A man condemned by the Spanish Inquisition is sent to a dungeon where he is faced with a life or death situation.
It starts with a man, bound, blindfolded and judged before a jury that condems him to living in a cell with an iron mask. Needless to say the man doesn't take it so easy and he does all he can to remove the mask, finally succeeding. When he takes the mask off he looks up to find that he's in a room with a pit that seems to have no bottom and gives off the smell of death and decay. The man looks to the exit to see that someone pushed a goblet into his room and famished he takes a drink. Suddenly he falls over and passes out to wake up on a table bound, with a pendulum swaying above him coming closer. He breaks free and jumps off the table when suddenly the walls in the room close in on him and push him toward the pit. Holding onto the edge of the pit the man loses his grip and starts to fall in when a soldier grabs him by the hand and pulls him up leading his escape.
This is a great adaptation of Edgar Allan Poe's story, it's just a shame it was so short. When you watch the short and realise the contributions that Marc Lougee has given to the wonderful world of modern cinema you start to wonder why he hadn't done this sooner. If you look at his resume you can find that he's got a big hand in animation, even if it's been for only a hand full of movies, that said they were all great movies. I tell you people look him up, you'll be suprised.
 
Now back to the short. As I said before it's a shame it was so short, I would have really liked to see a full length film in this fashion. Stop-Animation is so rare that this movie was a breath of fresh air, me being a huge fan of the form of animation that Marc obviously knows alot about.
The movie is presented by the amazing Ray Harryhausen who we all know but don't let that sway you away from what's important here, and that's Marc. I look forward to his future films, whether they be animated or not, this movie was a tease in that direction and makes me curious to see how far he goes with it.
This short was just that, short, being under 8 minutes. With that said I am very impressed and seriously hope that Marc Lougee puts together a feature film in stop-motion, this movie proves he knows what to do. This is very highly recommended viewing and is definitely a dark joyride into the darkest pits of the mind through the eyes of a condemned man that appears to not be deserving half what he recieves.
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ALTERNATIVE TITLE:
MOVIE YEAR: 2006
DIRECTOR: Marc Lougee
WRITING CREDITS: Matt Taylor
GENRE: Animation, Short
CAST: n/a
COUNTRY: Canada
RUNTIME: 8 min
RATING: 10/10
Ray Harryhausen Presents: The Pit and the Pendulum Website/IMDB Click here
Ray Harryhausen Presents: The Pit and the Pendulum Trailer Click here
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