Roger Corman is at it again, with another Poe adaptation from the 60's. The Pit and The Pendulum, once again, stars the always mad, Vincent Price, as well, a madman, of course! Full of incredible costumes and gothic sets, here comes another essential addition to your collection.

Price stars as Nicholas, husband to Elizabeth (the always charming, Barbara Steele) who has mysteriously, passed away. Francis (John Kerr) travels to the spooky castle, to uncover the truth, behind his sisters, mysterious death. Also in the mix, is Elizabeth's sister (Luana Anders), who seems to know that something just isn't right.

Pit is great delirious fun, and Price is magnificent as always, sinking deeper and deeper into a pit (pardon the pun) of madness. This castle holds some dark and disturbing secrets and it's up to our group to get to the bottom of it, and live to tell the tale.

Corman experiments radically with his camera and lenses, the flashback scenes are quite "trippy". The audience is kept on the edge of their seat until the delirious finale, where Corman goes hog wild with the visuals. It's obvious that Corman had a lot of fun making this film, playing with different ideas, trying not to be as serious as in his previous American International works.

Pit is presented in its scope ratio, but alas, unlike House of Usher, is non-anamorphic. The print appears to be that from the old Orion Laser Disc. Not to say it isn't impressive, colors are strong, and print damage is minimal. The quality of the DVD stands a notch above the previous laser disc release. It's great to have this treasure; in it's original scope presentation on DVD. The mono sound is great, with no distortion and nice clear dialogue.

Extras are quite impressive, including an informative, and highly enjoyable, if not disturbing audio commentary by the man himself, Roger Corman. During the commentary, he provides us with many tidbits of information about the production of the film, as well as a few unexpected remarks:

Gasp! In horror, as you hear Corman, refer to Miss Barbara Steele as a "very handsome woman". Shriek! In terror, as Corman relates the long hallway scenes to that of a Vagina, and the search for what lies therein!

We are also given a nice theatrical trailer, and a cool unreleased prologue scene, full frame but in great shape. A nice and unexpected addition to a very cool package.

MGM has done it again, their Midnite Movies line is quite impressive. At a MSRP of $14.98, and most retailers selling this title at under $10.00, it's an essential pick for any horror fans library.