The City of the Dead

I first saw this movie in the mid 70's late one Saturday night on Sinister Cinema in Portland, OR and it kind of scared the crap out of me. They replayed it about a year later and same thing: It scared the crap out of me. I have now seen it 6 or 7 times over the years including twice in the last few months with the VCI Entertainment version of the dvd.

The movie doesn't scare me like it used to, but it still amazes me how it transports me into it's own world of the fog shrouded town of Whitewood, Massachusetts. The story itself is common enough: A woman (Patricia Jessel) is burned at the stake for witchcraft and she leaves a curse on the people of the town as she is consumed by the flames. Forward 300 years to the present day and we have Nan Barlow (Venetia Stevens) as a self determined college student who decides to write a paper on witchcraft. Her professor, Alan Driscoll (Christopher Lee), gives her directions to the town of Whitewood where 300 years earlier an alleged witch was burned at the stake. She goes to the town and after a few days disappears. Her brother then goes to the hotel where she was last seen, and runs into all kinds obstacles, not the least of which is the innkeeper of the Whitewood Inn, who just happens to look exactly like the witch burned 300 years earlier, and also Christopher Lee who happens to be a long ago resident of Whitewood

There is an old, blind priest who stays in his church despite the fact that he has no congregation. His granddaughter, Betta St. John (Patricia Russell), who seems to not be a witch, and has just returned to the town to take care of her grandfather, runs the local used book and antique store. She had befriended Nan before she disappeared and is now working with her brother, Dennis Lotis (Richard Barlow), to try and find out what happened to Nan.

Of course they run into the witches along they way and there is a showdown of sorts. The strength of this movie is in it's crisp acting and smart script. Especially notable are Patricia Jessel, Christopher Lee and Venitia Stevens. Despite it's low budget, the director, John Llewellyn Moxey, has made an altogether unforgettable film. This ranks right up there with other unique horror movies such as Carnival of Souls (1962), The Wicker Man (1973), The Thing From Another World (1951), and Village of the Damned (1960).

The VCI Entertainment release is just what this movie has needed for years. An excellent transfer at 1.66:1 with two extra minutes of footage added from previous video and dvd releases. There is a commentary by director John Llewellyn Moxey and another separate commentary by Christopher Lee. There are also three interview segments with Lee, Moxey and Venetia Stevenson. Pretty impressive extras for a 40 year old low budget movie.

The commentary by Christopher Lee is interesting in that he has not seen this movie since it came out 41 years earlier. He is watching it with an interviewer from VCI who knows more about what is going on in the movie than Lee does. But Lee's ability to recall information about people and give anecdotal information is unsurpassed. He is literally a walking, talking encyclopedia of info on people he has worked with over the years.

This is one of my prize dvd's and I really cannot recommend it highly enough. The VCI version lists for around $25 but I have seen it cheaper. There are also several basic versions without the extras (or extra footage) of the movie along with another movie on one dvd. Most notably the Diamond Entertainment version where it is packaged along with Carnival of Souls for under $10.

'Horror Hotel' (sadly the copy I bought has this tacky title, which is the only thing I can fault about it) really surprised me at just how creepy and atmospheric it was. I was expecting some camp fun, but it is actually a very effective and inventive movie for such a cheap effort. The story sucks you in, and the acting for the most part is above average. Christopher Lee is billed as the star, which isn't exactly true, but he is excellent in his scenes, and Patricia Jessel is even better in a very enjoyable duel role. I also admire how director John Moxey (his movie debut. He also went on to make 'Circus Of Fear') was able to conjure up a spooky New England town with basically just a few sets and some fog. A great example of imaginative low budget horror movie making at its best! Highly recommended to fans of 'Carnival Of Souls', and 'Black Sunday'. 'Horror Hotel' isn't a great an achievement as either, but it shares some similarities in style and feel. This is one extremely underrated movie!

A more than good b/w horror movie, based on witchcraft and satanism, with a very good cast and definitely a correct atmosphere. A young collegial goes to a small Massachussets town and find a coven of three hundred years old Satan worshippers. Maybe a little dated, but still more than watchable.

This film remains under-rated and under the radar for it's atmosphere, cinematography, and editing (especially one great match-cut).

The film opens on the New England village of Whitewood in 1692. The Puritans are getting ready to burn a witch. What makes this different? For one, nobody was ever burned at the stake for witchcraft in what is now the USA - they hanged them. But burning is much more creepy and cinematic. Also, they happen to be burning an actual witch - Elizabeth Selwyn. At first she begs for help from Jethro, a puritan in the crowd. Jethro is asked if he knows this witch. He says no. As she is burning, Selwyn sends up a prayer to Lucifer that she will serve him for eternity if he curses Whitewood for her sake. Jethro sends up affirmations to Lucifer too. Note to Jethro - after this burning is over you might want to leave town because praying to Lucifer with a condemned witch is just not good form in a paranoid conformist society such as 17th century New England.

Cut to present day (1962) and a professor (Christopher Lee) is lecturing students on this particular incident on his series of talks on witchcraft. One particular student says she wants to do some field work on this subject, and the professor directs her to Whitewood and to the innkeeper of the town's inn. When the student arrives she finds it forboding, and small groups of people gather in the street and stare at her. A ghostly fog shrouds everything. Let's just say our heroine gets more than enough field work to satisfy her thesis.

Soon, back home, her brother and boyfriend get concerned and they head to Whitewood too. Let me just say that this is one of those horror fllms in which the characters refuse to acknowledge the clues/warnings that would turn most of us in the opposite direction, but then we would have no movie if everybody had their curiosity tempered by self preservation.

With cinematography by Desmond Dickinson that is wonderfully atmospheric and eerie with one of the great inspired endings to a horror film.

Eeriest scene to me? When the innkeeper at Whitewood asks the young visiting coed if she would like to join the other guests in dancing and you see them spinning and pirouetting about in perfect synchronization as though they are decorative mechanical figures dancing in a jewelry box.

I'd recommend this one today. It really holds up and the horror - though not graphic at all - is very effective.

Strangers rarely come to Whitewood...and for good reason. For it's inhabited with witches and warlocks...and Christopher Lee! He's absolutely menacing in his role of Professor Driscoll. Horror Hotel (aka: The City of the Dead) is a just an old fashioned horror story, it's even kind of creepy. I think this one is all about the atmosphere; a dark and rickety hotel located in an aging New England town that boasts an excellent use of fog that would make John Carpenter envious. It's something to be seen. Horror Hotel is slightly dated, but not too shabby. After all, "the basis of reality is fairy tales, and the basis of fairy tales is reality"