Best movie of this year hands down!

The film creates a perfect balance between action and depth of basic needs, in the midst of an infertile atmosphere.

what a terribly boring film. I'm sorry but this is absolutely not deserving of best picture and will be forgotten quickly. Entertaining and engaging cinema? No. Nothing performances with flat faces and mistaking silence for subtlety.

I enjoyed watching this film and would recommend other to give it a try , (as I am) but this movie, although enjoyable to watch due to the better than average acting fails to add anything new to its storyline that is all too familiar to these types of movies.

I saw "The Dead Pit" first time some 15 years ago and since late at night on television. I couldn't remember the title until few years ago, and recently I manage to find it on DVD.Surprisingly magic is still there. Without getting too much into plot, movie is about doctor who performs illegal brain surgeries until his college kills him for moral reasons, sealing him into his "Dead Pit". Twenty years after, Jane Doe (girl who lost her memories) comes into the very same hospital. Soon after, earthquake crack the wall of "Dead Pit" and good old doctor comes back to life, unleashing his horde of undead.I don't know why many people complain about this movie, seems they are forgetting that this is '80 low budget movie (times when literally everything you thought of could be put on screen). It's a descent '80 zombie flick, bit unusual because of it's narrative style and nightmarish atmosphere it has. It was a first feature of now well known director Brett Leonard, who manage to capture otherworldly atmosphere in what is now considered cult classic. His obvious influences are Wes Craven and his Elm Street (director acknowledged this in audio commentary for Dead Pit DVD). Story gets bit spread here and there, but it never gets too confusing nor it tries to be more then it actually is - a low budget horror flick.Altho movie starts bit slow (but it has some nice scenes to keep you interested for the first half of the movie), it really comes to life in second half when all hell breaks lose and zombies start to rampage through asylum. Characters aren't deeply developed, but they are interesting enough to keep you watching at screen (good looking Cheryl Lawson helps in that department. Did I mention she walks around in her underwear most of the time?)SF goes from terrific to silly, but most of the time, they are looking quite good, especially when it comes to gore scenes. It's bloody and will satisfy every zombie fan, because FX here have all the necessary requirement for good zombie gorefest. Highlight of this little flick are cinematography, which was really well done and music score, which goes from moody to creepy. (Cheryl Lawson looks are also big highlight of this movie.)Bad: Some scenes are bit longer then they should be, some plot elements that aren't really needed and bit corny ending, and "innovative" way of killing zombies that might cause laugh for hardcore zombie fans.Overall, it's a descent flick, worth checking out if you are fan of horror movies and for some reason you haven't seen it already.

...i wish the script writer was as intelligent! (the zombies have removed a key engine component required to start the car) i sooo want to love this movie. it has great atmosphere, LIGHTING, camera shots, etc.. the glowing red eyes on the doctor were fantastic, was that a high cost effect? cause they sure should have used them more! its such a shame because with a few extra tweaks to the screenplay, they could have made the gaping plot holes a bit more believable. i mean seriously. im a guy that loves supernatural, undead, etc. films, so i can obviously suspend belief pretty well, but why has the doctor come back? why is the protagonist the only one who can see the zombies throughout most of the film? i loved the lighting, the shots of the spiral staircase, the filming location was PERFECT and totally creepy, but with just A LITTLE more plot development and continuity this could have been a pretty fantastic movie. another thing: i know many horror fans are stoked on nudity/skin in horror flicks, granted its a staple in the genre to a degree, but FIRST of all, the protagonist isn't THAT attractive, and i find it kind of odd that she'd be walking around an asylum where she didn't feel she belonged in skimpy underwear and a see thru white crop top. i could go on and on about the ridiculous aspects of this film, but it really pains me, because there were so many camera shots, scenes, and elements that could have made this a pretty good zombie film. perhaps im being a bit hard on it, but with the obvious talent behind the camera, you'd think they could have created something far better.

Mysterious amnesia victim Jane Doe (a game portrayal by luscious brunette stuntwoman Cheryl Lawson) gets sent to an asylum where twenty years ago the deranged Dr. Colin Ramzi (a pleasingly creepy Danny Gochnauer) was conducting sadistic brain experiments on the hapless inmates. A sudden earthquake resurrects Dr. Ramzi so he can embark on a new campaign of terror. Director/co-writer Brett Leonard and co-writer Gimel Everett do a bang-up job of creating and maintaining a grim, morbid and absolutely twisted brooding gloom-doom atmosphere: the dank and depressing tone rarely lets up for a minute, there's no goofy comic relief to speak of (however, this film does have a wickedly macabre sense of pitch-black gallows humor), Ramzi's lobotomized zombie victims are genuinely hideous and unsettling (the climactic lively zombie rampage seriously smokes, too), and we've got a handy helping of grisly gore (brains are scooped out, the tops of heads are cut off to expose peoples' glistening cerebrums, and long, sharp needles are thrust into several folks' skulls). The slick cinematography by Marty Collins makes neat use of shadowy lighting and gives the picture an attractive glossy look. Dan Wyman's spirited shivery'n'spooky score likewise does the skin-crawling trick. Moreover, the solid cast all play their parts with tremendous enthusiasm: Steffen Gregory Foster delivers an utterly engaging performance as charming explosives expert Christian Meyers, Joan Bechtel is deliciously hateful as the cruel and domineering Nurse Kygar, plus there's sturdy supporting work from Jeremy Slate as friendly head psychiatrist Dr. Gerald Swan, Geha Getz as unhinged nun Sister Clair, Mara Everett as the sweet Nurse Robbins, and Jack A. Sunseri as affable orderly Jimmy. As a yummy extra bonus, the gorgeously voluptuous Lawson spends a fair share of her screen time clad only in a tight tank top and skimpy panties (and she also even briefly bares her beautifully bountiful breasts as well!). All in all, this fright feature sizes up as a great deal of good'n'ghastly ghoulish fun.

Should have revived the Zombie genre.No awards for plot originality. But the effects were as good as ever. And the creepiness was THERE.Haunted asylums with psycho Doctors are hardly original, but they made up for it with the assault from hell at the end.A combination of a women in prison flick, zombie flick, with a dash of occult flick.I was hoping this would inspire the new blood to make more zombie flicks. Unfortunately, the critics nor the censors allowed it much of a chance.The British accented professor/patient was a bit much though. The actor did OK. I just can't figure the chances of that really happening.But then...that's fantasy.