City Of The Dead
|
List Price: Our Price: $4.69 You Save: $5.26 (53%) Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Category: DVD See more DVD releases |
|---|
Buy this DVD movie at online store in your country
Canada
Canada
Movie Reviews of City Of The Dead
Movie Review: OVERLOOKED HORROR GEM IS A BEAUT
Summary: 5 Stars
Horror Hotel [aka City of the Dead], 1960, is simply one of the finest horror films ever made. Kudos to director John Llewellyn Moxey and company. Though brief [only 78 minutes], filmed in black and white, coming hardly noticed out of England, with no major stars [Christopher Lee not yet a big shot] and released the same year as PSYCHO [bad luck] this is, nonetheless, a marvelously atmospheric and creepy flick. No blood-splatter experts needed here as this is just plain outstanding b&w moviemaking that unsettles with both sounds and silence, space and shadows, motion, countenances and lack of spontaneity. And that opening score---that chant---geez, turn the lights back on! A macabre, mesmerizing score. All about a college student who decides do her thesis on the topic of witchcraft. She decides to gather data by staying in a creepy little New England town [Whitewood] with a remote history of witchcraft and witch burnings. Small problem: they [the witches] are still hangin around and she happens to arrive just before the Witch's Sabbath [sort of their X-mas?]. On the Sabbath the broom-riders have to sacrifice a human "at the hour of thirteen" to perpetuate their living dead status and this poor kid seems to fit the bill. The student is targeted and killed. Her disapperance actuates brother and boyfriend to go out looking for her. British actress Patricia Jessel is a gas as the resurrected witch Elizabeth Selwyn---an impeccable performance. Lee, who plays the college professor who misguides his student to her doom, has a subsidiary role in this one and is his usual wooden but sinister self. The scene where the naive student is walking through the barren streets of Whitewood at night and encounters elderly couples who pass her by, only to stop and stare back at her from a distance, is just plain eerie. Another nice scene is the sparse dance in the Hotel lobby where the wooden participants are into their thing, the dance gets faster---then everybody's gone. Indeed, Moxie's skilled acceleration, deceleration and abrupt stoppage of chants, music and motion provides a uniquely unsettling feeling throughout. Geez, how about the craggy old priest in his abandoned Church [the witches have taken over Whitewood] whose face sinks into the darkness of his spurned house of worship warning all to leave the condemned town. Overall, a simple storyline but masterfully crafted and, I believe, one of the all-time greats of the horror genre. You've gotta see this one after midnight, with the lights out and definitely under the covers. After watching this one you'll remember never to tell a stranger in your neck of the woods that you've not seen them about in your area before, lest he reply: "... To have seen me is a special privilege...reserved for a chosen few ".Movie Review: A superb classic black magic entry (details)
Summary: 5 Stars
This is the British (and superior) version of the 1960 film that was re-titled Horror Hotel (1960) and egregiously edited for viewing in the United States, (chiefly in drive-in theaters.) It's a superb example of what an innovative director can achieve within a small budget when s/he is armed with a first-class script and competent actors.
The story: A somewhat sinister college professor [Christopher Lee] captures the interest of an attractive female student in his lectures on black magic and witchcraft in early New England. In the face of outspoken protesting by her boyfriend, she ultimately decides upon a solo field trip to a small hamlet (which Lee specifically recommends) where a witch was once burned for practicing her black arts, said witch having cursed the town and all its inhabitants (for generations to come!) as she was devoured by the flames.
This film is incredibly atmospheric and psychologically creepy and, as one might suspect, Christopher Lee [The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (Widescreen Edition) and The Mummy) shines as he always has in such films. The movie is actually better in its black-and-white photography than it would have ever been in a color presentation, an aspect which makes this film stand out in the classic horror genre.
The movie also features actors Dennis Lotis, Betta St. John, Patricia Jessel, Valentine Dyall, Norman Macowan, Ann Beach, Tom Naylor, and Venetia Stephenson. George Baxt penned the screenplay (from an original story by Milton Subotsky) and John Moxey was the director. The compelling filmscore was composed and conducted by Douglas Gamley. This is a Vulcan Films production in cooperation with Britannia Films.
In addition to the film itself, the special features options include an available voice commentary audio track by Christopher Lee himself! An interview with director John Moxey is also quite interesting and informative.
In summary, I think that even folks who only occasionally view this genre of films will enjoy this terrific entry. It garners my highest recommendation.
Movie Review: A Chris Lee Gem!
Summary: 5 Stars
Christopher Lee has been an amazing actor, and in the twilight of this career at over 80 years old he is still doing fine work in The Lord of the Rings Trilogy and Star Wars II and III(coming). However, most of us grew to love his body of work back in the period of Hammer Studios heyday. Hammer, to lovers of horror, gave us some of the greatest film. Cheap on budget, high on quality, they gave you fun from vampires, to outer-space monster to witches. Directed by the marvelous John Llewellyn Moxey, Horror Hotel was it's alternative title.Chris Lee is Professor Alan Driscole, in Massachusetts in the US, and he is teaching a course on the witchcraft burnings of a near by town called Whitewater, similar to the Salem hysteria. A student, Nan Driscole, is looking to do more in-depth research, so Driscole suggests she travel to Whitewater and sends her to stay at an inn there on her winter vacation. Raven's Inn is run by Mrs. Neils, a friend of Driscole, and she welcomes Nan though says the hotel is closing. Nan learns a witch, Elizabeth Sewlyn. was burned on the spot where the inn stands. Newlis is a strange woman and it quickly becomes apparent there are dark doings at Raven's Inn. Nan is welcome for reasons Nan knows nothing about, and quickly finds herself marked for sacrifice.
When Nan fails to return, her brother travels to the strange village that seems trapped in time. It is dark, brooding and literally reeks atmosphere (as only good Black and White horror films can!). Nan is not to be found and Mrs. Newlis claims Nan left after only a few days stay. However, the woman who runs the bookstore believes something happened to Nan and helps him in trying to find out what.
A eerie Black and White film that is super for a late Saturday night horror fest! The Quality of the transfer is super crisp!
Movie Review: City of the Dead
Summary: 5 Stars
In this undermentioned British Horror film, a young college student, Nan, sets off to investigate the small New England village of Whitewood on her professor's lead with the hope of uncovering new information on witchcraft for her term paper. After her disappearance, her boyfriend and brother return to the town only to discover that she has been chosen to be sacrificed by the town's evil inhabitants! Director John Moxey creates all of the same stunning atmosphere found in Mario Bava's BLACK SUNDAY and the Hammer films through the dark Gothic settings and brilliant lighting effects. Whitewood is drowned in eternal darkness and a creeping fog that settles on the weathered streets, buildings, and central graveyard of the village, as figures creep in and out of view in the nightmarish town. Christopher Lee's manipulative grasp on the characters provides him with another sinister and imposing role as the film's heavy. CITY OF THE DEAD is one of the most beautifully shot, atmospheric, and eerie British Horror films outside of the Hammer series, making it a must-see Gothic Horror entry.
**It is important to note that the film is widely available in the public domain under its American release title HORROR HOTEL, however VCI's release of the film is the only fulled restored version in America, and has been completely remastered with brilliant picture and sound. This is the only way to view the film.
-Carl Manes
I Like Horror Movies
Movie Review: Satanist and Witchcraft a Good Chistopher Lee Mix
Summary: 5 Stars
I have never watched to many british horror flicks but I have heard good things of this Christopher Lee movie. The atmosphere is dark throughout the who movie which is nice for a black and white movie. I find black and white movies sometimes lack the ability to bring dread to the viewer but being this is the first black and white movie I have seen with satanist and witch craft I was surprised. Christopher Lee actually has less screen time then I expected but he pulls it off whenever he enters. Seeing satanist burst into flames at the sight of a crucifix is kind of a b movie moment but still good. The ending was kind of weak and b/c of the ending in my mind the whole movie left me thinking it would of ended on a darker note instead of the way it did. Christopher Lee is great and his voice always resonates in any movie he is in (I mean his actual voice by the way). Special features include a interview with Christopher Lee which is a nice plus. The one things this movie made me want was more darkness and more dread overall still a very good watch all the way through.