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Teddy
A bright smiling boy and his Teddy. The lure of carnal evil. And a wave of sickening violence that sweeps through a terrified town. What fiend in their midst could do such hideous things? Teddy knows...
Teddy by John Gault is a novelization of the horror film, The Pit (1981). It appears to be adhere closer to Ian A. Stuart's original screenplay than the finished film, containing more character development and a far darker tone.
Teddy by John Gault is a novelization of the horror film, The Pit (1981). It appears to be adhere closer to Ian A. Stuart's original screenplay than the finished film, containing more character development and a far darker tone.
183 pages, Paperback
First published August 1, 1980
183 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
February 10, 2025
Twelve year old Jamie Benjamin goes up to his room after dinner one night and, as usual, begins to tell his stuffed bear, Teddy, all about his day. Nothing out of the ordinary for a kid - except this stuffed bear talks back... And he has a few not-so-polite words about his mother's body.
Ignoring Teddy's sexual comments, Jamie proceeds on with his exciting news; he watched from his secret spot up in a tree, as an elderly Reverend fell into the pit his "friends" live in. He tried to warn him, but he didn't listen! When he went to look in the pit afterwards, his friends had already dragged him off somewhere.
He contemplates with Teddy about telling the police, but Teddy warns him they might find his "beasties" in the hole if he does. Jamie angrily tells him they're not beasties, they're troglodytes, or trogs for short. Jamie discovered them three months ago; they're small - his size, with hair all over, scales, claws, sharp teeth and yellow eyes. They even "communicate" with him via grunts and "jabbering."
A few days later, Jamie gets home from school to find the most beautiful girl he's ever seen in his back yard! Twenty-four year old Sandy has been hired by Mrs. Benjamin for the next week or so, to look after Jamie while she and her husband are in Seattle, looking for their new home. Jamie is instantly smitten with the young babysitter, and dreads having to tell Teddy about her; this is one thing he wants to keep all to himself!
Meanwhile, Mrs. Benjamin takes Sandy into the kitchen and begins telling her about Jamie. She tells the young woman how her son "has trouble relating to people. Especially other kids." She tells Sandy she doesn't know when it happened, but she's become disconnected from her son. Mrs. Benjamin goes on to say her husband won't admit it, but "he doesn't like his son, and God help me, neither do I."
Sandy is wondering what she has gotten herself into. But then again, how can this seemingly polite, intelligent, quiet boy possibly be even half as bad as his mother claims? What she doesn't know, is how Jamie already feels about her - and with his horny Teddy Bear in his ear, Jamie is truly capable of anything...
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I've been wanting to get my hands on this for years, and I'm so grateful to now own a copy and get the chance to find out what this book is all about. I'm not sure it's quite what I was expecting, but that's not necessarily a bad thing. It was entertaining, and I read it all in a few hours.
I will say, I did end up being right about everything at the end of the book, so to me, it was pretty obvious what was really going on.
Now all that's left to do is watch the movie!
Ignoring Teddy's sexual comments, Jamie proceeds on with his exciting news; he watched from his secret spot up in a tree, as an elderly Reverend fell into the pit his "friends" live in. He tried to warn him, but he didn't listen! When he went to look in the pit afterwards, his friends had already dragged him off somewhere.
He contemplates with Teddy about telling the police, but Teddy warns him they might find his "beasties" in the hole if he does. Jamie angrily tells him they're not beasties, they're troglodytes, or trogs for short. Jamie discovered them three months ago; they're small - his size, with hair all over, scales, claws, sharp teeth and yellow eyes. They even "communicate" with him via grunts and "jabbering."
A few days later, Jamie gets home from school to find the most beautiful girl he's ever seen in his back yard! Twenty-four year old Sandy has been hired by Mrs. Benjamin for the next week or so, to look after Jamie while she and her husband are in Seattle, looking for their new home. Jamie is instantly smitten with the young babysitter, and dreads having to tell Teddy about her; this is one thing he wants to keep all to himself!
Meanwhile, Mrs. Benjamin takes Sandy into the kitchen and begins telling her about Jamie. She tells the young woman how her son "has trouble relating to people. Especially other kids." She tells Sandy she doesn't know when it happened, but she's become disconnected from her son. Mrs. Benjamin goes on to say her husband won't admit it, but "he doesn't like his son, and God help me, neither do I."
Sandy is wondering what she has gotten herself into. But then again, how can this seemingly polite, intelligent, quiet boy possibly be even half as bad as his mother claims? What she doesn't know, is how Jamie already feels about her - and with his horny Teddy Bear in his ear, Jamie is truly capable of anything...
------------------
I've been wanting to get my hands on this for years, and I'm so grateful to now own a copy and get the chance to find out what this book is all about. I'm not sure it's quite what I was expecting, but that's not necessarily a bad thing. It was entertaining, and I read it all in a few hours.
I will say, I did end up being right about everything at the end of the book, so to me, it was pretty obvious what was really going on.
Now all that's left to do is watch the movie!
Read
August 27, 2021The novelization of gonzo Canadian horror film THE PIT (1981)-- a tale of a murderous tween with a bowl cut, his lecherous telepathic teddy bear, and the underground lair full of bloodthirsty troglodytes they discover-- is a grail among vintage horror paperback collectors, fetching exorbitant prices in the rare instances when a copy is listed. (Believe me 💸) And no duh: it's bonkers that a novelization exists for THE PIT, but what's even more unlikely is that it's an excellent piece of '80s horror fiction in its own right. Gault's prose is artful and precise, smoothing out the screenplay's wild turns and adding psychological complexity to characters that read on screen as thin as the pages of a dirty magazine.
Readers might be surprised to find that the novel hews closely to the finished film's action (with a couple of extremely notable and downright unfilmmable exceptions near the end), and yet the tone is altered so dramatically in Gault's version that we can actually see the genuine horror movie TEDDY was intended to be. While I wouldn't trade THE PIT's sublime goofiness for this more accurate version, I'm still grunting like a trollolog to have it available for consumption in some form.
Also of note for fans of the film: an added subplot following Officer Bentley's police investigation into the disappearances sheds some light on town history and the trogs' origins that takes a distinctly Lovecraftian turn in its emphasis on human degeneracy and (I believe) a deliberate reference to "The Dunwich Horror"!
Readers might be surprised to find that the novel hews closely to the finished film's action (with a couple of extremely notable and downright unfilmmable exceptions near the end), and yet the tone is altered so dramatically in Gault's version that we can actually see the genuine horror movie TEDDY was intended to be. While I wouldn't trade THE PIT's sublime goofiness for this more accurate version, I'm still grunting like a trollolog to have it available for consumption in some form.
Also of note for fans of the film: an added subplot following Officer Bentley's police investigation into the disappearances sheds some light on town history and the trogs' origins that takes a distinctly Lovecraftian turn in its emphasis on human degeneracy and (I believe) a deliberate reference to "The Dunwich Horror"!
June 3, 2023
2.5*
Thank you to the gracious soul who uploaded this book onto the Internet Archive. It's a lot more graphic and psycho-sexual than the supremely goofy film, but there's still a lot questionable goofery in the book. I'm glad I got the chance to finally read it without forking over a small fortune, though.
Thank you to the gracious soul who uploaded this book onto the Internet Archive. It's a lot more graphic and psycho-sexual than the supremely goofy film, but there's still a lot questionable goofery in the book. I'm glad I got the chance to finally read it without forking over a small fortune, though.
July 24, 2011
I didn't realize there was a novel based on the screenplay for "The Pit." The movie has a cult following, so I had to add it to this database because it wasn't available.
February 7, 2020
Much more disturbing and different than the crap movie it became. Not worth paying hundreds of dollars for, but definitely one of the creepiest things I've ever read.
December 17, 2016
While it's certainly better than the source material - it's still rather senseless.
September 4, 2020
This movie has always been a favorite of mine since I was a kid. It took me a long time to track the movie down because I never knew what it was called. Then when I found out there was a novelization I had to have it but most prices you see are insanely priced. I happened to find one that was still priced pretty high but I needed to add it to my collection.
I definitely like how novelizations can flesh out the story a little more, in this book we get more about the history of the Pit without knowing exactly where it came from or what the tra-la-logs (trogs in the book) actually are. Darker in tone than the movie and more uncomfortably sexual seeing as how Jaime is only 12 years old but a lot of the people he fed to the Trogs were shitty and I can't blame him for it. Teddy was much more involved, as one would guess since it's called Teddy, but it seemed like Teddy bit off more than he could chew by awakening Jaime's psychotic side.
And it still ends the same.
I definitely like how novelizations can flesh out the story a little more, in this book we get more about the history of the Pit without knowing exactly where it came from or what the tra-la-logs (trogs in the book) actually are. Darker in tone than the movie and more uncomfortably sexual seeing as how Jaime is only 12 years old but a lot of the people he fed to the Trogs were shitty and I can't blame him for it. Teddy was much more involved, as one would guess since it's called Teddy, but it seemed like Teddy bit off more than he could chew by awakening Jaime's psychotic side.
And it still ends the same.
May 11, 2021
2.5 stars
Malevolent Teddy bears and deep pits full of troglodytes. Yeah this book is about as good as you expect with a plot like that.
This is a novelization of a screenplay of a film that apparently is even more campy, so I can be a little less harsh on it than it probably deserves, but cut that all out and this really is a rather dumb book.
At the same time, however, Teddy toes that “so bad, it’s good” line and I can totally understand the cult following this and the film have behind them.
Either way, it’s a great throwback horror novel with a bit of a story behind it. That they as you will…
Malevolent Teddy bears and deep pits full of troglodytes. Yeah this book is about as good as you expect with a plot like that.
This is a novelization of a screenplay of a film that apparently is even more campy, so I can be a little less harsh on it than it probably deserves, but cut that all out and this really is a rather dumb book.
At the same time, however, Teddy toes that “so bad, it’s good” line and I can totally understand the cult following this and the film have behind them.
Either way, it’s a great throwback horror novel with a bit of a story behind it. That they as you will…
March 13, 2023
It's a book I only vaguely remember. If I remember correctly, it was pretty bad. It was based on some movie. It has attempted rape, underground alien(?) creatures, and a final "commupence". If you find it in a resale shop or book sale, pass it by.
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews