Movie Review: Horror Hotel (1960) directed by John Llewellyn Moxey
In 1672 Massachusetts, the tiny town of Whitewood has supposedly been plagued by witches. The townsfolk have chosen Elizabeth Selwyn (Patricia Jessel) as their scapegoat and burn her at the stake. Elizabeth curses the villagers as she is consumed by the flames. Cut to Professor Driscoll (Christopher Lee), describing the events with great enthusiasm to his small college class. Nan Barlow (Venetia Stevenson) is entranced, but her fellow student and boyfriend Bill Maitland (Tom Naylor) is openly contemptuous of the subject matter.
Since New England History is apparently Nan’s major, she wants to do her term paper on witchcraft in Colonial times, and use her next break to do some research in the actual area. Professor Driscoll suggests the town of Whitewood, where he happens to know the owner of the local hotel, Raven’s Inn. Bill is dubious about this idea, but neither he nor Nan’s brother Richard (Dennis Lotis), a science professor, are able to talk her out of it.
When Nan arrives at Whitewood, she takes a room at the Raven’s Inn from proprietor Mrs. Newless (Patricia Jessel). The one open business in town is an antique store run by Patricia Russell (Betta St. John), who recently moved back to the area to take care of her blind pastor grandfather. As it happens, the shop has a book on Devil Worship in New England that just so happens to have relevant information. Nan learns more about witchcraft than is healthy.
When they don’t hear from Nan in a couple of weeks, Bill and Richard head off to Whitewood to investigate.
This is in fact a British movie filmed under the title The City of the Dead but renamed for the American market. As such, some of the actors have difficulty keeping their American accents on point. And of course there’s that ahistorical witch burning.
I suspect many women will recognize Bill and Richard’s condescending attitude toward Nan’s interests. But while she’s right and they’re wrong about the validity and importance of her subject matter, Nan would have been better off not going off on her own and ignores a number of red flags.
Fun moment: It turns out Satanists enjoy dancing to jazz music, and not even hot jazz.
Content note: Mute maidservant Lottie is abused by her employer. Actual witches may be upset at being conflated with devil worshippers.
Overall: A movie set in America, but filmed entirely on soundstages in England, with heavy use of shadows and fog, there’s a certain amount of “off”-ness that creates an unsettling feeling. Mr. Lee is relatively subdued for most of the movie, but is still a draw here. It’s not quite up to the level of a Hammer film, but is a decent watch.
