The Pit and the Pendulum (released on DVD in the United States as The Inquisitor) is a 1991 American horror film directed by Stuart Gordon and based on the 1842 short story by Edgar Allan Poe.

The film is an amalgamation of the aforementioned story with Poe's "The Cask of Amontillado", and it also appropriates the anecdote of "The Sword of Damocles", reassigning it to the character of Torquemada.

Since then it has been released on DVD as part of the "Stuart Gordon Boxset", which also includes Castle Freak, Deathbed, and a bonus disc.

[citation needed] The film was re-released on DVD on 2 August 2011 by Echo Bridge Home Entertainment.

The film was released on Blu-ray on April 30, 2013 by Full Moon and on August 12, 2013 by 88 Films in the U.K.[citation needed] The Pit and the Pendulum has received a mixed reception from critics, and currently holds a 56% 'rotten' rating on movie review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes based on nine reviews.