The Pit and the Pendulum
The Pit and the Pendulum. Written by Richard Matheson. Directed by Roger Corman. Roger Corman, 1961 [2017].
VIEW CONTEXT: Austin Retard Redux
VIEW DATE: 2017
AWARDS: “Stephen King Said! Stephen King Said!” Stephen King called the corpse discovery scene “the most important moment in the post-1960 horror film, signaling a return to an all-out effort to terrify the audience … and a willingness to use any means at hand to do it.”
Matheson ruined a perfectly good feel-good movie by substituting the innocent Francis Barnard for the evil and unforgivable Dr. Leon. The proper victim of Nicholas Medina was fucking asshole Leon. The idea of not having Dr. Leon the recipient of the title’s torture is itself torturous.
Why did the Corman’s AIP collegues force him to replace proper victim Leon with innocent and idiotic Barnard? Because evoking pleasure of just revenge in the audience was seen, in 1961, as corrupting. The act of using a torture device for any reason is mad, bad, and must be condemned—and using it rightly to inflict punishment on the deserving makes it look acceptable. Specifically —
- We producers cannot condone any proper use of torture.
- Nicholas using the pendulum-blade on fucking asshole Dr. Leon would be a proper use. That is, the audience would support the killing.
- We producers cannot be seen as encouraging violent justice.
- But people are paying to see violence. (Just look at the poster!)
- So how to give violence without including the enormous satisfaction of seeing fucking asshole Dr. Leon receiving his just pain? We must inflict the violence on an innocent person so that the audience will not cheer on the torturer.
My how things have changed.