The Pit and the Pendulum: Movie vs. Book The movie "The pit and the Pendulum" was nothing at all like the book. The movie started out as a man walked along the ocean to enter a huge castle. His sister had moved there when she married Dom Madena, but now she was dead. The castle was used to torture Catholics during the Inquisition. Dom Madena believes that the castle has an atmosphere of torture thick with death, and that led to the death of his sister. The doctor said she died of fright. They buried her in a tomb below the castle. As child Dom Madena saw his father torture and kill his father's brothe