why wasn’t this Alicia character the protagonist all along?
Production Values: The Real Horror
Originally, the script had Jamie as an 8-year-old and the monsters as imaginary — which actually sounds more disturbing and psychologically layered. But director Lew Lehman decided to age Jamie up, make the Trogs real, and add “more humor,” which here means “creepy underage lust” and “awkward pratfalls before feeding people to underground mutants.” The result is a tonal mash-up of after-school special, creature feature, and deeply uncomfortable puberty allegory.
Why It’s Unsettling (and Not in a Good Way)
The horror here doesn’t come from the Trogs, the deaths, or even the gore (which is minimal). It comes from how The Pitkeeps making you feel like you shouldn’t be watching it. Jamie’s behavior toward Sandy is less “precocious crush” and more “future true crime podcast subject.” Teddy’s voice drips with sleaze. The townspeople are so nonchalant about missing persons, it’s like they’ve collectively decided that “eh, people disappear sometimes” is fine.
Even the supposed “monster attacks” feel secondary to watching Jamie grow into the kind of adult who leaves Yelp reviews that start with “First off, the waitress had an attitude.”
Final Verdict
The Pit is one of those rare horror movies where you end up rooting for the monsters — not because they’re cool or scary, but because you want them to eat everyone and put us all out of our misery. It’s awkward, creepy in the wrong ways, and tonally confused, like a Goosebumps episode rewritten by someone on a dare to make it as off-putting as possible.
If you’re looking for a “so bad it’s good” creature feature, you might get a few laughs here — especially from Teddy’s malevolent voice acting — but most viewers will leave feeling like they just watched an after-school special from hell. And maybe they have.
