18 April. Rome's Palazzo delle Esposizioni presents "An Encounter with Roger Corman", hosted by Mario Sesti, followed by a screening of Corman's 1961 classic horror film "The Pit and the Pendulum".

Set in 16th-century Spain, the disturbing Gothic-style story is based on the work of Edgar Allan Poe, and follows a young Englishman who visits a castle to investigate his sister's mysterious death.

The film's horrific revelations include ghostly hallucinations and violent deaths, as well as a performance by the king of horror himself, Vincent Price.

Born in 1926, Corman is an American film producer, director and actor who received an Honorary Academy Award in 2009.

He is aknowledged as being influential to directors including Francis Ford Coppola, Martin Scorsese, Ron Howard, Peter Bogdanovich and James Cameron, and he also helped to launch the careers of actors such as Jack Nicholson, William Shatner, Peter Fonda, Dennis Hopper and Robert De Niro.