The Pit & the Pendulum (1991)

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happily-ever-after goes under the knife in this "eerie (and) excellent" (the hollywood reporter) saga of murder, madness and forbidden desire. starring hollywood horror great vincent price, this "spine-tingling thriller" (redbook magazine) is a "lush, elegant and bloody" (cue) tale of razor-sharp terror! haunted by horrifying childhood memories, the son (price) of the spanish inquisition's most notorious assassin teeters on brink of insanity. but when his adulterous wife fakes her own death to drive him ower the edge, she soon discovers that betrayal cuts both ways - as the man she wants to destroy becomes not only her judge and jury - but also her executioner!

In the quest to save souls, the Spanish Inquisition will stop at nothing and knows no boundaries for its evil. Under the direction of Torquemada (Lance Henriksen - Alien, Pumpkinhead, Millennium), the Grand Inquisitor of Spain, a young baker`s wife, Maria (Rona De Ricci), is falsely accused of witchcraft and dragged before the Inquisition. Torquemada is enchanted by Maria`s beauty and subjects her and her husband Antonio (Jonathan Fuller - Castle Freak) to heinous torture hoping to probe that his own desires are a result of her bewitching powers. With the help of Esmerelda, Maria`s cellmate and a confessed witch, Maria must save her husband Antonio from Torguemada`s ultimate machine of torture - the razor sharp pendulum poised over the inescapable pit of hell.