The Pit and the Pendulum (1961) by Roger Corman

Director: Roger Corman

Year: 1961

Country: USA

Alternate Titles: N/A

Genre: Supernatural

Plot:

Receiving notice of her death, a man travels to the castle of her husband to see his sister, only to learn that his belief in her being corrupted by its torturous past makes him believe that he has prematurely buried her, and he begins tormenting them to ensure his secret is kept hidden.

Review:

This here was a pretty pleasant surprise. Like the majority of the films in this series, what really makes for a great time here is the overwhelming and truly glorious Gothic splendor featured here, which is the generally prerequisite grand Gothic castle and its usually elaborate surroundings. The castle itself isn't that bad, but the catacombs are its best locations, with the cobwebbed walls, hidden rooms astutely located, and also features some great places within that manage to go for the usual grand spectacle of the overly large mansion. The second half here, though, is what really makes it watchable with a spectacular series of actions. This all starts when the revelation is made about it being possible she's still alive, and the torment undergone, and it only gets better from there, as this starts with the ploys about it being in the imagination from the childhood trauma, and the evidence presented against it.

Carrying on from the discovery of the personal items left behind, the ghostly voices and noises heard in the night, and the trashed room, this is all quite fun and sets the stage for the group wandering into the crypt. The shocking discovery of the dead body is quite enjoyable, as the one found is quite grotesque, looking realistic and freaky at the same time, while the other, the really big scene, the resurrection, is completely eerie and creepy, with the bright spot of not revealing everything about the figure until the end. Only the body is shown, with the face kept in the shadows even during the ensuing chase through the catacombs, which is the bright spot about the scene. There's also an elaborate stalking chase right after it and a mystery as well, where the complete identity of the figure is kept in the shadows, and only a small portion is seen throughout for a wonderfully brilliant scene. The final ten minutes, where the title comes into play, are simply fantastic, done within a pretty creepy location and actually generate some really suspenseful moments where the closer it comes, the more suspenseful it is, and it really drives the scene. The location used for this scene is actually almost as good, comprising an elaborate crystal design of weird structures along the outer edges and being a similarly beautiful and creepy place.

This is all quite enjoyable since it doesn't have a whole lot of negatives. One of the most apparent is the slow build-up at the beginning of the film. This starts out incredibly slow, as the beginning is full of nonsensical dialogue about what he's there for. It sets up a nice mystery, but nothing is interesting in the characters wandering around spouting dialogue about a character's battle with a disease. It tries to set up a mystery, but it's not that interesting and never really means as much as it should due to the incredibly boring introduction, and it really doesn't do much for the film. It's also apparent that it's a low-rent version of the film in the series and plays through many of the same features without doing much else differently. Otherwise, this here was pretty entertaining.

Overview: ****/5

A true Gothic classic featuring Price at its best, this is one of the finer examples of the style and manages to hold itself up over a few incidental issues that keep it down. Those with an appreciation for this era of the genre, who appreciate the style attempted here, or who are fans of the creative crew, will have a lot to like here, as most others might want to heed caution.