I had heard this film was originally filmed near Beaver Dam, Wisconsin. I believe this to be a rumor and I am just curious if anyone knows for sure...
shareyes, this movie was filmed in beaver dam wisconsin. i live here and there are several buildings and places still here that are in the movie.
shareYep, they shot in swan city park which is still there to this day. Also the house they filmed in is there. And the library is now the Historical Society.
shareHow far away is beaver dam from eau claire?
sharealmost 3 hours by car. Take 51 south to Portage. Then 33 east to Beaver Dam.
That wouldn't be the fastest route to take, that's for sure. I-94 to Portage and then 33 east to BD. I was actually in this film...in 6th grade at the time. My brother and I were in a scene where we were riding a school bus, getting dropped off at our "homes" in the country. If memory serves me correctly, we ended up on the cutting room floor and didn't make the end result Got out of school for a day and got paid though. I've only seen the film once and I remember it being pretty darn bad.
shareThanks
shareIt's sad that some people can't appreciate good 'bad' cinema...The Pit works because it's so bad it's good...not to mention the fact it was a rare early 80's horror film that wasn't just cloning Halloween/Friday the 13th.
If I was to go to beaver dam, where should I look to find things I saw in the movie?
shareMost of the buildings have been since re-built, or are just completely unremarkable... Except for the big stone house, which is actually the Dodge County Historical Society (at the time it was the Williams Free Library, but that moved into a new municipal facility in the late 80s), which is at the corner of Spring and Front Streets, if I remember my hometown's geography correctly. You can go east on Front (it turns into Park Ave) then take a right onto University Ave (by Wayland Academy--you'll see the fieldhouse on the corner) to get to Swan Park.
shareIt indeed was filmed in and around Beaver Dam. I use to have nightmares about this movie when I was a kid because it was filmed in my aunt and uncle's house on vita street. They had lots of scrap books with pictures of the gory makeup and it totally freaked me out.
shareYes, most of this was filmed in Beaver Dam Wisconsin. A big sceen took place in Swan City Park. The actual pit where the monsters were was located near Waupun Wisconsin.
shareDid they actually dig a big pit in the ground? if so im gonna need to take my fam there and take 100's of pics
shareYes, they dug the pit into the ground. They even had a tunnel leading to the pit with a ramp so the crew could walk down into it. the pit was constructed with a lot of wood and Foam. After the movie was filmed they removed all the wood and foam and burried the hole. So sorry you wont be able to take any pictures. My uncle (the construction supervisor) got to keep all the wood from the pit, he almost had enough wood to make a two car garage!
shareJennifer, please contact me! We haven't talked for years. [email protected].
shareOh my Gosh, What a small world. I lived in Waupun as a kid and our house was within walking distance of "the pit". We lived out a ways from town. I remember sneaking through a huge corn field with my friends and seeing the pit and a few actors. I don't remember much more, as I was only 8 or 9 at the time. But I do remember that there were a lot of platforms around the pit. To a 9 year old living in rural Wisconsin that was about the most exciting thing I had ever seen.
shareI just saw this movie and thought it was pretty funny. I knew about the historical society and Swan Park but was checking to see exactly what street the house was on and where the Pit was located. Good thing I read through the comments. Thanks. Oh, Does anyone know where the butcher shop was located at?
shareI live next door to the house on Vita street where The Pit was filmed. It all happened before I lived here, some of the shots are from our driveway and our house is in a few frames. The people who live in the house where it was filmed still live there. Not sure where the butcher shop is but I can ask my neighbors.
shareDo you peep on your lady neighbors?
Say hi to Abergail for me.
Is Jamie still under the porch eating raw meat? That's what Abigail says he does.
I collect dead pigeons then I press them between the pages of a book.share
Hey bueller-thirteen, since you live next door, would you mind adding the address of the house that was used in the "Filming Locations" section? Or at least post it here so one of us can?
sharei am also from beaver dam and my brother and i were extras in the film and appeared for a split-second in the halloween party scene in the film. several of the people in the film were childhood friends, and many of the adults were friends of my parents.
my dad has one line in the movie -- he's the one loading the meat onto the truck. not sure where the butcher shop is/was.
he was a teacher and his classroom was used in several shots, as was the old library at wayland academy there. the exterior was the old williams free library, as others mentioned, but the interior library shots were at wayland.
the house is at the corner of vita and maple -- i don't know the exact address but here is a shot in google street-view:
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=beaver+dam,+wi+53916&sll=43.019,-88.0917&sspn=0.009931,0.021737&ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=Beaver+Dam,+Dodge,+Wisconsin&ll=43.457382,-88.83156&spn=0.002465,0.005434&z=18&layer=c&cbll=43.457383,-88.831433&panoid=GyMiAo7WNNB9SNNpqYNBJw&cbp=12,153.56,,0,2.51
unfortunately street view does not include vita street (as of this writing) and so the link above is the view of the side of the house as seen from maple ave.
if memory serves, some exterior scenes were shot on gould street also. i haven't seen the movie in a long time, but if i ever watch it again i'll post some more notes.
I actually went to grade school (through 7th grade) in Waupun and remember going out to see them filming in the country near there. Surprised that I was actually able to find it (I recall that it was going to be called "Teddy" back when they were filming). Guess I'll have to rent it from Netflix now!
shareit was filmed in the fall of 1979...
shareFor all the Beaver Dam aficionado's out there:
Can anyone help with the location of the butcher shop? Using Google Street View, I think it was on West Street near St. Stephens Church. Does anyone know for sure?