Monday, February 22, 2021

Pit and the Pendulum (1961) REVIEW R | 1h 20min | Drama, Horror, Mystery

Pit and the Pendulum (1961)

R | 1h 20min | DramaHorrorMystery 

Stars:  Vincent PriceBarbara SteeleJohn Kerr

Francis Barnard goes to Spain, when he hears his sister Elizabeth has died. Her husband Nicholas Medina, the son of a torturer of the Spanish Inquisition, tells him she has died of a blood disease, but Francis finds this hard to believe. And the mystery begins.  The suspense is classic old school horror.  I don’t typically like scary movies, but I like older ones better than modern gore and blood baths.

SPOILER ALERT:
Francis learns that Nicholas is a traumatized man that witnessed as a boy the murder of his uncle Bartolome and his adulterous mother Isabella by his father.

The moral I get from this story is that of Karma and reaping what we sow and maybe some genetic heritage that we end up like our parents whether we want to or not. Only with God can we hope to break the curses of our family lines.  Each generation must choose for themselves how they will live.

I think Christianity gets a bad rap at times unintentionally in these type movies.  Folks think the Spanish Inquisition and Crusades were horrible but never mention the atrocities that led up to them.  It’s a thin pancake that doesn’t have two sides. I'm not justifying them because I'm not qualified, but this I do know. 

Christ is love, but true love demands justice and justice demands controlled violence at times like war and prison and the death penalty.  Anyone who has family that has been a victim understands this all too well.  God would have nothing to do with the torture chamber in this film regardless of what the Church did back then. God explains it this way:  Not all who claim the name of Christ are Christ’s.

The Narrow Gate

Matthew 7: 13“You can enter God’s Kingdom only through the narrow gate. The highway to hell is broad, and its gate is wide for the many who choose that way. 14But the gateway to life is very narrow and the road is difficult, and only a few ever find it.

The Tree and Its Fruit

15“Beware of false prophets who come disguised as harmless sheep but are really vicious wolves. 16You can identify them by their fruit, that is, by the way they act. Can you pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? 17A good tree produces good fruit, and a bad tree produces bad fruit. 18A good tree can’t produce bad fruit, and a bad tree can’t produce good fruit. 19So every tree that does not produce good fruit is chopped down and thrown into the fire. 20Yes, just as you can identify a tree by its fruit, so you can identify people by their actions.

 Many false teachers have led many astray through the ages, but that is not God’s fault.  As a matter of fact, the Bible warns us they will come and deceive many.  Free Will has caused the world situation you now live in.  Not God.  If God was going to control every act and word spoken, He would never have allowed mankind to sin in the first place.  But since we did mess things up, He sent us a savior.  And best of all -- salvation is free and cannot be earned by any deed or good works.  It is by faith alone in Christ alone (all done in the heart and mind) lest anyone should boast.

 

 

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