Pit And The Pendulum (DVD)

Loosely based on the Edgar Allan Poe story, The Pit And The Pendulum was released in 1961 and was directed by Roger Gorman. Gorman as a producer has been involved in over 300 movies and has been behind the directors chair over 50 times, the bulk of which have been in the 1950's and 1960's. In his time Gorman has made some excellent films but it's also fair to say that a large number have been fairly dire. I'm glad to say that The Pit And The Pendulum is one of his better films but first a word of warning. This isn't a film for all you action junkies out there and while it does have some suspenseful moments the overall pace is very slow and ...  Read the complete review

The Pit and The Pendulum is the second in director Roger Corman's series of Edgar Allen Poe adaptations. It is also arguably the best and despite the difficulty in transforming a short story to a full-blown movie, it is all carried off very well here. Undoubtably, much of this is due to the involvement of a certain Vincent Price in the lead role but note should also be taken of some clever scripting and impressive use of camera work to achieve the desired effects. Not exactly a horror movie as much but more of a ghost story, it still stands up well against the competition despite its age. Vincent Price plays Nicholas Medina, the owner of a large spooky ...  Read the complete review