by Lee Sheridan adapted from Richard Matheson's screenplay in 1961 and published by Lancer Books in paperback. The 1964 French film The Pit and the Pendulum was directed by Alexandre Astruc and stars Maurice Ronet. In The Flintstones season 5, episode 8 "Dr. Sinister" has Fred and Barney menaced by a pendulum torture device, until Barney discovers that he can use the blade to cut the bindings on his wrists. A 1967 West German film adaptation of Poe's story called The Blood Demon was directed by Harald Reinl and stars Christopher Lee. In 1970, Vincent Price included a solo recitation of the story in the anthology film An Evening of Edgar Allan Poe. In a 1970 episode from the animated cartoon series The Perils of Penelope Pitstop, entitled "London Town Treachery", the Hooded Claw has captured Penelope and attempts to kill her using a pendulum that swings lower and lower, as in Poe's story. In 1983, Czech Surrealist Jan Švankmajer directed a 15-minute live action short film called The Pendulum, the Pit and Hope, based on this story and the short story "A Torture by Hope" by Villiers de l'Isle-Adam. It is a fairly faithful adaptation of both stories, featuring a unique first-person camera perspective and segments produced in Švankmajer's trademark stop-motion and cut-out animation. Most of the art design was done by his wife, Eva Švankmajerová. In 1989, the opening episode of the fifth season of the U.S. TV series MacGyver shows the protagonist strapped down as the intended victim of a Poe-like pendulum. In 1991 a film version of the story directed by Stuart Gordon and starring Lance Henriksen was released. The plot was altered to a love story set in Spain in 1492. In 2006 an award-winning stop-motion animated adaptation of the story was produced under the "Ray Harryhausen Presents" banner. The operatic metal band Nightwish released the 5-part epic song "The Poet and the Pendulum" on their 2007 album Dark Passion Play which draws much inspiration from Poe's work. The 2009 horror film directed by David DeCoteau bears little resemblance to the original story but, like the 1961 version, utilizes the large swinging pendulum in the penultimate scene. The film follows a group of university students who visit a hypnotherapy institute lorded over by a sinister hypnotist who wants to use the students to experiment with the possibility of breaking the pain threshold. The 2012 horror/mystery