The dead Deadly Doctor is in.
"I've done life; now I'm doing death."
— Dr. Ramzi
The Dead Pit is 1989 low-budget horror film, which was directed by Brett Leonardnote .
The movie starts with showing the Big Bad Dr. Ramzi, head surgeon of a mental hospital, taking patients and conducting cruel brain surgery experiments on them underneath the hospital's clock tower. He is confronted by his coworker Dr. Swan and is promptly shot. Swan, fearing for his career, seals the place and swears to keep the whole thing to himself.
Cut to twenty years later. Amnesiac woman "Jane Doe" arrives at the hospital. Her presence causes an earthquake and resulting tremors break the seal to Dr. Ramzi's lair, who now returns from the dead to exact revenge.
Descent among these examples:
- Abandoned Hospital: The empty hospital wings.
- Advertised Extra: For being the most seasoned and well-known of the cast, acting veteran Jeremy Slate, mostly known for playing Canadian Sergeant Rock Sgt. Patrick O'Neill in The Devil's Brigade and would later work with this film's director Brett Leonard again in The Lawnmower Man, is given top billing despite Jane/Sara Ramzi and Chris Meyers being the true leads.
- Battleaxe Nurse: Kygar.
- Brain Food: Averted. The zombies do go for the brains, but they just seem to play with them instead of eating them.
- Clocktower: The center of the bad things happening on the hospital grounds.
- Creepy Basement: Under the clock tower.
- Dead Star Walking: Veteran actor Jeremy Slate, aka Canadian Sergeant Rock Sgt. Patrick O'Neill dies in the climax by barbaric brain surgery courtesy of Dr. Ramzi.
- Deadly Doctor: Dr. Ramzi's profession carries into undeath.
- Everything's Deader with Zombies: Dr. Ramzi's past victims come back to life for the final third of the film.
- Eye Scream: One of the patients is found with a dentist drill jammed into his eye.
- Fainting: Jane faints when Dr. Ramzi catches her.
- Fanservice: Jane's nightmare where she is caught by nurse Kygar who hoses her top off.
- Final Girl: Jane/Sara Ramzi.
- Flashback Echo: Jane starts having flashbacks when she starts climbing up a water tower.
- For Doom the Bell Tolls: The ominous tolling of hospital's clock tower is featured throughout the movie.
- I Need a Freaking Drink: Dr. Swan is driven to boozing after he hears Jane describing Dr. Ramzi when she's under hypnosis.
- Immune to Bullets: The undead.
- Kill It with Water: The zombies melt on contact with holy water. Good thing that the local crazy nun patient is present to bless some.
- Laughing Mad: First person we see in the film is a mental patient doing this.
- Luke, I Am Your Father: Surprise surprise, Dr. Ramzi turns out to be Jane's father.
- Mad Bomber: Chris caught on to it due to his work in the army and is a patient because of it. It comes handy later.
- Menacing Stroll: Ramzi's pace when he is chasing Jane in the clock tower.
- Neck Lift: Ramzi does this to one of his unwilling test subjects in the opening sequence.
- Nightmare Dreams: Every night Jane spends in the hospital is filled with nightmares.
- Not Using the "Z" Word: Averted, Chris uses the word "zombies" when he tries to make some sense to the situation with Jane and Dr. Swan.
- Off with His Head!: Waking up at night, Jane gets up from her bed and sees Ramzi outside her window holding the severed head of one of the orderlies."I'm the head surgeon."
- Pretty Little Headshots: Dr. Ramzi's death in the opening sequence.
- Red Eyes, Take Warning: Ramzi's pupils flash red whenever he's going to do awful things.
- Quest for Identity: Main plot concerns finding out Jane Doe's identity and her connection to Dr. Ramzi.
- Stealth Hi/Bye: Dr. Ramzi dos this several times to Jane.
- Strapped to an Operating Table: Jane after she is caught by Dr. Ramzi.
- Title Drop: "I sealed him up, in his dead pit."
- Unexpected Genre Change: After over half of the movie's time length has been dedicated to the supernatural slasher angle, the zombies are brought in.
- Vertigo Effect: Used in one of Jane's dream sequences.
