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Zombies chasing girls in panties. Romero would be proud.

Even if you’ve never seen this film, you probably remember it. Recall the days of going through your local video store’s shelves and finding a few of those weird VHS covers that were embossed and did cool things like light up or make noises. Press the chest on King Kong and hear him roar! Press the chest on Frankenhooker and she asks you for a date! With Dead Pit we remember the creepy green light-up eyes of the main zombie on that cover. You know you wore that button out every time you stopped by to rent a film.

Finally released on DVD by Code Red, Dead Pit is both beloved and berated by horror fans. At times it’s pretty creepy and just as quickly it takes a hard left turn into cheese territory. The basic premise is pretty simple; a Jane Doe (Cheryl Lawson) is brought to an insane asylum straight out of Cuckoo’s Nest territory. As if that wasn’t bad enough, it turns out the mental facility has a bad history. Years ago, a demented doc used the patients as guinea pigs in his zombie-maker experiments and now the undead scientist and his pets have returned.

On many levels, the film doesn’t make a lot of sense. While I can’t complain about it from a male perspective, the fact that Lawson keeps getting into situations where she’s running around in a pair of panties grows a bit implausible – most notably when she’s confined to a straight-jacket. Could no one find a pair of pants for her? The gore effects are effective, if not particularly great. Directed by Brett Leonard (you know, the guy who wold give us Lawnmower Man), the film is decent. And the DVD doesn’t even have the light-up eyes.

What it does have are some fun extras. Lawson, Leonard and others are on board for both a running commentary and some additional interviews. Lawson still looks pretty good twenty years later (though sadly, they did not get her to do said interview in her panties, which to me would have at least been in keeping with the film’s theme) and Leonard seems very enthusiastic about the film, even though he went on to bigger projects. The print of the film, presented in widescreen aspect, is quite nice and crisp.

Dead Pit is one of those 1980s zombie films that’s better than it should be, but not good enough to build up a respectable reputation. Still, it’s fine entertainment for what it is, but I wish they’d included the light-up eyes.

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