In "The Pit and the Pendulum," Vincent Price finally found his antagonistic footing in "a characteristically rococo performance as the slightly mad Spanish aristocrat." (Vincent Price: A Daughter's Biography. Victoria Price. 2014) It would seem "House of Usher" was merely a launching pad to a successful career in horror, but "Pit and the Pendulum," against his prior performance, has a richer story behind his character as an anti-hero driven mad by both circumstance and his dead wife.
As the first film of Vincent's key "hammy" performance, to new eyes, it came across as ludicrous and comical to some and legitimately frightening to others. As the son of a famous Spanish Inquisition torturer, Nicholas Medina was already a traumatized human being long before his wife died. The grieving process only gets worse when his brother-in-law Francis Barnard (John Kerr, post-"South Pacific") visits to find out what happened to his sister. But her death is far more complicated as the movie takes an unexpected turn, rendering Nicholas into complete insanity.
"Pit..." does something different with the role that became synonymous with Price's career. Perhaps it is the antihero aspect as he believes he is hearing things that are only known to him but not his brother-in-law and sister. Price plays tortured beautifully right up until my personal favorite scene when he is driven to ultimate madness. He slowly slides down the wall, Nicholas's eyes in resistance and fright. Closeups enhance the audience into believing he is beginning to mentally check out and then freezing, Nicholas is completely gone. Then, a very slight twitch of his pupil ignites the childhood trauma and he falls completely victim to his past. This is a scene worth playing over and over watching what Price does only with his eyes before performing the evil antagonist he does so well.
Edgar Allan Poe's original story may only be a few pages long and mostly relying on a first person narrative of the senses, it has become a lush and creative adaptation courtesy of Richard Matheson. The Spanish Inquisition is in the past as the movie is based in the 1600s, but in place and character the past is very much alive in the dungeon full of torture devices. Unfortunately, the premise was not entirely original as Matheson "took a little short story about a guy lying on a table with that razor-sharp blade swinging over him, and had to make a movie out of it. I just imposed a plot from an old suspense mystery on that basic premise." (Vincent Price: A Daughter's Biography. Victoria Price. 2014) But even knowing this, "The Pit and the Pendulum" is still a perfect scary movie with Vincent Price in top form, so no one should really complain!
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