31 Days of Halloween: Day 12 - Horror Hotel (aka City of the Dead)

 

If, for some reason, you're looking for a historically inaccurate film about witches in America.

Release Date: September 1960

Starring: Christopher Lee, Venetia Stevenson, Dennis Lotis, Patricia Jessel, Betta St. John, Valentine Dyall

Genre: Good old witchy horror

Plot Summary: When his sister, Nan, doesn't return home after going to the town of Whitewood to research its history of witchcraft, Richard travels there to investigate her disappearance.

Favorite Scene: Nan ventures outside in Whitewood, which is covered in fog, and all the townsfolk stop and stare at her. It's genuinely unsettling.

Favorite Quote: "Well, I don't believe that somebody in Chicago can die of a heart attack because some woman in New Orleans sticks a pin in a wax doll."

"Maybe you don't, but practitioners of voodoo claim otherwise."

Notable Trivia: No one was burned for witchcraft in the United States. I've always thought that because this was a British film (set in the U.S.), and witches were burned in Europe, that that was the reason for the error. But let's be real, how many movies/shows/books have you seen/read where this error was made? A lot.

Final Thoughts: Clearly, I'm bothered by the fact that they burn witches in this movie. But that aside, I love it. I think this is one of the darkest, creepiest older films I've seen.