Customer Reviews

Pit & the Pendulum [VHS]

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

But not as good as "Castle Freak" or "Re-Animator". Still, a well made horror flick with lots of gore and nudity. Lance Henriksen overacts a bit, as usual. Worth picking up.

There wasn't a skip on the entire tape that was in high res. The only thing not so good was the cardboard jacket.

But not as good as "Castle Freak" or "Re-Animator". Still, a well made horror flick with lots of gore and nudity. Lance Henriksen overacts a bit, as usual. Worth picking up.

Very odd mix of farce, horror, love drama, New Age drama, thriller, and historical drama. Takes place at the Inquisition. The grand inquisitor (Henriksen) is very serious, but his co-inquisitors are the more unserious. In the end we get to see the great pendulum, but it doesn't play a big part in the movie. Some allusions to the real "The Pit and the Pendulum" too, but that cannot save this sad mix of odd ideas.

The best thing is the choir music that is played at the beginning. But then again, one can listen to a CD instead.

In his twisted quest to save souls, Grand Inquisitor Torquemada (Lance Henriksen--ALIENS, NEAR DARK) leads a bloody reign of terror, torturing and killing in the name of religion. His evil knows no boundaries. Caught in this insane cruelty is Maria (Rona De Ricci), whose beauty leads Torquemada into temptation and brutal atonement.
Imprisoned, Maria and her husband Antonio (Jonathan Fuller) are befriended by Esmerelda (Frances Bay), a confessed witch. Together they struggle to save themselves from the sinister Torquemada and his machine of ultimate pain and torture-THE PIT & THE PENDULUM.
Featuring the dynamic Oliver Reed as the Cardinal and Jeffrey Combs (RE-ANIMATOR) in a darkly comic performance as the scribe.

To this day, I have no clue why they ever called the movie the pit and the pendulum. The scenes with The Pit and the pendulum weren't even significant to the story, and were very brief. If they called this The pit and the Pendulum, it's an insult to the classic first starring Vincent Price, and Luana Anders. I thought the movie was okay, but very extreme. It is during the Inquisition when Maria (Always beautiful Rona Di Ricci), and her baker husband Antonio (Jonathan Fuller), accidently attend the Auto D' Fey, a festival for burning assumed heretics at the stake, and Maria can't stand watching people in pain. She runs out in the defense of a young boy being horse whipped for his father's "Mistakes". She pleads mercy from Torquemada, the infamous leader of the whole Inquisition, but the Grand Inquisitor himself, falls in love with Maria with one look at her. He has her arrested thinking any feeling of love is witch craft. She is taken to Torquemada's torturess castle, and finds out what really is going on behind the walls. It is up to Antonio to save Maria from a terrible fate. I thought the plot was good, the acting, okay, but everything else, No! I thought it was wrong to have so much nudity in the movie, let alone any nudity. Dark Humor, woah, there's somewhere I do not want to go. Besides the terrible stuff, even the great acting couldn't save a film like this. I have to say all the actors are highly underrated, especially Rona Di Ricci, who got less credit then she deserved. Frances Bay as Esmerelda the good witch, was wonderful, Lance Henriksen, I have to say I think he was a too good for the part. Jonathan Fuller, okay, he was good, but a little over exaggerent. All in all a pretty good movie. Now I see why they changed the DVD's name to The Inquisitor.

This movie was great. Lance Henriksen did excellent as Torquemeda.