SummaryIn the sixteenth century, Francis Barnard travels to Spain to clarify the strange circumstances of his sister's death after she had married the son of a cruel Spanish Inquisitor.
Directed By:Roger Corman
Written By:Richard Matheson, Edgar Allan Poe
Pit and the Pendulum
Metascore
Generally Favorable
78
User score
Generally Favorable
6.7
My Score
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Metascore
Generally Favorable
78
100% Positive
7 Reviews
7 Reviews
0% Mixed
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
0% Negative
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
90
Corman at his intoxicating best, drawing a seductive mesh of sexual motifs from Poe's story through a fine Richard Matheson script.
80
Watching this film as a child, the piercing image of Medina's wife Elizabeth's (Barbara Steele) wide eyes in the iron maiden stayed with me for years.
80
A highly effective merging of star power (both in front and behind the camera) and finely honed horror sensibilities.
80
The film plays like a companion piece to Usher, but one eager to push beyond its limits, particularly in its tinted flashback sequences. It also lets Price begin the film as a delicate gentleman and end it as a madman.
75
Screenwriter Richard Matheson did a fine job of adapting Poe's rather limited (for films) short story by saving the dungeon sequences for the climax and then creating a rather interesting plot line to lead up to it. One of Corman's and AIP's best.
70
A physically stylish, imaginatively photographed horror film which, though needlessly corny in many spots, adds up to good exploitation.
70
Corman enhances the narrative with assorted shocks and tinted flashbacks reminiscent of the silent cinema.
User score
Generally Favorable
6.7
83% Positive
5 Ratings
5 Ratings
17% Mixed
1 Rating
1 Rating
0% Negative
0 Ratings
0 Ratings
Sep 19, 2023
7
Glad that this creepy classic got picked. Pure atmosphere, color design that would inspire the likes of Bava, Vincent Price in maybe his most Vincent Price-role, cobwebs, torture chambers, shock moments, the pendulum that would be recycled in one of the "Saw" sequels, John Kerr being hot, and Barbara Steel <3
Aug 27, 2023
7
Solid, intense old school horror craftsmanship by B movie king, Roger Corman. The creepy atmosphere, spooky music, eerie matte paintings of sea cliff castle, and torture chamber cavern, the huge interior sets, and nice haunted house production design, all add to the sense of dread. Movie is anchored by Vincent Price's performance, and how he reacts to the plot's twists and turns. All capped by one of flimdom's most memorable, haunting final images.
