THE PIT AND THE PENDULUM
Canada 2006 - 7 minutes
Director: Mark LougeeWriter(s): Matt Taylor (from the story by Edgar Allen Poe)
Website: http://thepitandthependulumshortfilm.com
Myspace: http://www.myspace.com/marclougee
Marc Lougee’s animated short THE PIT AND THE PENDULUM is a fresh retelling of Edgar Allen Poe’s tale of judgment, condemnation, despair, hope, and eventual redemption. Our hero, a victim of the Spanish Inquisition, is brought before a tribunal, condemned, and sentenced to the dungeons to await his death. As with Poe’s original story, this film explores the central question: is it death that is the most harrowing, or the means by which it is brought about? From this premise we watch our hero struggle to understand his quandary in order to find hope and faith as his captors ratchet up the pressure to unhinge him.
“...Lougee's ruthlessly efficient take [on Poe’s story] is short and to the point, packing in a whole lot of tension into seven slim minutes.”
—Bilge Ebiri, New York Magazine
“...a great first film to showcase how well Poe’s dark works can be interpreted with the use of stop motion animation, making them just as effective, if not more so, than a live action retelling would be.”
—Dread Central
