The Pit and the Pendulum

The Pit and the Pendulum (1991)

A bizarre descent into hell from the creator of Re-Animator.

Set during the height of Spanish Inquisition. The beautiful and kind-hearted Maria is arrested as a witch when she inadvertently cries out in horror at the public whipping of a child. As Maria’s husband Antonio tries to save her, Torquemada, the Grand Inquisitor, determines to punish Maria with torture for the desire she inflames in him. Loosely based on Edgar Allen Poe's classic short story.

Date of release
1991-06-27
TMDB
5.8 / 10 (158)
Runtime
1h 37m
Genres
Horror
Director
Stuart Gordon

Casting

Interesting facts

  • Based on: The Pit and the Pendulum

The Pit and the Pendulum is a 1991 American horror film directed by Stuart Gordon and based on the 1842 short story by Edgar Allan Poe. The film is an amalgamation of the aforementioned story with Poe's "The Cask of Amontillado", and it also appropriates the anecdote of "The Sword of Damocles", reassigning it to the character of Torquemada.

Production

Stuart Gordon wanted make a new adaptation of The Pit and the Pendulum as he was a big fan of the writings of Edgar Allan Poe as well as the Roger Corman produced films based upon Poe's writings and felt like there was a whole new generation of audiences who had not yet been exposed to Poe.

Gordon's The Pit and the Pendulum was initially set up with Vestron Pictures as the primary financier with a planned $6 million budget and Peter O'Toole and Sherilyn Fenn set to star. As Vestron wanted a major star for the film, O'Toole was cast as Torquemada but due to a custody arrangement involving O'Toole's son where he couldn't leave England during certain months of the year this resulted in the entire production relocating to England's Elst…

OToole had some interesting ideas about how Torquemada should be played, which were terrific, and we ended up using them. Torquemada does not see himself as a villain. He sees himself on a mission from God. So, rather than playing him as this snarling, evil presence, we decided to make him a very driven man who has this sense that God is speaking directly to him, which gives him the divine right to disregard the Pope and everyone else in order to…

Gordon compared Torquemada as depicted in the film as an indictment on the religious hypocrisy of figures such as Jim Bakker and Jimmy Swaggart and felt the film was a cautionary tale on the fundamentalists getting so much power.

After Vestron's collapse the film was rescued Band and set it up at Paramount Pictures as his production company Full Moon Features had a strong relationship with them having provided several films for their Home video division.

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