The Pit and the Pendulum
- IMDb link: 0055304
- IMDb rating: 7 (18,581 votes)
- Genres: Horror, Drama, Mystery
- Director: Roger Corman
- Cast: Vincent Price, Barbara Steele, Luana Anders, John Kerr and others
- Release date: 23 Aug 1961
- Release year: 1961
- Runtime: 80 minutes
- Country: United States
- Keywords: gothic horror, pendulum, spanish inquisition, murder, torture, cult film, title spoken in dialogue, title spoken by character, psychotronic film, brother sister relationship
Plot:
After the mysterious death of Elizabeth Barnard Medina, her brother Francis Barnard travels from London to Spain and without previous notice he arrives at the castle of her husband Nicholas Medina. He is received by Nicholas' sister Catherine Medina that invites Francis to have dinner with her brother and her. Francis learns that their father Sebastian Medina was a cruel torturer of the Spanish Inquisition and Nicholas is a traumatized man that has witnessed the murder of his uncle Bartolome and his mother adulterer Isabella being tortured and killed by his father when he was a kid. During the dinner, the family's friend Doctor Charles Leon unexpectedly arrives and Francis discovers that his sister died of heart attack after visiting the torture chamber in the dungeons. Soon the place is haunted by strange events and Nicholas suspects of his servants Maximillian and Maria but Francis is convinced that Nicholas is the responsible for the death of his sister.