Sometime marketed under the title "The Inquisitor" this film exposes the Inquisition as a scheme by the church to redistribute the wealth to them. It correctly shows the immodest interrogation of suspected witches. The film centers around old religious debates that exist between Maria (Rona De Ricci) and her world run by the Inquisitor (Lance Henriksen). The film shows how the people relished in the torture of others.

The film was a well done "B" movie in costume, design, and direction. However the script left me a bit empty. If not for the constant stripping of Maria, I would have lost interest.

This film is available on an 8-pack I obtained from Walmart as part of their "Midnight Horror" collection.

Parental Guide: No f-bombs, sex, Full frontal nudity (Rona De Ricci)

You know real ones and not fake ones, other accuse of taking place against them. Also a lot of sexual power repressed and therefor trying to find a catalyst for all that anxiety and pain (and pressure) this causes. Lance Henriksen is as intense as one can be (which make the outtakes on the disc even funnier). And his target (one of them, but the main one) is quite the good looking woman. The way she is treated is quite something. There is some underlying social commentary and you can read some things into the movie - they are subtle to a degree and some may have liked them explored even more ... but not here. The movie concentrates on what it is trying to tell us.

Therefor the story does work, there is blood, horror and nudity to satisfy anyones need. Or offend those easily ... offended and who are squeamish. You can't please everyone - that's just the way it is. And while there are quite a few movies that have the Pit and Pendulum in their story, this is quite a decent effort to say the least. Not to mention a really great cast

I think I saw almost every movie based on Poe, and this one is probably the best. It has everything it should: good story that, although it is not faithful, does not defile original, great tense and dark atmosphere, nice balance between horror and psychological drama, music that perfectly fits, maybe the career performance of Lance Henriksen, solid acting of the rest of the crew, enchanting damsel in distress, with brief but fascinating scene of nudity, and, totally untypical for the genre, perfectly incorporated happy end. This is peak of low budget horror drama. Most sincere recommendation.

8/10