Customer Reviews

The Pit and the Pendulum

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These two films revolutionized AIP. No longer were they pumping out black and white Academy aspect ratio films that became double features. Now they were making color cinemascope features. Both of these films feature Poe stories with Vincent Price in the lead and Roger Corman behind the lens. And they truly remind us that Corman made some great movies during his time at AIP. The Pendulum is truly a scary set.

These are essentials for your DVD collection if you have a Psychotronic shelf.

This series of 2 film DVD's from MGM in their "Midnight Movies Double Feature" collection is a great deal. Keep in mind the films is the series may not be MGM pictures, they are just the DVD distributor. The movies are decently priced, and they usually do a good job of matching up 2 movies in a theme. This set is no exception, with two American International Pictures films based on stories by Edgar Alan Poe, both featuring the great Vincent Price and both directed by Roger Corman with screenplays by Richard Matheson, and both feature music by Les Baxter.
First up we have the "Fall of House of Usher", from 1960, in color. It is presented in 16x9 Widescreen, and it runs a brisk 1 hour 20 minutes. Screenwriter Richard Matheson gives the Poe story a good treatment with plenty of plot twists, scaring the pants off of us as a family lusting for power is driven to savagery. The Film Daily in its review at the time described the stories "brooding evil and sinister suspense". The film was a big hit with the movie going public at the time, hitting the top 5 of box office sales for the year, and encouraged the studio to produce more Poe stories.

Next film is "The Pit and the Pendulum", from 1961, in color, presented in 2.35:1 Widescreen letterbox format. This movie is also 1 hour 20 minutes in length and is a fast paced film. The Hollywood Reporter described this film on release as "eerie and excellent", and they hit the mark. Corman improved on the formula for Usher, and the Pit was a smashing success. The story builds suspense as British man (John Kerr) visits a castle in Spain, owned by his wife's brother (Vincent Price), in order to investigate her death. She is played by Barbara Steele. The inquisition has recently ended, but Price fears he has inherited has sadistic and murderous traits of his father, who was an inquisitor. Price, who also plays his father, was given a more complex role with some meat on it and seems to be enjoying himself. A real spine-tingler, the scenes with the pendulum were incredible. The castle and dungeon scenes are very atmospheric partly due to the talented art design for the set by Daniel Haller.

EXTRAS & DVD ISSUES:: There is an audio commentary by Director Corman for "Usher", and the Theatrical Trailer. The "Pit" has the original trailer, audio commentary by director Corman who regales us with explanations about his camera trickery and techniques. We are also gifted with a rare prologue filmed for the Pit movie's TV release in 1968. No insert or booklet included. The image and sound are very clean and appear to be remastered, the colors are bright for the period. The only complaint is, on the DVD I purchased the second movie "the Pit and the Pendulum" is on the reverse side, side B. I have other movies like this and it seems to work OK, but on this one it just would not play. I tried it on other players and same story. I did buy another copy later that worked fine. Make sure you at least "test" the DVD when it arrives. All in all, I highly recommend this DVD, it is a keeper.

I just about fell over backwards when I bought my copy of this DVD. As part of the special features, it includes an audio commentary by Roger Corman!

MGM Midnight Movies keep coming out, and my collection keeps growing. When I think of Vincent Price and Roger Corman, this gem is the movie that comes to mind. It is the perfect late-night horror film. If you've seen this movie on VHS, you know what I mean, but you're not getting the whole thing until you get this widescreen DVD.

The quality of the film it perfect. I saw no noticable wear of picture quality. The sound it fantastic. Vincent Price's perfomance as the tortured and soon demented son of a mad Spanish Inquisitioner is perfectly played out. The lonely castle setting is pure gothic. The interiors of castle give the feeling of wondering in a huge and rambling castle. Barbara Steele is pefectly wicked and sexy. The love story between the hero and heroine never really developes, but who cares! We want to see Vincent go mad and take his revenge.

After I watched the film, I watched it again with the audio commentary turned on. It was fun hearing Roger Corman explain some of his movie tricks for giving depth and beauty to one of his low-budget masterpieces. Normally, the MGM Midnight Movie films only include scene access and the theatrical preview as the extras, so this was a fantastic extra for no extra cost!

Keep 'em coming MGM. You put them in the store, I'll put them in my collection!

After the success of "House of Usher," American International asked director Roger Corman to "adapt" another Edgar Allen Poe work to the screen. "The Pit and the Pendulum" seemed the logical choice, although the story itself is essentially unfilmable. Fortunately, screenwriter Richard Matheson (who did some of his best work for Rod Serling's "Twilight Zone") simply reused the "House of Usher" story line and tacked on "The Pit and the Pendulum" as the climatic scene. As long as Vincent Price was engaged in his celebrated over the top performance as Nicholas Medina, neither horror fans nor American lit majors were going to notice in this 1961 film.

The film is set in 16th century Spain as young Francis Barnard (John Kerr) arrives at the castle of Don Nicholas Medina (Price) to investigate the death of his sister, Elizabeth (Barbara Steele), the Don's wife. But all Francis gets from Nicholas is a...story about Elizabeth dying from "something in her blood." The young man investigates further and discovers that Nicholas had driven Elizabeth over the edge. It seems that Nicholas's father Sebastian was a leader of the Spanish Inquisition, had killed hundreds of people in the castle's crypts and had caught his wife in adultery with his brother. Young Nicholas watched his father bury his mother alive in a wall (sound familiar Poe fans?) and ended up scarred for life (you think?). Meanwhile, Nicholas is being haunted by ghostly going ons and becomes convinced he has buried his wife alive and she has returned to haunt him. When Elizabeth apparently rises from her tomb to confront him, Nicholas's mind snaps and he is driven into a homicidal dementia, which ends up with Francis being confronted with the title's instrument of torture as the film makes its way to the requisite

"The Pit and the Pendulum" improves slightly on the first film in the AIP Poe series. Certainly the visual elements by art director Daniel Haller are a vast improvement, from the eighteen-foot long one-ton pendulum to Medina's castle for which Haller gutted an entire soundstage and dressed all the way up to the roof to great effect. The Freudian implications beloved by Corman have to do with Nicholas's feelings for his mother instead of the brother-sister vibes we get in "House of Usher." Price is gloriously over the top but John Kerr does nothing with his role as Francis and for some reason Barbara Steele's performance is marred by the fact her voice has been redubbed. For me, what makes "The Pit and the Pendulum" memorable is the unforgettable final [scenes]. Irony can be both just and horrible at the same time.

Pit and the Pendulum (1961) was the 2nd of numerous successful Edgar Allan Poe inspired collaborations (the first being 1960's The Fall of the House of Usher) between writer/producer/director Roger Corman (It Conquered the World, Teenage Cave Man, The Little Shop of Horrors), writer Richard Matheson (The Incredible Shrinking Man, House of Usher, Tales of Terror), actor Vincent Price (House on Haunted Hill, The Tingler), and American International Pictures or AIP, for short. Also appearing here along with Price is Barbara Steele (Black Sunday, Castle of Blood), John Kerr (Tea and Sympathy, South Pacific), Luana Anders (Easy Rider, The Last Detail), and Antony Carbone (A Bucket of Blood, Last Woman on Earth).

The movie, set in 16th century Spain, begins as we see a man riding in a carriage along a coast approaching a matte painting of an ominous castle. The driver, unwilling to go all the way (isn't that always the case?), drops the man off a good distance from the matte painting...er, I mean castle, where he then has to hoof it the rest of the way. Turns out the man is named Francis Barnard (Kerr), and he's come all the way from England to inquire about the untimely demise of his sister, Elizabeth (Steele). Seems she married one Nicholas Medina (Price), moved into his castle, and then passed away under mysterious circumstances. As Francis arrives at the castle, he meets Nicholas' sister Catherine (Anders), who's returned home to look after the welfare of her brother (apparently Nicholas doted on his wife, and is taking her loss particularly hard). Soon Doctor Charles Leon (Carbone) makes the scene, and Francis learns his sister contracted some strange ailment Nicholas believes came from the `atmospheric miasma of barbarity that permeates the walls of the castle'...you see, Nicholas' father Sebastian was an inquisitor of grand proportions, so much so he had his own, private and extensive torture chamber set up within the caverns beneath the castle which saw a whole lot of action back in the day. After some flashbacks we learn of a couple incidents that occurred during Nicholas' childhood, incidents that have affected him in such a way as to make him a little unbalanced, a situation that isn't helped by the fact that the spirit of his dead wife is now haunting him. Things get a whole lot creepier as Nicholas decides to exhume his wife's corpse (seems she's interred in the crypts below the castle) after which some revelations are made, marking the real decent into madness as the comeuppance is dished out to all deserving, and even to some who aren't...I got to say, the last fifteen minutes alone is worth the price of admission, and that's one hell of a pendulum...

I've always felt The Fall of the House of Usher and Pit and the Pendulum to be among strongest and most accessible of the Poe based Corman films. Price gives an excellent turn as Nicholas, a character plagued by his father's past transgressions, driven to the brink of madness by circumstances beyond his control. Of all the aspects Price brings to these films, the one element that always seems to stand out for me is a sense of class. Price is the star here, and it seemed the rest were very content to follow his capable lead. My favorite bits in this film are when Price, in a dual role, is portraying Sebastian Medina, the inquisitor extraordinaire. He's a loathsome, vindictive character and a hell of a lot of fun to watch. The inclusion of Ms. Steele, who had just come from appearing in Mario Bava's Black Sunday (1960), was a bit of inspirational casting, in my opinion, as while her part may not have been large, it certainly was memorable. Few could pull off some of the facial expressions she was capable of, some of them quite frightening (I would have dreaded getting one of her wild-eyed, maniacal stares in the middle of the night). I thought Anders and Carbone did well enough in their roles, but I felt Kerr was slightly miscast. He's certainly a decent actor, but I never felt like he got completely into his role as some of the others...perhaps this an unfair judgment on my part as I think it would be difficult to compete against the likes of a Price or a Steele...ah well, this is was a fairly minor aspect compared to the whole. As far as Richard Matheson's screenplay, it comes off exceptionally well. Even if you're not familiar with the story, I think it's fairly obvious where things are going, but that didn't take anything away for me as the fun here was watching the events unfold. I thought the overall atmosphere of the production, assisted by Les Baxter's ookie musical scoring, went a long way, although I thought the use of the fake cobwebs a bit excessive at times. The usage of various matte paintings was obvious, but they were done well enough as not to take anything away for me. Normally I dislike the inclusion of flashbacks, but I thought they were handled well here as various hues were incorporated dependant on the mood of the flashback (a violent flashback would feature a blood red hue, etc.). I thought Corman's direction quite good but then it's no secret his affinity for the material. The film may seem a little slow going in the beginning, but I didn't mind at all as it allowed for Price to display his talents, and provided for an exceptional build up (as I said earlier, the last fifteen minutes or so are definitely worth hanging around for...). All in all this is an excellent feature, one that I think manages to capture a good deal of the mood within the original material, and just a heck of a lot of fun to watch.

The picture, presented in non-anamorphic widescreen (2.35:1) looks clean and comes across well, while the Dolby Digital mono audio, available in both English and French, felt a bit off at times, coming across a little uneven at times. Special features include a goofy original five-minute prologue segment, which I believe was used to help pad out the running time for television broadcast, an original theatrical trailer (in widescreen no less), a commentary track with Roger Corman, and French and Spanish subtitles. While this film was originally released onto DVD by itself, it was re-released later onto DVD as a double feature with The Fall of the House of Usher, so if you're interesting in purchasing this film, I'd recommend searching out the double feature as you may get a better value.

Cookieman108

I was searching for a film version of "The Fall of the House of Usher" for my classroom when I found this. My students (11th graders)absolutely loved it! I was so excited. Vincent Price is a master at that over-the-top psycho creepy guy. "Usher" is a great film rendition; however, I was very disappointed with "The Pit and the Pendulum." I love Poe's work, but this film version stuck very little to the story. It is a good movie in and of itself, but if one is looking for a film to show with the story, this isn't it. All together though, this is a great deal, and it's like getting two movies for the price of one!

This brilliant horror classic brought together the talents of a remarkable cast of actors in a memorable tale of madness, murder, torture, and revenge in 16th century Spain.

Vincent Price plays Nicholas Medina, an aristocrat suffering the recent loss of his beloved wife Elizabeth. John Kerr plays Elizabeth's brother Francis Barnard, and Luana Anders shines as Medina's gentle sister Catherine. Rounding out the cast is Anthony Carbone as Medina's treacherous physician Dr. Leon and Barbara Steele as Medina's adulterous wife Elizabeth.

The story in brief: Barnard arrives unbidden at Medina's lonely castle to investigate his sister Elizabeth's sudden death. He is welcomed with some hesitation by Elizabeth's widower Nicholas Medina and his sister Catherine. The youth receives confusing accounts of his sister's death from Medina as well as from the family physician Dr. Leon and resolves to remain until his questions are satisfied.

Spookery through the night and the next morning suggest Elizabeth's spirit walks the corridors of the castle. With great anguish, Medina decides to open Elizabeth's tomb; a rotting corpse is discovered and it is then Medina's greatest fear is realized -- Elizabeth was buried alive and died in suffocating agony. Medina stoically resigns himself to awaiting his wife's vengeance from the grave.

Elizabeth did not die however. She is alive and scheming with her lover Dr. Leon to rid herself of Medina once and for all. In the dead of night, she lures Medina to a long neglected torture chamber in the bowels of the castle with the intention of delivering her coup de grace. The sorry, half-crazed Medina there learns the truth of his wife's adultery, and, mustering an uncanny strength in his madness, turns the tables to ruthlessly serve the miscreants their just deserts. Medina then tortures the innocent Barnard with a razor sharp pendulum before being slain by his manservant. Having survived the maelstrom, Barnard and Catherine depart arm-in-arm.

Vincent Price plays the tragic Nicholas Medina to the hilt: his soul-in-torment arias are braced with pain-filled grimaces and his scenes in the torture chamber are thick with a subtle eroticism. At film's end the viewer is saddened that this gentle, cultivated, aristocratic, and too-trusting man suffers madness and death.

Blues dominate the film's palette and the musical score by Les Baxter - especially the 'Elizabeth' motif - is effective.

The film is a celebrated horror classic and the viewer will not be disappointed.

[This review is part of my 31 days of Halloween series.]

I am focusing on HOUSE OF USHER in this review because PIT & THE PENDULUM is not a big favorite of mine, but it's ok for kids--as is HOUSE OF USHER.

THE FALL OF THE HOUSE OF USHER is one of the very best productions of the Roger Gorman-Vincent Price horror series. It is based on Edgar Allen Poe's masterpiece, very Lovecraftian & one of my personal favorites.

There are only 4 characters (which was certainly a plus for the budget) & the 4 actors & director Gorman are up to the challenge of making a well-acted & suspenseful film.

The central theme of both the book & the movie is that of a degenerate family line who physically & spiritually poisons not only their own ancestral home, but their very presence also pollutes the environment around them. The current residents are a brother and sister who, although not evil in themselves, are the end of the family line. The sister is prone to attacks of catalepsy & the brother suffers from a really killer case of neurasthenia. Both of these medical conditions were sort of "in vogue" near the end of the 19th century.

In its most extreme manifestation, catalepsy can cause a victim to actually appear dead. Fear of premature burial had some people so upset that elaborate precautions were made to prevent such a horrible fate--including above ground burial & a bell alarm system above ground that could be triggered from within the coffin, etc.

Neurasthenia was more of a "rich person's ailment" that could be the result of alcoholism, stress, etc. One cure involved electro-shock therapy. In Brother Usher's case it is obviously attributed to family inbreeding & psychosis. He can literally hear a pin fall & it drives him absolutely crazy--as if he wasn't already crazy enough! Vincent Price is in top form as the very afflicted Mr. Usher.

The entire condition of the family has degenerated to such a degree that the house itself is literally falling apart & sinking at the same time. The image of this at the film's conclusion is convincingly portrayed in a stark, expressionist style--as is the weird painting gallery depicting the evil Usher ancestors.

There is a very interesting dream sequence (as in MASQUE OF THE RED DEATH next on my list) that is still very cool to watch.

This is a movie kids can enjoy too.

Transylvania
Transylvania
The Masque of the Red Death / The Premature Burial
Entire Tales & Poems of Edgar Allan Poe: Photographic & Annotated Edition

The first two American International-Roger Corman Poe features on one dvd -- great idea, and fine execution. Corman's commentary is very nice to have as well. Pit and Pendulum I first saw at a drive in when I was quite young, and the movie scared the hell out of me. These films have high, for AIP, production values, and look great here. My only question is the odd "theatrical prologue" for Pit and Pendulum, which is not really explained. I do not recall seeing it on the film's first release. Still, this is a dvd I would highly recommend for Corman and AIP and gothic horror fans.

February 2008 update: The P&P "theatrical prologue" turns out to be something shot for the ABC-TV premiere showing, and has nothing to do with the rest of the film. Luana Anders appears in the prologue, an interesting bit. I do wish this information were provided on the DVD!

Also, the reviewers who put this film down have really got to think about the time it was made. It is really a wild and valid interpretation, and one to savor.

This was the second Egdar Allan Poe story to be directed by Roger Corman with Vincent Price in the leading role ,and ,as ever,the director id indebted to his star for the quality of his performance and magnetism of his personality in helping make it a quality little movie.
Price is " Nicholas Medina " owner of a large and spooky castle in sixteenth century Spain ,which comes complete with its very own well equipped torture chamber ,courtesy of his late father ,a torturer with the Spanish Inquisition and a man who relished his work .(Price gets to play his father ,in one of the several flashback scenes ,and eploys a limp and a minor facial deformity to good effect in doing so )
He is in the depths of despair at the death of his young and beautiful wife ,Elizabeth and obsessed with the notion that he may have interred her alive ,just as his father did to his mother on discovering her adultery .In vain do his family doctor(Anthony Carbone)and daughter ,Catherine (Luana Anders) seek to ease his mind on that score .
Elizabeths' brother Francis (John Kerr) travels to the castle determined to get to the bottom of his sister's death .Sopon the residents and servants begin to hear strange noises -a harpsichord which only Elizabeth could play -and a maid claims Elizabeth spoke to her .Medina feels his grip on reality loosen ,a situation not helped when they open her tomb to see what appears evidence of premature burial .
Then screenwriter and adaptor Richard Matheson pulls out a neat double reverse twist ending as Price spirals into outright madness .
Price is wonderful -arch ,camp and knowing he revels in the flowery dialogue and chews the scenery with elegance and wit .Its a bravura performance and he is well matched by Barbara Steele as Elizabeth -more a presence than an acting talent ,she gives a compekking account of herself .The rest of the players are capable but dull by comparison .
Fluid and inventive camerawork by Floyd Crosby helps as does the splendid art direction by Daniel Haller who creates a memorable castle on very little money-cobweb festooned and with torches and castles flickerinfg sinisterly in their sconces
The climax is effective and my only real reservation is the way flashbacks dissipate tension slightly .This is a minor quibble and the movie is atisfying and stylishly done with a great star turn as the icing on the cake .
Enjoyable movie and well recommended