The City of the Dead (1961)

Thanks for the memories!

I like movies that are aware of what they are selling... without [any] greater aspirations than to make people laugh and that's it.

It's entirely possible that sending the audience out feeling lousy was intentional

A film of deceptively outspoken contemporary relevance, this is cinema at its most alert, alarming and alive.

Satanistic horror films will not be for every taste. They are spooky. They are nightmare inducing. They give you the heebie jeebies about the unknown elements of the underworld. Unlike Dracula, the Frankenstein monster, the Wolf Man or other famous horror movie creatures, Satanistic themed horror films warn us of an element of humanity out there that God-fearing Christians, Jews, Muslims and Buddhists try to avoid. Even atheists, with their non belief of any deity (good or evil) might find themselves creeped out or uncomfortable in dealing with the feelings that emerge when confronted with the world of Satan worshipers or witchcraft or other elements of evil that involve casting spells or placing hexes. The good news is that a good majority of these show the perspective of good triumphing over evil, and if you are an audience like me, you might find yourself screaming at the TV screen as the villains get what is coming to them, especially with the element of surprise that erupts on your first viewing of films like this. Only the evil Nazi's of those propaganda filled World War II movies can stir me up more, but the reaction is the same. I want these vile people to suffer for the torment they put decent people through in order to achieve a despicable goal.I keep finding in my classic film search more gems of the horror genre that I was unaware existed. Many are wretched third rate, Z grade cheapy's, but even a few cheapy's can be quite good, and this is one of those. Fortunately color free, this becomes all the more chilling and atmospheric with its black and white photography in its Massachusetts set small community who in the 1600's attempted to burn witch Patricia Jessel at the stake. Having just seen "Saint Joan" on Broadway, the idea of anybody burning to death is cringeworthy, but this witch is a vile, cursing creature who obviously deserves her fate, and in the background, Christopher Lee is seen praying for the return of Satan after having just denounced Jessel. The skies start thundering and rain appears, resulting in laughter from the sinister looking female about to be barbecued. Fast forward 300 something years later to a modern day university, and discussions of the underworld and Satanism lead by Lee leads student Venetia Stevenson out to the small town where this took place where nothing seems to have changed but the decay of the buildings. She ends up in an old inn where Jessel reappears as the innkeeper, politely checking her in, and inevitably leading Stevenson to her fate.Like Janet Leigh in "Psycho", Stevenson makes a dramatic exit, although it's unclear as to what happened. Her brother (Dennis Lotis) sets out to find her, and meets minister's granddaughter Betta St. John who had earlier lent Stevenson a book on the occult. It becomes very clear that this town is still stuck in its 17th Century ways, that strangers are not welcome unless they are ripe for the heinous ambitions of those who remain, and that some sort of spell has turned this community into an evil variation of Brigadoon where nobody who pops in unexpectedly is guaranteed to leave alive. The tension builds up, more revelations are brought out, and some really twisted events bring Lotis and St. John together where they must pull out all their faith to fight the forces of darkness that here seem possible to destroy. The film reminds me of the two part TV movie "Dark Secret of Harvest Home" with a bit of the gothic soap opera "Dark Shadows" thrown in. Jessel reminds me of "Dark Shadows'" matriarch Joan Bennett, but there's nothing kindly about her outside her passive/aggressive politeness that is easy to see through. She's one of the great forgotten screen villains, and gets a great exit. This is one film you must watch without distraction, but not before you go to bed. It is the stuff that horrific nightmares are all about!

RELEASED IN 1960 and directed by John Moxey, "The City of the Dead" (aka "Horror Hotel") takes place in Massachusetts when a curious college gal (Venetia Stevenson) vacations in the remote village of Whitewood to investigate its infamous roots in witchcraft/satanism. When she doesn't return her brother (Dennis Lotis) and her boyfriend (Tom Naylor) come to find out what happened. Christopher Lee plays her solemn professor while Patricia Jessel appears as the town's hotel proprietor. Betta St. John plays the the only normal person in the strange hamlet.The movie was released in the UK at the same time as Hitchcock's "Psycho," but this one went into production six weeks earlier. I point this out because they share a plot similarity that was groundbreaking at the time (which I'm not going to give away). The film appears set bound, but it doesn't really matter since it was shot in B&W. Regardless, there's an effective spooky ambiance with fog galore. The intelligent and winsome Venetia Stevenson shines as the principal protagonist. WATCH OUT for her surprising "Whoa, Mama!" scene (surprising for 1959, when the film was concocted).FYI: The film was not released in the USA until two years later (1962), albeit with the name "Horror Hotel." Important dialogue bits from the opening burning-at-the-stake sequence were censored from the American version, which was the version I viewed. Key scenes were used in the Iron Maiden video for their song "Bring Your Daughter to the Slaughter" (1990).THE MOVIE RUNS 78 minutes and was shot at Shepperton Studios, Shepperton, England. WRITERS: George Baxt (screenplay) & Milton Subotsky (story).GRADE: B+

A curious student visits a mist enshrouded village to investigate the historical case of a witch burned at the stake, but she finds more than she expected ...Wonderful opening scene - although not original, the madness of the faces sets the mood for what is a fairly straight horror thriller that sadly doesn't follow through the emotional arcs of its good guy characters. The witch is played brilliantly, and the camera loves some of these actors, including Lee. However the opening is followed by several scenes where the dialogue is clunky and on the nose, as the themes are nailed on. At the start of the third act there's a lame sequence of car journeys, and the fight scenes are lame and hobbled.The village location is all studio, so a very creepy atmosphere, although they overdid it with the dry ice machine. Particularly good is the placing of disquieting villagers in the gloomy streets and the odd looking characters picked out by car headlights. Also the reverend in his church retreats into shadow almost perfectly in the last utterance of his warnings. And there's a good match cut with a birthday cake.The music swings from full on strings, to mellow jazz - the latter makes for a memorable scene of couples dancing with strange intimacy, but there's also an inappropriate accompaniment to a scene in a car. Also one more hiccup with the sound - count the bell tollings.Overall, not so original and fairly uneven in the script,direction and editing, but it has some great sequences and beautifully eerie moments. Also interesting to see the comparison from other reviewers to another 1960 movie. And on the Lovecraft trail, maybe Dagon is another good comparison. Wickerman too.

Since Christopher Lee died recently, I decided to watch one of his movies in his memory. The one that I found is "The City of the Dead", called "Horror Hotel" in the US. This story of a small town in Massachusetts that burned witches centuries earlier is sort of a corny movie, but a really fun one. And boy is Venetia Stevenson one hot babe! (somewhere between Carol on "Mister Ed" and Emmeline in "It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World") I would call Patricia Jessel's characters the most interesting in the movie. Her soft voice and eerie gaze gave me the impression that Norman Bates's mother was like this back in the day (and the movie has a number of similarities to "Psycho"). But I mostly liked seeing Christopher Lee. I've never seen a movie of his that I didn't like. From Count Dracula to Lord Saruman to Count Dooku to the Nazi in "1941" to the assorted appearances in Tim Burton's movies, Lee was an actor on whom you could always count. You're sure to like this movie.