One of the greatest final shots in a movie ever - Pit and the Pendulum (1961) Discussion

[–] Vampenguin 19 years ago

Definatly agreed.

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[–] maximusbeer 19 years ago

100% agree with you.

seeing her bulging eyes staring out from her cell and she can't scream as shes gagged! truly eerie stuff!!

strength & honour!

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[–] JoeLoebner 19 years ago

Yeah, it sure makes quite an impact, knowing what Elizabeth is obviously fearing as she faces her inevitable doom.

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[–] eddyskiva 19 years ago

And so effective because we've forgotten that she's was there.... the impact is suddenly.... "Oh My GOD!".... Brilliant!

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[–] vestdennis 12 years ago

This movie still gives me chills and I've seen it dozens of times. The opening music and scene (with John Kerr traveling on the beach to the castle) are really scary...

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[–] eli_berry 17 years ago

Pardon my sounding like a jerk, but do you realize that it's not her cell that she's trapped in? She's not gagged...she's dead. She was shut up in the iron maiden. The spikes, etc. are holding her in place. But, yes, this is the creepiest final shot ever made for a movie. If you want to, please check out my movie at youtube. It has absolutely nothing to do with this, but it's my adaptation of Stevenson's Markheim. Just search for Eli Berry in their search line. Oh, the one I downloaded was the rough cut version, but the final cut is soon to come. If you'll subscribe to me, I'll notify you when the final cut is available. Thanks.

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[–] highflight41 17 years ago

Actually she was alive, that wasn't an Iron Maiden with spikes and all but a prison-cage kind of thing. Earlier in the film they showed a flashback where Vincent Price took her out of it when she was playing "mad". The whole irony of the ending was that she tried to drive (well, actually did drive) her husband insane by pretending to have been buried alive, only to wind up really being buried alive.

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[–] Faust3 (1) 8 months ago

file:///C:/Users/Owner/OneDrive/Desktop/R.jpg

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[–] blackswan50 17 years ago

hell yeah stays with you huh?

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[–] 17 years ago

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[–] spompermayer 19 years ago

YES! The last minutes of the film have you reeling with suspense as the swinging pendulum comes closer & closer. Miraculously, the apparatus is halted and the hero is saved. You breathe a sigh of relief. Catherine leads us out of the Torture-Chamber-from-Hell with assured calmness by stating, "No one will ever enter this room again." Then the camera zooms in on Barbara Steele's huge brown eyes and jet-black mascara. The image is forever burned in your memory!!!

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[–] simlawrence 19 years ago

My God. What a finalshot. Great stuff.

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[–] Chester_LP 19 years ago

I haven't watched the movie but you got me very curious. Can you explain further more what exactly happens at this scene everybody raves so much about?

Sounds like a prety scary movie in general.

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[–] wtl471629 18 years ago

Chester I am sorry it has been so long since anyone answered your question. I hope you read this before June 16 because it is showing on TCM at 3:30 A.M. EST! I don't want to spoil it for you so I hope you get to watch it.

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[–] starfish-4 19 years ago

I saw this film back in 1961 at the movies when I was 10 years old. I have just bought the DVD for nostalgic reason and just finished watching it. I couldn't remember much about the film as I was so young, but, I never forgot the swinging pendulum and the lady stuck in the Iron Maiden for eternity. Those scenes have been etched in my mind for 46 years!!! Now that is the mark of a truly great film!!!

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[–] eddyskiva 19 years ago

Agreed 100%! to the poster who wanted more info on the scene... don't let anyone tell you...and don't read anything describing it... it is best if you don't know til it happens. This is one of those horror movies that scared the living hell out of me as a kid... so much so... that whenever I watched it again, I closed my eyes at certain points... convinced I could never face those horrible images again. Yet I loved it and continued watching. Finally, as an adult, I started compiling a collection of the horror movies that did this to me as a kid....(along with Isle of the Dead, and the terrifying moment when Mrs St.Aubin 'wakes up')... convinced I'd be able to face it. Well... it's along time between 12 and 40. While definitely not the unbearably horrific visual I remembered as a child...due to my adult eye for film-making... it still is overpoweringly terrifying.... I conquered my inability to face them... but WOW.... this movie exists on an entirely different level than mere 'movie' for me. It is in my psyche, and THAT is a great flick.

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[–] ifiswan 18 years ago

I saw it when I was about 10 with my dad (in the 2000's). The ending scared me for like a month. I have always had that image of her eyes in my mind... when I saw the film, that shot sent shivers down my spine.

I had to sleep in my parents room for a long time. This is the mark of a good film... especially because I was a ten year old in the 2000's!

This happened with "House on Haunted Hill" when the girl is in one room of the basement and the guy on the opposite wall, the girl hits the wall near the bottom, camera pulls up with her, boom theres a ghost girl on freakin roller blades. Scared the crap out of me.

_______________________________________
Are you suggesting coconuts migrate?

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[–] koomy 17 years ago

This was really good. I'd heard the title loads of times but luckily didn't know the plot before i watched the film. It grips right from the nifty titles and the last shot is great.

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[–] heather-perry 17 years ago

This happened with "House on Haunted Hill" when the girl is in one room of the basement and the guy on the opposite wall, the girl hits the wall near the bottom, camera pulls up with her, boom theres a ghost girl on freakin roller blades. Scared the crap out of me.

That's one of my favourite scare scenes as well. Strange that it's so rarely mentioned.

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[–] InsideTheCastleWall 17 years ago

I really liked the ending. Those two bastards begged for it!

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[–] JoeLoebner 17 years ago

Yes, they really had it coming.

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[–] flit-2 17 years ago

- SPOILERS -

Kind of ironic how she's now going to starve to death, when the pair tried to make Nicholas think he was responsible for her being buried alive...

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[–] highflight41 17 years ago

I originally saw this movie when I was 11 and the ending gave me nightmares and night-terrors for months. I remember walking around in a daze for almost an hour after watching it. I am 49 now, I saw "30 Days of Nights" the other day without even flinching, but I still can't bring myself to see that final scene again. I tried watching it on AMC last night, but had to change channels as they were walking up the dungeon staircase. Some psychic scars never heal I guess.

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[–] jjb1011jjb 17 years ago

i just finished watching this movie i got it for christmas when i was 12 and never got around to watching it til tonight and im 22 so iv had it 10 years and never watched it

but the ending was vary scary seeing her wide eyes and it takes alot to scare me

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[–] JoeLoebner 17 years ago

That is a really cool last shot.

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[–] Bflogal11 17 years ago

As I recall, she had her fingers poking through the bars of her prison, why couldn't she ungag herself to scream for help? Just one little thing that I wondered about.

"There is nothing in my dish but my dish!" James Cocoa-"Murder by Death"

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[–] JoeLoebner 17 years ago

Thats one mistake the director made. He should have Barbara keep her fingers inside the chamber.

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[–] mmlovers90 16 years ago

I saw this as a young girl over 30 years ago and the two things I always remember was the horror of the pendulum as it fell, and the lady's eyes in the iron maiden at the end! Still creeps me out to this day. Well, I am off to buy the DVD from Deep Discount nowso I can watch it again! :)

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[–] JoeLoebner 16 years ago

The movie is a lot of fun to watch.

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[–] dalmain 15 years ago

I agree, fantastic ending. The final shot was classic. I heard this movie was good and always wondered what the big deal was..I saw and now I agree.

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[–] timmy_501 15 years ago

Yeah, it's pretty good until you realize that it makes absolutely no sense. They would surely bury the two dead people before closing the room up forever, and of course find her in the process. Somebody is definitely going to be looking for the doctor, presumably he has a family of some sort that is going to want to bury him and even if he doesn't he's just too public a person to leave that way.

Call me Ishmael.

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[–] Woodyanders 15 years ago

Yeah, that final shot was truly chilling and haunting in equal measure.

"We're all part Shatner/And part James Dean/Part Warren Oates/And Steven McQueen"

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