Kyvadlo, jáma a nadeje

skeleton painted on ceiling weird mechanism b&w Bosch inspired sculpture normal props

To day that this might just be one of Jan Svankmajer's most horrifying films is no small thing, as MOST of this stop-motion films are mega-creepy and would frighten many viewers! It's based on the Edgar Allen Poe short story, "The Pit and the Pendulum" but Svankmajer manages to make the material even scarier than Poe did thanks to a bizarre imagination. This is not meant as criticism, as his distinctive style really brings the story to life and heightens the sense of foreboding.

The film begins with some poor sap being sentenced to die in the pit. Now this pendulum mechanism inside the pit as well as all the props used in the film are not the usual objects Svankmajer uses. Usually, his films are full of stop-motion involving everyday objects as props. Here, stop motion is rarely employed AND the film must have cost significantly more to make, as it looks like they built this sick underground torture chamber for the film! In addition to the clockwork pendulum, you see the most amazing Svankmajer prop I can recall--a robotic killing device that looks as if it was made by Hieronymous Bosch! You just have to see the film to see what I am talking about. It is super-scary, rather sick and amazing all at the same time. Wow...is this creepy!!

In this horror masterpiece, Svankmajer utilizes his surreal filmmaking style to adapt the Gothic Edgar Allan Poe classic "The Pit and the Pendulum". Svankmajer definitely shows the audience that he is a master of his craft, which isn't only animation, but filmmaking itself. He is one of the true, underrated geniuses in all cinema, and this film proves it perfectly.

This is a flawless adaptation that is true to the source but unique in its own way. It has the ability to shock, haunt, and surprise due to its surrealistic and legitimately terrifying atmosphere and style. Few films have had the power to actually scare me, and this is one of them. It may only be about 15 minutes in length, but it is still one of the most effective horror films I have ever seen, and ever will see! I was on the edge of my seat throughout, my stomach filled with butterflies. This is a work of superb brilliance, a genuinely perfect film.

An imprisoned man finally escapes from an underground torture chamber. A relentlessly grim and oppressive rendition – comparable, in fact, to Alexandre Astruc's definitive TV version from 1964 – but the source material's despairing prose is sorely missed throughout. Famed Czech animator Svankmajer would later lend his uniquely surreal hand to such literary classics as "Alice In Wonderland" and "Faust" but this initial stab – his second from Poe material – is decidedly less appealing despite its very brief running time. Although the original source material was a short story itself, it has often been opened up for its cinematic adaptations which range from the popular Roger Corman/Vincent Price classic from 1961 to the little-seen but not ineffective Stuart Gordon/Oliver Reed version from 1990.

"The Pit and the Pendulum and Hope" shares a common quality of Jan Svankmajer's earlier work: its use of live-action. Svankmajer, generally speaking, was an animator: a filmmaker who made use of everyday objects as well as antiques and other junk to create surreal stop-motion shorts. This film is indeed surreal (the source material also was, although I heard it too long ago to be able to remember the whole thing) yet it is not about stop-motion at all, preferring to focus on the object of darkly depicting Poe's story. Not a bad thing necessarily, just very much similar to how his earliest shorts were filmed - little stop-motion, more live-action centered - and it's interesting to see him directly adapting a story without incorporating a large amount of his own animated additions.

In terms of pulling off the darkness of the story, Svankmajer succeeds masterfully. The setting of the film itself is reason enough to view it: an underground cavern full of man-made corridors. The camerawork is another large plus, as the film shows with a sense of impending doom, the pendulum swinging back and forth, and also carries the following events from the POV of the protagonist (which I rather liked). Strangely, there is no intense music, just the natural sound, which might be a plus in the long run even if it seems sort off cheap and careless at first. All in all, the film's main goal seems to be about visual interest through its intriguing camerawork and setting. It is not necessarily terrifying for a modern horror fan, but very well made as it is and worth seeing.

This little film is mesmerizing. It is a stark recreation of Poes' Pit and the Pendulum. A man, whose face we never see, has been sentenced to death by some sort of druids or the inquisition. We follow him as he tries to save himself, using every means he has at his disposal. It is wildly surrealistic and very intense.