THE PIT (1981)

 

PHENOMENALITY: *marvelous*
MYTHICITY: *good*
FRYEAN MYTHOS: *drama*
CAMPBELLIAN FUNCTION: *psychological*

Given that the star of this show is a creepy 12-year-old who plots murders while holding dialogues with his teddy bear (whom he imagines responding to him), one might assume it to be an uncanny ""perilous psycho" film. However, young Jamie Benjamin (Scott Snyders) doesn't do his own killing, but guides his victims to a pit in a forest. Said pit happens to contain four troglodytes, the latest products of centuries of inbreeding among their isolated species. Prehistoric beings surviving into modern times almost always falls into the domain of the marvelous-- and for good measure, the young killer also sees an apparition that may not be the product of his guilty imagination.

Somewhat like the psycho in DON'T GO IN THE HOUSE, Jamie lives in a world where the so-called "weaker sex" dominates by virtue of a superior ability to issue verbal beatdowns. Jamie is first seen being forced by his female teacher to write on the school blackboard as punishment for his misdeeds. Later, the teacher-- who doesn't play a substantial role in the story-- shows the school librarian Mrs. Livingstone a library book that Jamie defaced, implicitly cutting out a photo of a nude women for his own pleasure. Apparently an old maid, Livingstone seems to have an animus toward Jamie on general principles, even though he's bullied by his schoolmates for being an odd duck. One young girl tricks Jamie into trying to ride a partly disassembled bicycle, and while we do see a boy bully punch Jamie in the face, the violence is accompanied by the sight of a female student tittering, as if the boy hit Jamie just to impress a female of the species.

Both Mr and Mrs. Benjamin are seen at the film's opening, but despite knowing their son's difficulties at school, they're embarking on a long trip. Mrs. Benjamin interviews psychology student Sandra to be Jamie's caregiver for the duration, and in the process of sussing out Sandra, the beleaguered mother mentions that she may have been a little too "motherly" with Jamie. The father makes little impression beyond being too busy for his son, and the parents depart the film, leaving young Sandra in the position of acting "in loco parentis" for at least one loco parent.

The horny 12-year-old becomes totally besotted with his protector, possibly because she's the only female who doesn't dis him. For her part, Sandra tries to be a good substitute parent, but she soon learns that Jamie's been pretty warped not only by events at school, but at home as well. When the boy discovers a forest-pit full of hungry cave-people, he decides to feed them, but there's only so meat a little kid can purchase. But the town harbors a lot of meatheads, and soon Jamie becomes a past master at luring them into the clutches of his cavemen buddies. The situation deteriorates after Jamie accidentally brings about Sandra's death-- she's the ghost he sees or imagines later-- and the troglodytes are all slain. But is Jamie off the hook? Not as long as there's a biter out there to be bit. The juvenile offender gets done in by one of his own kind-- and the female of the species, to boot.