The Pit and the Pendulum (1961 film)

The Pit and the Pendulum
The Pit and the Pendulum
	Original 1961 theatrical release poster by Reynold Brown
Directed by	Roger Corman
Screenplay by	Richard Matheson
Based on	The Pit and the Pendulum; 1842 story; by Edgar Allan Poe
Produced by	Roger Corman
Starring	Vincent Price; John Kerr; Barbara Steele; Luana Anders;
Cinematography	Floyd Crosby
Edited by	Anthony Carras
Music by	Les Baxter
Color process	Pathécolor
Production; company	Alta Vista Productions
Distributed by	American International Pictures
Release date	August 12, 1961;
Running time	80 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	US$300,000
Box office	US$2 million or $1.5 million ; 204,570 admissions (France)

The Pit and the Pendulum^[6] is a 1961 horror film directed by Roger Corman, starring Vincent Price, Barbara Steele, John Kerr, and Luana Anders. The screenplay by Richard Matheson was loosely inspired by Edgar Allan Poe's 1842 short story of the same name. Set in sixteenth-century Spain, the story is about a young Englishman who visits a foreboding castle to investigate his sister's mysterious death. After a series of horrific revelations, apparently ghostly appearances and violent deaths, the young man becomes strapped to the titular torture device by his lunatic brother-in-law during the film's climactic sequence.

The film was the second title in the popular series of Poe adaptations released by American International Pictures, the first having been Corman's House of Usher released the previous year. Like House, the film features widescreen cinematography by Floyd Crosby, sets designed by art director Daniel Haller, and a film score composed by Les Baxter. A critical and box-office hit, Pit's success convinced AIP and Corman to continue adapting Poe stories for another six films, five of them starring Price. The series ended in 1964 with the release of The Tomb of Ligeia.

Film critic Tim Lucas and writer Ernesto Gastaldi have both noted the film's strong influence on numerous subsequent Italian thrillers, from Mario Bava's The Whip and the Body (1963) to Dario Argento's Deep Red (1975).^[7]^[8] Stephen King has described one of Pit's major shock sequences as being among the most important moments in post-1960 horror film.^[9]

^ "1961 Rentals and Potential". Variety. 10 Jan 1961. p. 58.
^ Corman, Roger and Jerome, Jim. How I Made a Hundred Movies in Hollywood and Never Lost a Dime, DeCapo Press, 1990, p. 83, ISBN 978-0306808746
^ "TMe: Box Office Tops from 1960-1969". Archived from the original on 2016-03-05. Retrieved 2016-01-04.
^ "Poe & Bikinis". Variety. 9 October 1963. p. 17.
^ Box office information for Roger Corman films in France at Box Office Story
^ Williams, Lucy Chase. The Complete Films of Vincent Price, Citadel Press, 1995. ISBN 0-8065-1600-3. As Williams notes, the actual onscreen title was "Pit and the Pendulum".
^ Lucas, Tim. Video Watchdog Magazine, issue #74 (August 2001), p. 55. Review of The Pit and the Pendulum DVD
^ Gastaldi, Ernesto. Interviewed by Tim Lucas in Video Watchdog Magazine, issue #39 (May–June 1997), p. 28–53, "What Are Those Strange Drops of Blood in the Scripts of Ernesto Gastaldi?"
^ Cite error: The named reference King was invoked but never defined (see the help page).