The Pit and the Pendulum is set in Toledo in Spain during 1492 as the Spanish Inquisition lead by Torquemada (Lance Henriksen) would strike fear into the hearts of the local population, they would mercilessly torture anyone they thought guilty of witchcraft. While at a public execution a kind hearted woman named Maria (Rona De Ricci) speaks out against the inquisition & it's methods, straight away she is accused of being a witch & carted off to be tortured while her baker boyfriend Antonio (Jonathan Fuller) is left for dead. When he comes round he bribes a castle guard named Gomez (Stephen Lee, no not the British snooker player...) to let him in as he tries to rescue Maria, unfortunately Antonio is caught himself & he too is tortured. Is there any way Antonio & Maria can escape the horrors of the Spanish Inqusition & save themselves...<br /><br />Directed by Stuart Gordon (my on screen digital TV guide claimed it was directed by someone called Stuart Corman!) & based on the story by Edgar Allan Poe this is a pretty good period horror flick. Poe's story had already been turned into a film by Roger Corman as he directed Pit and the Pendulum (1961) staring Vincent Price although this 90's version has next to nothing in common with Corman's flick other than the title & even that was changed to The Inquisitor for it's US DVD release, the script by Dennis Paoli is pretty good here, the character's are better than one would expect with Henriksen obviously having fun playing the part of Torquemada as he's a character with some depth even if not a particularly likable one although I'm not sure about that silly hair-cut. The dialogue is OK & it moves along at a reasonable pace but I couldn't help thinking there wasn't much to it, I mean two people are accused of witchcraft & they get tortured by the Spanish Inquisition who abuse their own power & that's about it, there's a small sub-plot about the pope wanting to end the torture of the Inqusition but this is quickly forgotten & comes to nothing. I didn't like the ambiguous nature of the witches either, I mean were they real witches or not? Why the secrecy? So there you have it, if this sounds exciting to you or you like watching people getting tortured then The Pit and the Pendulum is the film for you, as for me I liked it but mostly because of Hendriksen & it's torture scenes. I know, I'm sick.<br /><br />Director Gordon does alright, the Italian castle locations look nice enough I suppose but I couldn't help but feel it was all a little flat & bland. There's certainly no real style or visual flair here that Gordon showed in his earlier films, there's a pretty nasty down beat atmosphere running through the film & it certainly isn't a feel good flick as there are no happy endings on show. Don't expect a fact based history lesson either I doubt there's much fact here apart from the Spanish inquisition themselves. While there are plenty of torture scenes The Pit and the Pendulum surprisingly isn't that graphic, there's some blood splatter, someone is impaled on spikes, a rat is sliced in half, people are burned at the stake & various scenes of torture which aren't particularly intense. There's some full frontal nudity as well if that's your thing.<br /><br />With a supposed budget of about $2,000,000 this looks nice enough if a little forgettable, it's reasonably well made with better than average production values & decent period detail although most of it takes place in the same room. The acting is pretty good even if a potentially great cast is wasted, Oliver Reed, Jeffrey Combs, Stephen Lee & Tom Towles are somewhat underused.<br /><br />The Pit and the Pendulum is a fine horror film, it's not the most complex or absorbing film ever but for some exploitative nudity & torture it delivers & frankly you can't argue with exploitative nudity & torture. I liked it, I just wish it had been a bit more graphic & the story was a bit meatier. Still a good effort though.