HORROR HOTEL (1960) movie review

Horror Hotel (aka The City of the Dead) (1960)d. Moxey, John Llewellyn

Three months after Psycho hit cinemas, this effective, fog-drenched Satanist feature pulled a similar magic trick, doing away with one of its main characters halfway through the film. When young co-ed Venetia Stevenson proposes a paper on New England witchcraft, professor Christopher Lee directs her to the small village of Whitewood…where she quickly finds herself a target of the resident coven. Lee is reassuring and menacing in equal measure, but Patricia Jessel deserves equal attention for her riveting dual role as elder witch and reincarnated modern counterpart. American producers Milton Subotsky (who wrote the screen story with George Baxt scripting) and Max Rosenberg’s first horror effort; its success would lead directly to the creation of Amicus Pictures, the challenger to Hammer’s UK horror crown.

Fool's Views (5/21 – 5/27)

Welcome back, fans of the flickers,

A much lighter load this time around, comparatively speaking, but admirable Scares were Shared in spite of limited opportunities. (Blame it on the nice weather and the long-awaited launch of Inherit the Wind rehearsals.) Even so, we managed to persuade a few fellow fiends to squander an hour or two before the mystical magic flat-screen window, not least of which in celebration of our last remaining old-school horror icon’s 90t birthday. Considering the breadth of work that Sir Christopher Lee has left in his wake, picking a double feature to honor him was no easy task, but I think we did all right. (For a full tilt-boogie retrospective of the man’s genre labors by yours truly, seek out the March/April 2012 issue of HorrorHound, #34)

As always, feel free to leave your two cents worth – we’ll make sure you get some change back.

Enjoy!