Pit and the Pendulum (1961)

Pit and the Pendulum
Directed by Roger Corman
Written by Richard Matheson from a story by Edgar Allan Poe
1961/USA
Alta Vista Productions
First viewing/Netflix rental

[box] Don Nicholas Medina: Do you know where you are, Bartolome? I’ll tell you where you are. You are about to enter Hell, Bartolome, HELL!… The netherworld.The infernal region, The Abode of the Damned… The place of torment. Pandemonium. Abbadon. Tophet. Gehenna. Naraka. THE PIT!… And the pendulum.[/box]

Vincent Price is at his most indulgent in another of Corman’s Poe-inspired Gothic horror shows.

Poe’s short story needed considerable embellishment to fill out a full-length movie.  It is 16th Century Spain.  Francis Barnard (John Kerr) visits the castle of Nicholas Medina (Price) to investigate the death of his sister Elizabeth (Barbara Steele), Nicholas’s deceased wife.  He finds Nicholas traumatized to the point of madness from witnessing the cruel tortures of his father, an Inquisitor.

Several possible explanations for Elizabeth’s death emerge and several suspects are revealed.  All this gives ample scope for revisiting tortures old and new and for the specter premature burial to raise its ugly head.

The movie, completed in only 15 days, looks splendid, rivaling the delights of the Hammer horror films made during the same period.  Price chews the scenery as only he can.  This might be much too much in any other actor but with Price it is delicious fun.

The DVD I rented included a commentary by Corman.

Trailer