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3 unusual facts about The Pit and the Pendulum


The Pit and the Pendulum

In 1983, Czech Surrealist Jan Švankmajer directed a 15-minute live action short film called The Pendulum, the Pit and Hope, based on this story and the short story "A Torture by Hope" by Villiers de l'Isle-Adam.

In a 1970 episode from the animated cartoon series The Perils of Penelope Pitstop, entitled "London Town Treachery", the Hooded Claw has captured Penelope and attempts to kill her using a pendulum that swings lower and lower, as in Poe's story.

The 2009 horror film directed by David DeCoteau bears little resemblance to the original story but, like the 1961 version, utilizes the large swinging pendulum in the penultimate scene.


Daniel Haller

Among many other credits, Haller designed the deceptively opulent sets for nearly all of Roger Corman's critically acclaimed Edgar Allan Poe film series, including House of Usher (1960) and The Pit and the Pendulum (1961).

David Zen Mansley

And has worked on the art department of films such as Where Sleeping Dogs Lie, Trancers II, The Pit and the Pendulum, I'm Gonna Git You Sucka.

Midnite Movies

The Fall of the House of Usher / The Pit and the Pendulum (OOP)


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