Pit and the Pendulum

The plot ends up borrowing more from Diabolique than from Poe's story - not necessarily a bad thing, but it makes the actual "pit and pendulum" scene feel like an afterthought. John Kerr makes for a stiff and unnatural lead, but thankfully the legendary Vincent Price steps up and saves the day. Could have used more Barbara Steele (but when is there ever enough?).

I've no idea how faithful this is to the Poe story. This is pretty good, nicely shot and atmospheric. Of course ol' Vincent turns up and largely dominates proceedings with a performance that strays just the right side of camp; the rest of the cast seem rather bland by comparison, perhaps with the exception of the underused Steele. It is actually fairly creepy, and becomes more effective as it moves towards its well-handled ending. Enjoyable, efficient film-making.

'Harlot, you will die in agony!' I've yet to see a film starring Vincent Price where he turns in a bad performance or have something/someone on screen more demanding of attention than he. As with everything else, that is the case here. There's a nice atmospheric mood and the sets are nice but Price completely steals the show, especially towards the end. The scenes of him wandering through the secret corridors were creepy as shit. Loved the actual pendulum.

If it weren't for Kerr's mediocre performance this would be a great film. Those first couple of scenes in particular are pretty bad, but once Price gets in on the action everything really gets rolling. It's the right mix of hammy, creepy and shocking and tells a frightening story very well. The atmosphere is where it really succeeds, with great compositions and the right air of mystery. It also manages to carry the energy and horror all the way to the very well done ending.

I really liked the sets. I'm being very polite in not announcing how boring this is when there isn't Vincent Price on screen devouring his puny costars. They are the pit and he is the pendulum.

Pretty good, but I felt like I was rewatching Corman's "House of Usher" throughout much of the runtime. Same director, same writer, same lead actor, same themes, and the same old, dark castle corridors. Nothing wrong with any of that, but it also retains "Usher's" slow pace. The movie picks up during its last block, though, and the Pit and the Pendulum setpiece is a blast. Just don't watch it and "Usher" as a double-bill, or in close proximity to one another, and it should be an enjoyable time.

Should have been a lot better and included more screen time for the beautiful Barbara Steele. Loved the actual Pit & Pendulum set-piece though!

They clearly didn't have enough money to choreograph good fight scenes & Price investigating where his dead wife's whisper is coming from goes on too long, but the rest of this holds up well. Considering what must've been a small budget there's good to great production design, esp the pit itself (painting the walls w/ cloaked "demons" was a great idea). What kept me intrigued was the chain of mysteries, the 3rd act twist & so I wasn't surprised to see Richard Matheson as screenwriter at the end.

Vincent Price does an excellent job with his role in this movie. The script is a little bit slow moving at times but overall it works. I would recommend this horror film.

Vincent Price MVP. The rest of the characters were so-so. Creepy castle interior with good exterior establishing shots. Never gloat and reveal your secret betrayal lest you drive your victim to lunacy. Fav scene: the ending starting with Price's turn to mad torturer.

As usual, this Corman production has precious little connection with Poe, beyond the admittedly vital presence of the titular torture devices. It's fun enough in its own right, though, and represents Price and Steele's only screen pairing.

Vincent Price is great as always, but I wasn't that into it otherwise.

Doesn't keep the story of Poe's tale, but still very good.

Steele is woefully underutilized with the exception of her sole scene at which she excels. Price is excellent up until a point, at which he become more of a cliche than a compelling. Still the script does an excellent job with its build and layers its horrors upon horrors; Matheson doing what he does best.

Excellent camera angles and a delightfully insane Vincent Price add to the overall atmosphere, but generally subpar acting and laughably fake costumes hinder the film.

And here's Vincent Price ruining yet another fine gothic horror, that would be actually quite fun without him.

Decent enough with a strong ending, but along with Corman's Fall of the House of Usher this suffers in comparison to Masque of the Red Death which is in a different league.

Solid gothic pulp horror in this second of Corman's Poe cycle.

Even though Poe's original story doesn't really enter until the third act, I think he'd be pretty impressed with what Corman did on a tight budget. It has two unforgettable scenes that are pretty horrific, while the rest borders on mirthful when the plot is moving along (and is slightly tedious when it isn't).

So sloooow. And the titular pit and pendulum only arrive in the last 10 minutes.

Starring an American as an Englishman, and several Englishmen as Spaniards. Starts out as a pretty slow-paced Scooby-doo mystery, but it picks way up near the end when Vincent Price goes over the top.

71.1.

More generally creepy than HoU and the final with the pendulum is suspenseful. But while the lead in HoU was inoffensively bland the lead in this is annoying, dragging the whole movie down a notch. Barbara Steele is underused. Price is the main draw of this of couse.

Okay, so this isn't really an adaptation of "The Pit and the Pendulum" so much as a remake of Corman's own "The Fall of the House of Usher". It's a remake that takes everything that film did right and improves on it. Corman regulars Luana Anders and Antony Carbone are good, Barbara Steele is not given a lot to do, but is a great presence nonetheless, but the film really belongs to Vincent Price. He adds gravitas to the proceedings and elevates the films above the cheap Gothic horror trappings

A horror classic based on Poe's story. Captures the attention. Couldn't have been better done. Themes of guilt, madness, a vengeful spirit, and mystery.

Love that ending

Love those close ups on the eyes and the cool colours. Real tense ending.

"Just because Corman is incapable, which he is, of making a Bergman film, it's unfortunate that that didn't happen." http://illusionpodcast.blogspot.com/2015/12/episode-84-edgar-allan-poe-adaptations.html

revisto em 28 de outubro de 2023

Roger Corman #7

This was...weird. I don't know how to process this type of film. Only my third Price performance, and already I can't figure out whether he's the worst actor or a great one. The twist is quite good, but there isn't really much here to talk about.

77.000

watched: 2014, 2022

Long time since I've seen this; rating might be off.

Poe goes Scooby-Doo. '...the agony of my soul found vent in one loud, long and final scream of despair' should be shown at the beginning of the film to advertise the effects on the spectator.

This thriller has all the stock ingredients inherent to horror yarns including the castle on the hill, a fantastic torture chamber, walled-up coffins and screams in the night.

Not as interesting as it sounds

It may not be perfect, but there's enough twisted stuff going on here to satisfy.

A film starring Vincent Price and Barbara Steele is supposed to be better