Vincent Price Double Feature: Part Two

The second part of my Vincent Price Double Feature, is the second in the series of films Roger Corman and Vincent Price made in their series of films based on the works of Edgar Allen Poe. The Pit and the Pendelum was made in response to the widespread success of The Fall of the House of Usher and grossed even more than the previous film had. Those of you who are true Edgar Allen Poe fans will come to realize that this film version really has nothing in common with the original story, which can be read here. However, it truly is a remarkable film and a fitting sequel to House of Usher.

The story begins when Englishman Francis Barnard (John Kerr) comes to a castle in Spain, owned by his brother-in-law Nicholas Medina (Vincent Price). It was here that Francis's sister Elizabeth (scream queen Barbara Steele) died under mysterious circumstances and Francis blames Nicholas for his sister's death. In residence of the castle is currently Nicholas's sister Catherine (Luana Anders) who is worried for her brother's crazy behavior after the loss of his beloved wife. A frequent visitor is friend Doctor Leon (Anthony Carbone) who pronounced Elizabeth Medina dead. It is revealed that Nicholas and Catherine's father Sebastian Medina was in fact a torturer during the Spanish Inquisition and killed his own wife and brother for adultery against him. It seems that Elizabeth is still alive and her spirit is haunting the house. Those staying in it must find out what is causing Elizabeth's reappearance after her death. A few twists at the end provide for a wonderful climax.

Again, color is very prominent in this film and you can see the beginning of Sixties experimentation in film through the colorful flashback sequences in this film. A 40 mm wide angle lens was used to make the sets look larger than normal because they budget was too low to afford very elaborate sets. Another low budget trick was using 20 gallons of fake spiderwebs to create an eerie atmosphere throughout the castle set. The shots of the sea near which the castle is supposed to be located are actually shots of the Palos Verdes coast in the South Bay near Los Angeles. To make the movement of the pendulum even more horrifying, Corman took out every second shot to make it look as though the pendulum was moving twice as fast.

This film is even better than the previous one, though the two of them are obviously connected. Price is at the top of his game in the genre he does so well. Themes of alive entombment, torture, and madness abound in this film as well, but work in a completely different way as in the previous. Want a second opinion? Excellent source for this genre, the blog Horror Movie a Day has also reviewed this film and talked about it in depth, which you can read here. I really recommend that you watch not only this film but also the rest of Roger Corman's Poe films, which will surely give you a night of fright.