Originally titled The City of the Dead, Horror Hotel by British director John Llewellyn Moxey is set in small town America and combines folk horror with supernatural horror to present a story of witchcraft and evil cults.
The movie’s backstory of a witch Elizabeth Selwyn (Patricia Jessel) being burnt at stake in the 17th Century in Whitewood, Massachusetts, brings viewers to the present day (1960) to follow college student Nan Barlow (Venetia Stevenson) who travels to Whitewood to research the history of witches in the area. The hotel where Nan stays has everything to tell and show her about her research interest. But will she live to share what she sees there?
Horror Hotel followed the ‘50s trend of black and white photography and to good effect. The movie keeps both mystery and thrill in the plot alongside the scares of the familiar witchcraft story. Setting it in Massachusetts, albeit in a fictional town, in the late 17th Century also seems a smart touch as it correlates with the historical Salem witch trials. The atmosphere of a desolate place infected with evil gives the movie its creepy effect.
Since the success of Terence Fisher’s Dracula (1958), Christopher Lee became a necessary ingredient of gothic horror cinema. Horror Hotel casts him as history professor Alan Driscoll whose lectures spark Nan’s curiosity about witchcraft and leads her to the den of evil. The housekeeper at the hotel Lottie (Ann Beach) and other supporting characters help keep the movie interesting. The background music also adds notably to the scares and thrills of most scenes. The ending is average with a somewhat interesting closing shot supposed to reveal a point in history but not very climactic.
Horror Hotel was released well over 60 years ago but remains good enough to enjoy on a scary movie evening.
