Watch The Pit and the Pendulum For Free

So much average

Did you people see the same film I saw?

It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

Very good movie overall, highly recommended. Most of the negative reviews don't have any merit and are all pollitically based. Give this movie a chance at least, and it might give you a different perspective.

Drama/Fantasy/Horror ?! Drama... let's say it is drama. Fantasy... only if we put everything that is not historical into this category. Horror... not even close.Pit and the Pendulum is THRILLER, set in XVI century Spain. It's adaptation of Edgar Alan Poe's short story of the same title with some additions from other stories. I have no objections, but it's really nothing special. OK for one watching.6/10

Francis Barnard arrives from England to see Nicholas Medina (Vincent Price) in Spain. His late sister Elizabeth Barnard Medina (Barbara Steele) was Nicholas' wife. He is met by Nicholas' sister Catherine Medina. He is shocked that she had died three months earlier. He is told that she was ill but he is suspicious. They are joined in the castle by Doctor Charles Leon. He reveals that Elizabeth died of fright. Nicholas shows Francis his father's torture chamber who was a notorious torturer for the Spanish Inquisition.It's an American International Pictures directed by Roger Corman. Its B-movie status is unassailable. Its style is very old fashion. The Edgar Allan Poe short story could be interesting horror. This adaptation is less compelling. I don't care about Barnard and John Kerr is rather stiff. The acting is generally stiff or overwrought. This is more a mystery rather than horror. It's not actually scary. It's rather boring.

Uber-cheap filmmaker Roger Corman found an affinity with Edgar Allen Poe in the early 60s and drummed out this pleasingly Gothic horror, which has actually turned out to be one of this best efforts. Shot in anamorphic Panavision with some lovely matte paintings and composites the film looks more technically sophisticated than his usual fare.Vincent Price plays the sorrowful Spanish nobility mourning the loss of this beautiful wife with gloomy melodrama while the co-actors add to the morbidity with equally glum performances. The castle sets are a bit stiff but have enough atmosphere to make them seem authentic. The nature of the story has a "Saw" feel to it and is most certainly an inspiration in some regards.At a brisk 81 minutes (and, knowing Corman, probably shot in 81 minutes also) there's no chance of it being boring or overwrought. I even found some of it to be quite innovative, including a clever moment I can see was reused in William Malone's 1999 version of House on Haunted Hill.Not exactly a breathtaking classic horror but it will entertain you if you are stuck for something appropriate on a dark and stormy night.

Pit and The Pendulum is an iconic example of what film-makers can do on a relatively low budget. Director Roger Corman's second Poe adaption (he made 8 in all - although 1 was actually based on Lovecraft) is arguably the best of the whole bunch. Edgy, cunningly developed (there are 4 major twists in the plot alone, as well as some minor ones), well photographed and brilliantly directed, Pit builds up to its shocks carefully (these days they'd just throw blood at the screen) and the final sequence is a master-class in how to create cinematic suspense.All this, of course, comes from a story by Poe that runs less than 17 pages - I checked my Penguin edition! What perhaps often escapes viewers, is that the additions to the plot provided by writer Richard Matheson are basically taken from the French 1955 movie Les Diaboliques, which also has a great twist ending (the same twist, in fact!) Yet this movie has 3 more. Twist 1 - Elizabeth Medina really has been buried alive, making her doctor, who stakes his reputation that she wasn't, a bit crap! Twist 2. Aha, Elizabeth is not dead after all, but in league with the dastardly doctor and gunning for her hubby!. Twist 3. Nicholas, supposedly driven hopelessly insane, takes on the persona of his evil inquisitor father( or is he possessed?). Twist 4. Well, it's the final shot of the movie and I'll leave you to discover it for yourself.This is a film that is still frightening today, and of course, where would horror films be without Vincent Price? In truth this isn't one of his best showings, he's over the top in some scenes; but that moment, when Nicholas' comatose expression suddenly takes on an evil smile, is one of the most chilling moments in all movies, and confirms what a great actor Price really was.Pit is a great movie, one I never get tired of watching. It was preceded by House Of Usher and followed by The Premature Burial, Tales Of Terror, The Raven, The Haunted Palace, The Masque of The Red Death, and Tomb Of Ligeia.