I watched this film back in the day as a child and as a child you take what the film gives you in stride. Pit of monsters in the woods that kid dumps people in to feed. Watching as an adult, something seems to be missing from the film, explanations and crucial plot points seem to be removed. I listened to the screenwriter's interview on the DVD and come to find out, yes, a lot of elements crucial to the story had been removed. Also, as a kid I did not notice the quirks of the boy, and looking at it as an adult he does seem to be autistic, high functioning, but definitely causing him the troubles he has with the other children and adults.
The story, starts out poorly. They literally show you a scene of the boy leading two kids to his pit. Why is this bad? Because it is literally shown again in its entirety later in the film. Someone obviously thought the film was a bit too slow up front so they want to open with a bang, but this scene literally lets you know what is going to happen. You are literally given a spoiler by the movie itself! After that we are introduced to Jamie and see what troubles he gets into with others as his parents hire a babysitter to watch over him. Jamie's only friend seems to be a teddy bear he named Teddy who actually seems to be alive, but this is never really touched upon after a strange head turn. Jamie also has friends within the forest living in a hole in the ground. These creatures, come to find out, eat human flesh and so Jamie begins to feed them raw meat before moving on to all those that Teddy tells him are nasty!
In the original screenplay the creatures in the pit are imaginary and that really makes more sense as there is literally no explanation as to why these things would be just living in a pit without food. I believe the screenwriter's original intent was that the pit was akin to Jamie's aquarium, an imaginary place where he believed he was casting away people he did not like. Still, the ending bit is good as is because if the pit is real as played out in the movie then he deserved a taste of his own medicine as most of the people that wronged him did not deserve to be eaten alive! Still, the way the movie plays out currently does not explain the whole Teddy bear moving on its own and is kind of a loose end.
So the film is pretty good; however, I would love to see it remade as intended by the screenwriter as it was actually going to be a darker film. This one has touches of comedy as the boy lures the victims to the pit, my fave being the dude playing football, so it is entertaining, but as I have said, just feels the film is incomplete. There is a bit of nudity in the film, but not too much and there is gore, but it rarely shows the victims being devoured. The film also has a strange stretch where Jamie is not even seen as they hunt the creatures from the pit, seems almost out of place...
The story, starts out poorly. They literally show you a scene of the boy leading two kids to his pit. Why is this bad? Because it is literally shown again in its entirety later in the film. Someone obviously thought the film was a bit too slow up front so they want to open with a bang, but this scene literally lets you know what is going to happen. You are literally given a spoiler by the movie itself! After that we are introduced to Jamie and see what troubles he gets into with others as his parents hire a babysitter to watch over him. Jamie's only friend seems to be a teddy bear he named Teddy who actually seems to be alive, but this is never really touched upon after a strange head turn. Jamie also has friends within the forest living in a hole in the ground. These creatures, come to find out, eat human flesh and so Jamie begins to feed them raw meat before moving on to all those that Teddy tells him are nasty!
In the original screenplay the creatures in the pit are imaginary and that really makes more sense as there is literally no explanation as to why these things would be just living in a pit without food. I believe the screenwriter's original intent was that the pit was akin to Jamie's aquarium, an imaginary place where he believed he was casting away people he did not like. Still, the ending bit is good as is because if the pit is real as played out in the movie then he deserved a taste of his own medicine as most of the people that wronged him did not deserve to be eaten alive! Still, the way the movie plays out currently does not explain the whole Teddy bear moving on its own and is kind of a loose end.
So the film is pretty good; however, I would love to see it remade as intended by the screenwriter as it was actually going to be a darker film. This one has touches of comedy as the boy lures the victims to the pit, my fave being the dude playing football, so it is entertaining, but as I have said, just feels the film is incomplete. There is a bit of nudity in the film, but not too much and there is gore, but it rarely shows the victims being devoured. The film also has a strange stretch where Jamie is not even seen as they hunt the creatures from the pit, seems almost out of place...