Horror Hotel

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"

Having not taken much time to watch older movies of this genre, I was pleasantly surprised by how comprehensive the film was.

Black and white photography rarely seems to look this good, and has been one of the things that has turned me off such films before now. The visuals in City Of The Dead are so sharp and foreboding that they serve to accentuate the small town paranoia perfectly.

In terms of the characters, Patricia Jessel as Mrs Newlis and Christopher Lee as Prof Driscoll, are supremely sinister, whilst Venetia Stevenson as Nan Barlow, is hopelessly deserving of the viewers compassion as the witches prey!

I've come to love this film, not just for the sake of the film itself, but because it proved me so wrong in my assumption that most movies of this type/age are dull, it's incredibly watchable and tense.

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.

'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!

This movie has everything you would want in an oldie B&W horror movie. Start with Christopher Lee in a typically suave ambiguous role. Add old stories of witchcraft and the dead rising from their graves, naive young girls, creepy men standing randomly on the side of the road, an old priest keeping jealous watch over his ruined church, mist rising from the road, a suspicious hotel landlady (she looks a little like Judith Anderson in Rebecca). This one checks all the boxes and is well acted by all the major characters. Time well worth wasting.