Pit and the Pendulum

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It's October again,folks! And you know what that means: The guys have chosen an arbitrary subject them to follow for an entire month! And this month, it's one of the Old Masters of Horror, Vincent Price.

And what a way to start! This time around, they're watching Roger Corman's 1961 adaption of the Edgar Allen Poe classic, Pit and the Pendulum.

Poe, Price, Pit, Pendulum...It's got everything!

Francis (John Kerr) is on his way to Spain in order to find out what happened to his sister, Elizabeth (Barbara Steele). Elizabeth's husband, Nicholas Medina (Price) has sent word that Elizabeth has died.

When Francis arrives, he is greeted by Catherine (Luana Anders), who at first tells him that Nicholas is unavailable, as he is grieving and not feeling well. This turns out to not be true almost immediately, as Nicholas comes out of his room to speak with Francis, telling him that Elizabeth died due to some sort of blood disorder.

And not at all anything to do with murder or anything.

Francis feels this explanation does not hold water, and his suspicions are confirmed when Dr. Leon (Antony Carbone) arrives for dinner and tells him that Elizabeth died of heart failure. Now quite angry at Nicholas, Francis demands to see his sister was interred. On the way there, they stop by the castle's torture chamber (a leftover from when Nicholas's father was a part of the Spanish Inquisition--nobody expected that), and Nicholas explains what really happened to Elizabeth: She became obsessed with the torture chamber and its machinery, coming more and more unglued, until she one day closed herself in an iron maiden. He also says that her last word was "Sebastian," Nicholas' father's name. (He also plays his own father in a different flashback.)

Once again, Francis calls "bullshit," and refuses to believe it's true. When he tells Catherine what he thinks, she tells him that Nicholas might be a little...off because, as a child (played by Larry Turner), he witnessed his father catching Isabella and his uncle, Bartolome (Charles Victor), in an affair. Sebastian reacts by beating Bartolome with a poker and torturing Isabella to death.

And, judging by his expression, he also walked in on his parents "doing it."

Also once again, Dr. Leon tells Nicholas that this is, in fact, not true at all. instead, Isabella was stuck behind a brick wall and left to die, a lateral change to the story, at best. This experience caused Nicholas to go just a little bit crazy, and he is now terrified that Elizabeth was also interred while still alive. Dr. Leon also rains on that parade, stating that there is no way that have happened, despite the fact that this is 16th Century Spain and they are basically cave people.

That evening, Elizabeth's room is the center of a lot of spooky stuff, including a voice whispering at the maid (Lynette Bernay), playing the harpsichord, and completely trashing the room. While searching the room, Francis discovers a tunnel that leads to Nicholas' chambers. and he accuses him of doing all this. By this point, Nicholas is so confused and messed-up that even he isn't sure he'snot doing it. This prompts them to go open the tomb where Elizabeth's body is kept.

WHAT'S IN THE FUCKIN' BOX?!

They discover a corpse with a horrified expression and scratches on the inside of the lid, causing Nicholas to faint and be carried off to his room. While he drifts in and out of consciousness, he hears a woman's voice whispering his name, coming from the tunnel between his room and Elizabeth's. He follows it and finds himself at Elizabeth's tomb, where he also finds a not-desiccated-corpse-at-all Elizabeth, starts walking toward him. Again, he freaks out and, not realizing he is being sort of corralled, soon finds himself at the top of the stairs leading down to the torture chamber.

With one final lunge, Elizabeth causes Nicholas to fall down the stairs. Immediately, Dr. Leon, who, it turns out, was having an affair with Elizabeth and had planned this whole thing with her, shows up and checks him, telling Elizabeth that "he's gone." Again, almost immediately, this turns out to be not true. He's not dead. But he's definitely not his normal self anymore.

"Normal"compared to his usual state, that is.

But what's wrong with him? Will bad things happen? And what about this pendulum thingie we've been hearing so much about? How does that fit in? You'll have to listen to find out!

Derek is concerned about Dr. Leon's credentials. The guy is terrible at being a doctor, even by 16th Century standards. Someone should have looked into that. Also, how come he gets saddled with all the exposition? Probably because he doesn't have any patients.

Jake is surprised at the quality of this film, especially considering that it is a Roger Corman film. The sets are great. (Probably because they were used in a different, possibly bigger budget film--Corman did that a lot.) He also thinks Vincent Price was not suited for playing a grieving widower. But the crazy bit is good.

So slip on those pantaloons and frilly collar, and listen to the new episode!