The Pit and the Pendulum (1961 film) Tomb of Ligeia". Film critic Tim Lucas and writer Ernesto Gastaldi have both noted the film's strong influence on numerous subsequent Italian thrillers, from Mario Bava's "The Whip and the Body" (1963) to Dario Argento's " Deep Red " (1975). Stephen King has described one of "Pit"'s major shock sequences as being among the most important moments in the post-1960 horror film. In sixteenth century Spain, Englishman Francis Barnard (John Kerr) visits the castle of his brother-in-law Nicholas Medina (Vincent Price) to investigate the mysterious death of his sister Elizabeth (Barbara Steele). Nicholas and his younger sister Catherine (Luana Anders)
The Whip and the Body but a series of events hints that his ghost has started to haunt the castle for revenge. The film credits the writers as Ernesto Gastaldi as Julian Berry, Ugo Guerra as Robert Hugo, Luciano Martino as Martin Hardy. Ernesto Gastaldi has stated that he had written the script himself with Ugo Guerra possibly contributing to some of the story early one while Luciano Martino had no contribution to the script. Gastaldi was shown an Italian print of "The Pit and the Pendulum" (1961) by the producers who requested a similar film to be made. Gastaldi is credited as an assistant