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CREEPY CLASSICS presents... |
Creepy Classics Spotlight Movie Last Weekend - THE PIT AND THE PENDULUM (1961) Every week, readers here are selecting a movie to view...then we all try to watch it together utilizing our DVD/video library. This past Saturday night, many of us watched THE PIT AND THE PENDULUM (1961). This was suggested by by John Pace, Miami, FL. Details about movie nights to come are HERE. Please include your name and location after your comments, so we can see how we're all joining together from diffeent locals around the globe! Let's all Synch-Up Saturday nights at 7:30PM, or catch it sometime over the weekend!
At any rate, this is a chilling slice of Poe meets the 1960s with Corman at his best....and Price too. Really great. -Ron Adams, Ligonier, PA
Great Roger Corman film starring Vincent Price as a man slowly driven insane by his wife, played by the lovely Barbara Steele.
I probably should have made sure I had some root beer and pretzels on hand
This has to be my favorite of the Poe-Price films, I'm always glad to
To me, Price did Poe like Olivier did I also think of the -John P., Miami, FL
Hey Synchers!
Hey John (Great Vincent Price Pick Flick, Sir!), my good friend(s) Ron Adams and Bob Pelligrino, Paisley, and all other Poe Synchmasters out there in horror literature/film heaven, I watched "The Pit And The Pendulum" (1961) directed by the great "King Of The B`s" himself, the one and only supreme director himself, Roger Corman, not ONCE but TWICE this last SUNDAY afternoon ! (The second time with the audio commentary with Roger himself running on it!) and there is no doubt that this is one of the BEST of the Roger Corman/Edgar Allan Poe/Vincent Price collaborations of the 1960`s made under the A.I.P. banner! (film critics often state that the "Tomb Of Ligea" {1964} is the best in the series) But in my honest opinion many of them are SOLIDLY enjoyable in an equal manner.The financial success of "The Fall Of The House Of Usher" (1960) the year before enabled Roger Corman to spin off a whole series of films which deal with the issues of betrayal, revenge, madness, premature burial and murder.
My rating for this wonderful film: 4/5 stars. So Until Next Time, Fellow Poe Addicts, "Sleep NeverMore" and remember, There are only 11 days `Til "Monster Bash Weekend" ----See You Soon Everybody! - Dan Brenneis- Monster Bash Staff Member And Lifetime FilmFan Extroadinairre.
Ron,
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This was the period where Roger Corman really cranked it up a notch. While his 1950s films were (and are so much fun), he really took his movies to another level with the look and feel on the Poe films. This was the second of his Poe flicks (HOUSE OF USHER was the first). This is one of my favorites of the Corman-Poe movies. You get to see Price in full meltdown mode, the lovely (and evil) Barbara Steele and the way out, trippy dream/memory sequences. I was watching this with my buddy Bob Pellegrino and my daughter Paisley when it occurred to me that this was the first movie I taped off of TV on a VCR way back in the early 1980s. One of those yellow/amber Kodak VHS blank tapes. It was actually quite exciting to be able to actually save something from TV. Previously, you could only hope for a cut-down 8mm film. 
Watching it now I realize that the film is mostly a mystery, a
Barbara Steele is deliciously evil as he taunts
"You are about to enter...Hell." I cant get enough of Corman's Poe epics!
Strange psychedelic images, weird music, groovy! 
The atmosphere is heavy in here. 
In this film, the story revolves around a young man (played by an acceptable John Kerr) who travels to a Spanish castle from his home in London to learn about the mysterious and macabre death of his sister (played by the wonderful Barbara Steele in her first American film!- Although SHE was DUBBED here!) In the process, he meets up with his brother-in-law, Nicholas Medina (Vincent Price) who is suffering in complete emotional agony over the (supposed!) death of his wife and Catherine Medina (Nicholas`s sister) played wonderfully by the under-rated Luana Anders (who also starred in the horror films "Dementia 13" {1963} directed by Francis Ford Coppola (his debut feature) and "Night Tide" {1961} with the late, great Dennis Hopper. Luana Anders, in my opinion, gives the most UNDERRATED performance in this film and interestingly, after retiring from acting, would become an successful scriptwriter! (ROGER TALKS ABOUT THIS IN HIS COMMENTARY TRACK!) Roger Corman stock player Antony Carbone rounds out our supporting cast of interest (he plays the "good" Dr.Charles Leon -who proves to be partially behind the whole dastardly series of events--along with Nicholas`s "supposedly" dead wife {WHOSE SLOW RISING FROM THE GRAVE TO TERRORIZE AND DRIVE NICHOLAS MAD IS A DEFINITE HIGHLIGHT OF THIS FILM!!!) Of course, they come to regret their actions, for Nicholas is not only not dead from his fall and from their terrorizing him, but they manage to drive him MAD and he proceeds to kill the good doctor (he falls into the pit) imprison his harlot wife, and then proceeds to chain up Francis Barnard (John Kerr) before trying to cut him to ribbons with the ultimate device of torture- THE PENDULUM!! 
Of course, our heroes save the day (Catherine and a servant), Nicholas is killed and Francis is saved from a most ghastly fate!! ---Problem is- What happened to the good ol` cheating wifey??? There she is- trapped in the torture chest!!! - I LOVE THE ENDING OF THIS MOVIE, FOLKS! (THE CHEATING WIFE GETS HER JUST DESERTS) and the last line is quite chilling!!! (with the camera panning down to show Steele`s agonized eyes- knowing she is REALLY IN TROUBLE AT THIS POINT!) --"NO ONE MUST EVER ENTER THIS ROOM AGAIN" Other Great aspects of this production include the great creepy, evocative music score by Les Baxter, the great production/art direction by Daniel Haller (LOVE THOSE MONK CEILING PAINTINGS SHOWN DURING THE BRUTAL CLIMAX!) and the super matte shots of the castle (during the beginning) and of the torture chamber (near the film`s end) As far as Roger Corman`s direction is concerned- What more can be said ?- He really does a nice job here with various close-ups and zoom shots -and seems to let his actors carry the film (ESPECIALLY VINCENT PRICE!) - From an acting standpoint, there is no question that , in my opinion, this is one of Vincent`s "SHINING HOURS" and he is fantastic in his role here- a man tortured by his evil, unfaithful wife and corrupt doctor who ultimately succumbs to madness and then becomes the spitting image of his late, sadistic father (the very thing he was trying NOT TO BE!!)---Themes very prevelant in all of Poe`s dark literature. 
2. There is a strange noise behind a door. The hero, played by John Kerr, reaches to open it. It suddenly flings open and there is a great close-up of 
You can get the MGM DVD of THE PIT AND THE PENDULUM (1961) in the 