Horror Hotel (1960)

City of the Dead is a 1960 film directed by John Llewellyn Moxey and starring Christopher Lee and Valentine Dyall. It was released in the United States under the title Horror Hotel.

On the recommendation of her professor (Christopher Lee), a young female student (Venetia Stevenson) travels to the small Massachusetts town of Whitewood to do some research into witchcraft. It's a foggy, spooky town which gets even scarier when Stevenson discovers that the owner of the Raven's Inn, Mrs. Newlis (Patricia Jessel) is in fact a 268-year old witch. Jessel sold her soul to the Devil to regain her life after being burned at the stake. The whole town is her coven, including Stevenson's kindly history professor. Stevenson's boyfriend and brother arrive to look for her and discover human sacrifices and all sorts of evil goings-on.

Production began on 12 October 1959 at Shepperton Studios with a budget of £45,000. Milton Subotsky was an uncredited producer of the film — making this, what many believe, to be the first unofficial Amicus Productions film. Officially, it was produced by Vulcan Productions.

Directed by: John Llewellyn Moxey
Produced by: Donald Taylor, Max Rosenber, Milton Subotsky, Seymour S Dorner
Written by: Milton Subotsky
Starring: Christopher Lee, Patricia Jessel, Valentine Dyall, Venetia Stevenson
Crew: Cliff Richardson, Desmond Dickinson, John Blezard, John Pomeroy
Copyright: Public Domain
Format: Black + White
Duration: 78 mins
Year: 1960
Tags: Gothic, Horror, Witches

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