THE PIT (2013) (aka JUG FACE)

Jug Face, The Pit (2013)
Directed by: Chad Crawford Kinkle
Written by: Chad Crawford Kinkle
Starring: Daniel Manche, Kaitlin Cullum, Larry Fessenden, Lauren Ashley Carter, Sean Bridgers, Sean Young

THE PIT (2013)
aka JUG FACE
Written and directed by Chad Crawford Kinkle
Available on DVD from Amazon

In a backwoods community, a teenage girl tries to prevent her sacrificial slaughter when she discovers she is to be the next offering to ‘the pit’ – a hole in the woodland containing a powerful entity that protects the tight community.

After positive reviews from Grimmfest 2013, Chad Crawford Kinkle’s cult horror THE PIT has been released on DVD in the UK, though many horror fans will know the movie as JUG FACE. The reason behind its wider known title is in reference to the jugs, made by the community potter, that feature the sculpted face of the person ‘the pit’ requires as a sacrifice. The potter doesn’t know the identity when creating the jug face, as they are under some mystic pit possession during its creation. The potter in this movie is the bumbling loner Dawai, played by actor Sean Bridgers, who film fans may know as the savage husband in Lucky McKee’s THE WOMAN. Lucky McKee also happens to be an executive producer on this title.

Rather than some in-your-face horrors, THE PIT is rather slow-moving and focuses more on the teenage girl Ada and her relationships with herself and those around her. She reacts in much the same way most people would react to discovering they’re up for slaughter, except most people in her little cult community seem to see being chosen by the pit as an honour, even if they are afraid of dying. The bulk of the film sees the consequence of Ada’s actions as ‘the pit’ is stirred from its usual serenity, if you can call it that.

What I did find interesting which is unlike most films of this genre, Ada’s father often visits ‘normal’ civilisation in the shape of the nearest town, where he swaps moonshine for groceries at the town’s store. So they aren’t exactly secluded or isolated from the ‘normal’ society, but are off the beaten path enough to have their own rules and rituals.

Laureen Ashley Carter plays the doe-eyed Ada, who’s sexual activity threatens to catch up with her when she’s ‘joined’ with Bodey. Ada panics at the prospect, as not only is she expected to be a virgin until she’s joined but she’s also threatened with being sacrificed. Whatever happens, Ada knows she’s going to be in trouble and tries her upmost to keep her secrets. Sean Young and Larry Fassenden play her mother and father. Even though her father appears to have a better relation with his daughter, he has an authoritive role within their community, in charge of the sacrifices at the pit. Ada’s mother, however, isn’t as gentle or loving to the young girl, eyeing her daughter with suspicion at every moment whilst smoking a cigarette.

The movie works quite well as a whole, with just the aspect of a wandering spirit that feels out of place. In the form of a dirt-covered boy, the spirit warns Ada of the pit and its bloodthirst. His appearances, of which there are maybe three or four, don’t fit into the action on screen and don’t really add anything to the movie either.

The setting of the film in the woodlands conveys the strange community and their primitive beliefs quite well. The pit itself takes on the role of a character, though we only really see it as an acting character through Ada’s weird visions. It’s enough though to create the pit as a powerful force to be reckoned with.

At a short-ish running time of 78 minutes, I felt like I wanted to see more, as the final third of the movie wraps up fairly quickly. The tense build-up doesn’t exactly give the satisfying payoff it deserves, but is an effective one at least.

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