JoBlo Originals

The Pit and the Pendulum (1991) Revisited – Horror Movie Review

By Cody Hamman

Posted 4 years ago

The latest episode of The Black Sheep looks at the 1991 Full Moon film The Pit and the Pendulum, based on Poe and directed by Stuart Gordon

Director Stuart Gordon made a lot of great genre movies over the course of his career, including classics like Re-Animator, From Beyond, and Dolls. With the latest episode of our video series The Black Sheep, we’re looking back at a Gordon movie we feel deserves to get more attention: his 1991 Full Moon film The Pit and the Pendulum (watch it HERE). To find out what we had to say about Gordon’s The Pit and the Pendulum, check out the video embedded above!

Scripted by Dennis Paoli and based on the Edgar Allan Poe story, The Pit and the Pendulum has the following synopsis:

In his twisted quest to save souls, Grand Inquisitor Torquemada leads a bloody reign of terror, torturing and killing in the name of religion. His evil knows no boundaries. Caught in this insane cruelty is Maria, whose beauty leads Torquemada into temptation and brutal atonement. Imprisoned, Maria and her husband Antonio are befriended by Esmerelda, a confessed witch. Together they struggle to save themselves from the sinister Torquemada and his machine of ultimate pain and torture – The Pit & The Pendulum.
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The film stars Lance Henriksen, Rona De Ricci, Jonathan Fuller, Frances Bay, Jeffrey Combs, Tom Towles, Stephen Lee, Mark Margolis, Carolyn Purdy-Gordon, and Oliver Reed.

The Black Sheep series features

different takes on horror films that the masses or/and critics didn’t care for but that we found merit in. We defend horror movies that deserve more love!

This episode of The Black Sheep was Written and Narrated by Andrew Hatfield, Edited by Brandon Nally, Produced by Lance Vlcek and John Fallon, and Executive Produced by Berge Garabedian.

What do you think of The Pit and the Pendulum? Let us know by leaving a comment below.

A few of the previous episodes of The Black Sheep can be seen below. To see more, head over to the JoBlo Horror Originals YouTube channel – and subscribe while you’re there!

Source: Arrow in the Head

Tags: aith, Arrow in the head, Edgar Allan Poe, full moon, Jeffrey Combs, Lance Henriksen, Oliver Reed, Stuart Gordon, the black sheep, The Pit and the Pendulum, Tom Towles

About the Author

Cody Hamman

Horror News Editor

19,023 Articles Published

Favorite Movies: The Friday the 13th franchise, Kevin Smith movies, the films of read more George A. Romero (especially the initial Dead trilogy), Texas Chainsaw Massacre 1 & 2, FleshEater, Intruder, Let the Right One In, Return of the Living Dead, The Evil Dead, Jaws, Tremors, From Dusk Till Dawn, Phantasm, Halloween, The Hills Have Eyes, Back to the Future trilogy, Dazed and Confused, the James Bond series, Mission: Impossible, the MCU, the list goes on and on

Likes: Movies, horror, '80s slashers, podcasts, animals, traveling, Brazil (the country), the read more Cinema Wasteland convention, classic rock, Led Zeppelin, Kevin Smith, George A. Romero, Quentin Tarantino, the Coen brothers, Richard Linklater, Paul Thomas Anderson, Stephen King, Elmore Leonard, James Bond, Tom Cruise, Marvel comics, the grindhouse/drive-in era

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