THE PIT AND THE PENDULUM (1990)
There are actually bloopers if you fast-forward long enough
The opening scene of this flick establishes just how much of a stickler for the rules is the Grand Inquisitor Torquemada. An accused heretic is brought before him, pronounced guilty, and sentence carried out. First, his family's holdings are confiscated by the church, and then he's given twenty lashes. Then his body is ground into powder and put in an hourglass. Thing is, the heretic appears to have been dead for quite some time. His desiccated carcass is rather easy to grind.
Torquemada is played with icy intensity (and a funky haircut) by Lance Henriksen; it seems over the top, but one must remember how much we are used to seeing Henriksen play his roles very, very quietly. Anyway, the ol' GI finds himself with lustful feelings for a breadmaker woman who is accused of being a witch, and the steps he takes to stave off his desire are unsettling, to say the least.
It's kind of silly to argue that the endless parade of tortures we bear witness to in this movie is gratuitous; it is, after all, about the Inquisition. Torture was the whole point of the Inquisition. And here, we see a whole lot of stuff those lucky heretics got to enjoy: the rack, the iron maiden, floggings, ass-burning fire-chairs, tongue-removal, diaphragm-ripping water tortures, one guy getting walled up in a wine cellar, and of course there's the pendulum. One unlucky individual even explodes, which makes for a pleasing (if implausible) conclusion to one scene late in the film by exploding.
Great costumes, sets, and music. Rona De Ricci is adequate as the heroine, but the supporting cast is excellent (except for a wisecracking torturer's assistant and a wacky doctor). Jeffrey Combs is in there too, wearing an assortment of clerical garments that were probably considered masculine in the fifteenth century.
It's let down a little at the end with the entirely too convenient arrival of a bunch of rats (just 'cuz that's directly from Poe himself doesn't make it any less lame), but overall this movie's pretty effective and entertaining. Definitely one of the better Full Moon movies I've seen - and at about 100 minutes, it's certainly the longest.
Great box art, too. Directed by Stuart Gordon; filmed in Italy.