the pit and the pendulum be set in toledo in spain during 1492 a the spanish inquisition lead by torquemada ( lance henriksen ) would strike fear into the heart of the local population and they would mercilessly torture anyone they think guilty of witchcraft . while at a public execution a kind hearted woman name maria ( rona de ricci ) speak out against the inquisition and it method and straight away she be accuse of be a witch and cart off to be torture while her baker boyfriend antonio ( jonathan fuller ) be leave for dead . when he come round he bribe a castle guard name gomez ( stephen lee and no not the british snooker player . ) to let him in a he try to rescue maria and unfortunately antonio be catch himself and he too be tortured . be there any way antonio and maria can escape the horror of the spanish inqusition and save themselves . direct by stuart gordon ( my on screen digital tv guide claim it be direct by someone call stuart corman . ) and base on the story by edgar allan poe this be a pretty good period horror flick . poe story have already be turn into a film by roger corman a he direct pit and the pendulum ( 1961 ) star vincent price although this 90 version have next to nothing in common with corman flick other than the title and even that be change to the inquisitor for it u dvd release and the script by dennis paoli be pretty good here and the character be good than one would expect with henriksen obviously have fun play the part of torquemada a he a character with some depth even if not a particularly likable one although i be not sure about that silly hair cut . the dialogue be ok and it move along at a reasonable pace but i couldn not help think there wasn not much to it and i mean two people be accuse of witchcraft and they get torture by the spanish inquisition who abuse their own power and that about it and there a small sub plot about the pope want to end the torture of the inqusition but this be quickly forget and come to nothing . i do not like the ambiguous nature of the witch either and i mean be they real witch or not . why the secrecy . so there you have it and if this sound excite to you or you like watch people get tortured then the pit and the pendulum be the film for you and a for me i like it but mostly because of hendriksen and it torture scenes . i know and i be sick . director gordon do alright and the italian castle location look nice enough i suppose but i couldn not help but feel it be all a little flat and bland . there certainly no real style or visual flair here that gordon show in his early film and there a pretty nasty down beat atmosphere run through the film and it certainly isn not a feel good flick a there be no happy ending on show . don not expect a fact base history lesson either i doubt there much fact here apart from the spanish inquisition themselves . while there be plenty of torture scenes the pit and the pendulum surprisingly isn not that graphic and there some blood splatter and someone be impale on spike and a rat be slice in half and people be burn at the stake and various scene of torture which aren not particularly intense . there some full frontal nudity as well if that your thing . with a supposed budget of about $ 2 and 000 and 000 this look nice enough if a little forgettable and it reasonably well make with good than average production value and decent period detail although most of it take place in the same room . the acting be pretty good even if a potentially great cast be waste and oliver reed and jeffrey comb and stephen lee and tom towles be somewhat underused . the pit and the pendulum be a fine horror film and it not the most complex or absorb film ever but for some exploitative nudity and torture it deliver and frankly you can not argue with exploitative nudity and torture . i like it and i just wish it have be a bit more graphic and the story be a bit meatier . still a good effort though .