The Pit and the Pendulum

Oh my! I'd like to know: Who finances these terrible movies? Who Does? When there's plenty of great directors and writers,out there, that even on the 'so called' Exploitation genre(if this is even an attempt to make an Exploitation film,since I'm not sure anymore!) could pull off some -at least- more stylistic, more erotic,more fun "guilty pleasure" type of pictures! And,who does not love to watch a real 'guilty pleasure' movie,once in a while,or even more than once a week?? But... This is just a waste! An offensive way of spending money to create virtually just, non Cinema, to damage Genre flicks' reputation, and ultimately to undress a bit morbidly, a few young actors, with broken dreams, and little talent, who try very hard not to feel sick in front of the camera. Why making such movies? And I'm a fun of cult stuff, of Horror,even of well done(and real) erotica,like certain great classic euro films from the 1960's/1970's! But this is just a misfire with no direction,and a true insult to whomever tries hard to make it in the industry. Don't ever think about renting it,even if you were a voyeur, these days,believe me, there's some excellent porn for any taste, which i give more credit for,than this ineptitude, for at least, being blunt, and deliver the thrills of what some people may enjoy watching,thinking to find it maybe more 'tastelessly produced and presented' in such productions. But,again,there's nothing here, just plain nothing. A true realm of Boredom! Maybe try to discover,instead, some new artsy erotic horror,because there's really a lot better in the Indy scene today, but not from Rapid Hearts or Regent,apparently,since,after checking their other titles,this project,which even does have the guts to say "inspired by the subliminal Edgar Allan Poe's novel", appears to be one of the better Titles available, according to other reviewers! Oh,well.. if this non movie, is what they have best to offer, maybe they should consider approaching a different business,quickly. Or, fire immediately who is in charge of making this type of choices over plots, and most of all,over directors/writers! Why would you keep giving a decent low budget to such abominable filmmaking? It is criminal. What a disappointment! What a cold,sad perception of cultural decadence,and lack of any sense or sensibility, you'd get by watching this one: Despair, that's actually, maybe,the best definition, to nail, exactly,how i felt while watching this,and even until its end,since i just wanted to be fair,and write what i was feeling with a clear mind,about these movies,that get made surprisingly so often,too often, and always, more and more awfully descending to a place of degradation. Please, Stop! And,people at Here or Logo Cable TV(showing often similar stuff): Please try to encourage movies, that do not make people feel ashamed of being gay, or of watching genre movies with a gay theme! The moral disservice and damage,done to their community, is huge, by showing, or even just endorsing such products! Sorry, i truly don't enjoy writing so badly about a film, I'd just like to see if they'd give a chance to much better stuff out there,so present at Festivals, or other events, that,sadly, does not even barely seen, by wider audiences.

The only thing good about this movie was the hot buff guys in their underwear. Unfortunately. I wanted to see how it ended. Otherwise, I would have stopped watching it.

What a TERRIBLE movie! I totally agree with the 2 others who gave it a 1 on here. Firstly, when everyone gets out of the car, at the very start, they are then INTRODUCED??? What were they doing in the car on the way there!?! They said there wasn't a house for MILES, so they must have been in the car a while! Then one of them drags out the advert they are all answering... and READS IT OUT LOUD! WTF??? They are all there BECAUSE of the same advert, THEY don't need it read out to them! Wouldn't they already KNOW THIS? Is it just for the audience? So blatant! Jeez! Couldn't they have established this in the car on the way there? Who WROTE this crap! At this point the 3 people watching this with me decided to LEAVE! This movie is FULL of CRINGE inducing crap. - The actors all looked like they just came out of a salon, and selected on looks, none of them look like average students, but rather male models, or such, although the main lady's cheek implants are almost popping out of her face! This movie reminds one of a sinking ship from the start, but it just won't go down! Ugh. - Slight superficial sexual episode, then senseless cutting to a scene with no relevance to the ongoing scene! It's a mess! I would give this movie a miss. - I think I won't even hold out much longer. That's it. Thanks, but no thanks.

Alright, well I will start out with the bad things about this movie. First, it is hardly more than a sleazefest. There is way too much unnecessary nudity and homosexuality. Don't get me wrong, I got nothing against gays and lesbians, but the excessive images of guys kissing guys and girls kissing girls, is just too much in this movie! It totally brings the movie down to a sleazy level. It is just one notch over a softcore porn movie! The good things in the movie would definitely be the music. The score for this movie is quite nice, and works well throughout the entire movie. Also, the set and scenery is quite nice, especially the constant ticking of clocks throughout the movie.

As for the cast, well that was adequate as well, and most of them actually performed alright, although the dialogue was not always the best kind of dialogue for such a movie.

Now, I think this movie should not have any association with Edgar Allan Poe's classic work of horror. I am sure that he is turning over as this movie is being played. There is little part of this movie that bears any resemblance to Poe's work.

As for a horror movie, this is not scary at all. There are no thrills or scares in the movie. So I am not recommending this particularly, unless you got an hour and a half that you just have to kill with nothing better to do. Sure there are worse movies out there, but "The Pit and the Pendulum" falls to the ground in several areas.

Sure, the aspect of psychological terror and thrills shine through the movie, but they are hardly keeping the movie afloat. I was sorely disappointed with this movie. But now I have seen it, and can honestly say that this is a movie that I will not put into my DVD player again.

Firstly, this has nothing whatsoever to do with Edgar Allan Poe or even the fabulously lurid and artistically hip Roger Corman flick from the early sixties.

Secondly, those expecting soft-core porn will be singularly disappointed. It's horribly coy and non-explicit and utterly redundant in it's puerile representations of homo-eroticism, lesbianism and sexual sado-masochism. Imagine those elements transplanted into an episode of the original Scooby Doo cartoon series and that just about illustrates the mentality.

Thirdly, if imagining a half-decent psychological-thriller, it fails on all counts. Nil psychology, zero thrills, null tension, zip suspense and nada logic.

If, however, you are on the lookout for something that is a dull, boring, atrociously acted, abysmally scripted piece of pointless junk, with no gore, no wit, no fun, no dynamic and lots of superimposed visual images of clocks and audio ticking, chiming and heartbeats on the soundtrack that will absolutely decimate your will to live, then this is the ideal ticket.

For a film to not even manage to tap the very outer reaches of the concept of exploitation cinema in order to generate the merest iota of entertainment value is some remarkable feat. And this film achieves that dubious honour. There is nothing to redeem it. Avoid.