The City of the Dead (film)

This article is about the 1960 horror film. For other uses, see The City of the Dead.

City of the Dead
Film poster under the American title
Directed by	John Llewellyn Moxey
Produced by	Max Rosenberg Milton Subotsky Donald Taylor
Written by	George Baxt Desmond Dickinson
Starring	Venetia Stevenson Christopher Lee Dennis Lotis Betta St. John Valentine Dyall Patricia Jessel
Music by	Douglas Gamley Kenneth V. Jones
Cinematography	Desmond Dickinson
Editing by	John Pomeroy
Distributed by	Trans-World Film
Release date(s)	1960
Running time	76 min.
Country	United Kingdom
Language	English

City of the Dead (US title: Horror Hotel) is a 1960 horror/thriller film directed by John Llewellyn Moxey and starring Christopher Lee and Valentine Dyall. Produced in England but set in America, the British actors were required to speak with American accents throughout.

Plot synopsis

On the recommendation of her professor (Christopher Lee), a young female student (Venetia Stevenson) travels to the fictional Massachusetts town of Whitewood to do some research into witchcraft. She finds the town occupied by the reincarnation of an infamous witch (Patricia Jessel) burned at the stake in the 17th century; in order to sustain her immortality, virgins must be sacrificed to her every year--and this year, the student has been the chosen victim.

Production

Production began on October 12, 1959 at Shepperton Studios with a budget of £45,000. Milton Subotsky was credited as the film's executive producer; it was produced by Vulcan Productions.

Comparisons to Psycho

This film has been compared to Psycho due to some structural similarities. Both films begin by establishing an attractive young blonde woman as the viewpoint character, leading the audience to assume that she will be the protagonist through the rest of the story. In both films, the blonde travels to a remote location and checks into a hotel or motel run by an eccentric manager. In both cases, the audience's expectations are shattered before the midpoint of the story when the young blonde is abruptly stabbed to death. And both films were released in the same year (1960).

Censored lines

In the American version, a few minutes of dialogue were removed, including these lines near the beginning, which fit in with and clarify the plot of the movie:

• "I have made my pact with thee O Lucifer! Hear Me, Hear Me! I will do thy bidding for all eternity. For all eternity shall I practice the ritual of Black Mass. For all eternity shall I sacrifice unto thee. I give thee my soul, take me into thy service."
• "O Lucifer, listen to thy servant, grant her this pact for all eternity and I with her, and if we fail thee but once, you may do with our souls what you will."
• "Make this city an example of thy vengeance. Curse it, curse it for all eternity! Let me be the instrument of thy curse. Hear me O Lucifer, Hear Me!"

In other media

The metal band Iron Maiden use scenes from this film in the video clip for "Bring Your Daughter... to the Slaughter". Also King Diamond uses clips in their "Sleepless Nights" video, while Rob Zombie used Christopher Lee's opening words to similarly preface his track "Dragula" from Hellbilly Deluxe. In addition, the punk band the Misfits wrote a song called "Horror Hotel" (the American release title).

The only supplier of the film became Derann Film Services.

See also

• List of films in the public domain

References

• Rigby, Jonathan, (2000). English Gothic: A Century of Horror Cinema. Reynolds & Hearn Ltd. ISBN 1-903111-01-3. 

External links

• The City of the Dead at the Internet Movie Database
• The City of the Dead is available for free download at the Internet Archive [more]
• The City of the Dead at AllRovi
• The City of the Dead at Rotten Tomatoes
• The City of the Dead at Google Videos (Adobe Flash video)

• Review of Horror Hotel aka City of the Dead at Behind the Couch