The City of the Dead (1960)

AKA: Horror Hotel

300 years old! Human blood keeps them alive forever!

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Release Date: Sep 09, 1960
Rated: PG-13 | Runtime: 76 Mins | Language: English
Director: John Llewellyn Moxey
Stars: Christopher Lee, Dennis Lotis, Patricia Jessel, Tom Naylor, Venetia Stevenson, Betta St. John, Valentine Dyall

Summary

A young coed (Nan Barlow) uses her winter vacation to research a paper on witchcraft in New England. Her professor recommends that she spend her time in a small village called Whitewood. He originally cam from that village so he also recommends she stay at the "Raven's Inn," run by a Mrs. Newlis. She gets to the village and notices some weird happenings, but things begin to happen in earnest when she finds herself "marked" for sacrifice by the undead coven of witches. It seems that the innkeeper is actually the undead spirit of Elizabeth Selwyn, and the "guests" at the inn are the other witches who have come to celebrate the sacrifice on Candalmas Eve. As one of them said when Nan walked away, "HE will be PLEASED."

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City of the Dead (1960) Review

What to Expect

The City of the Dead is similar to Psycho (which came out the same year) in many ways. You have the woman traveling alone at night to a forgotten hotel. She gets in over her head and doesn't make it home. Then a sibling and a lover show up to the same creepy hotel to investigate her disappearance. There's even a jump scare featuring a mummified woman in a chair. There's no dude in a dress, but the similarities are still uncanny.

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Movie Review: The City of the Dead (1960) Review

Critic Reviews:

..so overall The City of the Dead as a film is something of a low-key jewel in the crown of classic horror movies that is far from perfect thanks to some dodgy acting and overuse on certain genre trappings..

– Flickering Myth

Shot entirely on soundstages at England’s Shepperton Studios where many other classics, including Who Slew Auntie Roo? (1971), were shot, the film possesses (no pun intended of course) an air of creepiness.

– HNN

Dripping with atmosphere and rich Gothic overtones, The City of the Dead is a “can’t miss” fright flick classic!

– Horror Fuel