Into the Pit: The Shocking Story of Deadpit.com - A DVD Review
I first discovered Deadpit.com, as I expect many other horror fans did, through the magic of a Google search. A few years ago, after I finished reading David Grove's (slightly underrated) book Making Friday the 13th, I found myself in the mood to learn even more about my favorite slasher franchise. A quick web search for "friday the 13th interviews" led me to an intriguing web site called Deadpit, which featured downloadable podcasts and interviews with tons of Friday the 13th alumni, as well as many other prominent horror filmmakers and actors. Sounded like heaven to me!
I downloaded several episodes and eagerly pressed "Play" on the first one... only to be shocked into silence by what I heard. Hosted by a couple of self-described hillbillies, whose outrageous Southern accents made Gomer Pyle seem sophisticated and erudite, this Deadpit program made my head hurt. Those accents... they couldn't possibly be real, could they? And the hosts would frequently stop the show cold to break into falsetto-voiced comedy routines, or strum a song on their guitars. What the hell? Surely this must be some kind of joke!?
And what about their silly on-air names? The Creepy Kentuckian? Uncle Bill? Are you kidding me?
Nonetheless, intrigued by the incredible caliber of guests who were interviewed in their podcast archives (Tom Savini! George Romero! John Carpenter!), I forced myself to keep listening... while fervently wishing all the while that the hosts would shut up.
That mindset didn't last long.
After a few episodes, I found myself softening towards ol' CK and Uncle Bill; I didn't like them, but my hatred was thawing into indifference. Their voices no longer made me want to kill myself. After a few more episodes, I began to chuckle at some of their jokes while waiting for the next interview segment to start. A few episodes later, and I had grown so fond of these guys that the celebrity interviews almost started to feel like an intrusion. I soon understood that despite their country bumpkin personas, these guys knew a lot about horror, possibly more than me. And, if I may allow myself a moment of pride (or perhaps pity?), that's no small achievement.
Now comes a documentary exploring the surprising popularity and impact of the show, and the intriguing relationship between the men who created it. Into the Pit: The Shocking Story of Deadpit.com, henceforth referred to as Into the Pit, examines the lives of the hosts (real names: Wes Vance and Aaron Frye) in their economically depressed, highly conservative hometown of Prestonsburg, Kentucky. Despite being Internet superstars, Wes and Aaron are almost invisible to the people in their community, and feel compelled to hide their horror addiction and Internet stardom, lest they face condemnation.
This suits Wes and Aaron fine. As we see in the film, our podcasting heroes have little in common with the gun-loving, church-going, NASCAR-obsessed people who surround them, and are happy to live and let live. But it's the town's loss. Wes and Aaron prove themselves capable of astute insight and solemn reflection, while revealing remarkable depths about themselves. We see Aaron finishing up his Master's studies so that he can pursue his dream job as a substance abuse counselor, while Wes demonstrates amazing computer skills.
Many horror celebrities are on-hand to discuss their experience of being interviewed by Wes and Aaron, including Kevin S. Tenney (director of Witchboard and Night of the Demons), composer Harry Manfredini (the Friday the 13th series), horror movie scream queen Tiffany Shepis, Lloyd Kaufman (president of Troma Studios and director of the Toxic Avenger films), and, most hilariously, director Uwe Boll, whose films, including House of the Dead and Alone in the Dark, are frequent punchlines on the show. A number of fan testimonials are also sprinkled throughout the film.
Directed with restraint and intimacy by Kelly Marcott, Into the Pit tells the story of an unlikely friendship that blossomed into an even more unlikely Internet phenomenon, originating from the middle of nowhere. If that doesn't make you excited about the future of technology, I can't help you.
After a successful festival run, Into the Pit is now available on DVD, and comes recommended for anyone who ever chose to follow a dream, no matter how unlikely it seemed to those around you.
Enough about the movie! What about the DVD?
Into the Pit is presented in a non-anamorphic letterboxed transfer that looks fine, if unspectacular. No video compression artifacts were noted, and flesh tones appear consistently natural. But you probably won't use this disc to show off your home theater.
The disc contains a single (English) audio track, but my DVD player couldn't identify it (Dolby 2.0? Mono?) and the back of the DVD case provided no illumination. Whatever it is, the documentary sounds fine. A few scenes are clearly shot with on-board camera microphones (mostly the fan tributes), and these naturally sound less professional than the rest of the movie, but it never becomes a problem.
Special features include eight deleted scenes, ranging from disposable ("Meet James Cooley") to astutely observational ("Golf Course") to flat-out hilarious ("Fangoria"). A trailer is offered, as well as an extended version of a fan testimonial by a guy named Xombie (pretty insufferable, to be honest). "More of James Cooley" features additional footage of a peripheral player who was largely cut out of the main documentary.
Rounding out the supplements is a cute featurette of Wes and Aaron watching their appearance in a horror movie called Backroads for the first time. A typo on the Special Features menu identifies this clip as "Deapit Watches Backroads," rather than "Deadpit." Oops. (I bet Michael "Slipcase" Felsher wouldn't have let that happen. That's a joke; Deadpit fans will understand.)
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erick 03 Dec 2011 02:02
i miss cinemaslave:(