The Pit and the Pendulum is a very loose adaptation of Edgar Allen Poe's story of the same name. Roger Corman directed this period piece about Nicholas (Vincent Price), a man who has just lost his wife under mysterious circumstances. Nicholas is surrounded by his sister, his doctor and the brother of his deceased wife, who has come to investigate her demise. Nicholas believes that his wife (Barbara Steele) is haunting him from beyond the grave. Her harpsichord plays in the middle of the night, the maid hears her dead mistress speak from beyond the grave and the bedroom where she stayed is trashed even though the door is locked. After much shocking backstory regarding the history of Nicholas and his house (his father tortured Nicholas's mother and uncle to death in front of him), everyone decides the only way to calm Nicholas down is to exhume his wife and show him she wasn't buried alive (long story). Then things get weird.
This is a movie without a lot of action in it but it is classic horror. Secret passages, torture chambers, cobwebs hanging thick and torches lighting the way through darkness...this movie pretty much has it all. Price does a great job as the fearful, grieving Nicholas. You want to tell him to man up through most of the movie. Barbara Steele is not in it enough to make much of an impression but it was fun to see her in an American horror movie for once. The adaptation, written by Richard Matheson, has no real relation to the original story besides there being a pendulum present (even the pit of the title has a different meaning here). Even though it is an hour and a half of people in frilly coats talking, it moves quickly and keeps things interesting. By the end, there is even some genuine horror. It may not be true to the letter of Poe, but I think it captures his spirit well. And here I thought Corman was just supposed to be a hack.
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