Subject: REVIEW: THE PIT AND THE PENDULUM

From: [email-masked] (Brian L. Johnson)
Date: 30 Sep 91 15:19:27 GMT

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                        THE PIT AND THE PENDULUM
                      A film review by Ken Johnson
                       Copyright 1991 Ken Johnson

97 min, Not Rated, Horror, 1991
Director: Stuart Gordon
Cast: Lance Henriksen, Rona De Ricci, Jonathan Fuller, Frances Bay,
      Mark Margolis, Jeffrey Combs, Stephen Lee, Tom Towles,
      William J. Norris, Carolyn Purdy-Gordon, Oliver Reed

     The film is set in the 1400s during the Spanish Inquisition.  Baker
Fuller and his wife De Ricci make bread to sell at the frying of a
witch, Purdy-Gordon.  They are against the burning of people as witches
so they plan to stay just long enough to sell their bread.  They get
stuck in a crowd and are forced to watch the burning.  After the witch
is fried the guards bring out her son and whip him.  De Ricci runs up to
the guards and tell them to stop beating the boy, and the guards put her
in prison as a witch.  Fuller went to the leader of the Spanish
Inquisition, Henricksen, and asks if he would free De Ricci because she
is not a witch.  Henricksen says that she will stand trial and that will
determine whether she is a witch or not.

     Instead of being a slasher film about some maniac on the loose
killing nubile co-eds, like most modern horror films, THE PIT AND THE
PENDULUM is more of a horror of the tortures humans do to themselves.
However the film has nothing to do with Edgar Allan Poe's story, which
it is supposedly based on.  The video cassette box states on it "Edgar
Allan Poe's THE PIT AND THE PENDULUM"; it should just state "THE PIT AND
THE PENDULUM."  There is however a scene with Oliver Reed that is quite
close to "The Cask of the Amontillado."  The pit and the pendulum, which
played such an important role in Edgar's story, take a back seat spot in
the film.  The film could have been much better if given, maybe, a
better cast and if it followed Edgar Allan Poe's short story more.  The
whole part of the short story where the man is hooked onto the ground
and the pendulum comes swinging closer and closer is put into a small
couple of minutes scene.  The rest of the film is based on Rona De
Ricci's time spent in the dungeons and her husband Fuller trying to save
her.  All of this wasn't even hinted at in Edgar Allan Poe's short
story.

     This film is part of a series of produced by Harry Alan Towers that
are coming over from Italy.  The only other films that I know of that
are also coming over to the U.S. from Italy are BURIED ALIVE (which is
already in video stores) and THE HOUSE OF USHER.  There are probably
others.  This film (and the other two listed above) are direct-to-video
releases.

     For an enjoyability rating the highest I can give it is a three
(out of a 0 - 5 scale).  I was very disappointed in the film considering
the amount of time it took to be able to check it out of the video
store, it was out every time I went in.  THE PIT AND THE PENDULUM is not
rated but contains graphic violence and female nudity.  If you have an
empty night and you're in the mood for a "different" horror film you
might give this one a glance.