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)
Gothic film audience response" characterize Gothic films like they did the literary works. "The Encyclopedia of the Gothic" said the foundation of Gothic film was the combination of Gothic literature, stage melodrama, and German expressionism. In "The Cambridge Companion to Gothic Fiction", Misha Kavka says Gothic film is not an established genre, rather contributing Gothic images, plots, characters, and styles to films. These elements are often found in "the broader category of "horror"". Kavka quotes William Patrick Day's definition of the Gothic, "[it] tantalizes us with fear, both as its subject and its effect; its does so, however, not primarily through characters