mark.waltz Satanistic horror films will not be for every taste. They are spooky. They are nightmare inducing. They give you the heebie jeebies about the unknown elements of the underworld. Unlike Dracula, the Frankenstein monster, the Wolf Man or other famous horror movie creatures, Satanistic themed horror films warn us of an element of humanity out there that God-fearing Christians, Jews, Muslims and Buddhists try to avoid. Even atheists, with their non belief of any deity (good or evil) might find themselves creeped out or uncomfortable in dealing with the feelings that emerge when confronted with the world of Satan worshipers or witchcraft or other elements of evil that involve casting spells or placing hexes. The good news is that a good majority of these show the perspective of good triumphing over evil, and if you are an audience like me, you might find yourself screaming at the TV screen as the villains get what is coming to them, especially with the element of surprise that erupts on your first viewing of films like this. Only the evil Nazi's of those propaganda filled World War II movies can stir me up more, but the reaction is the same. I want these vile people to suffer for the torment they put decent people through in order to achieve a despicable goal.I keep finding in my classic film search more gems of the horror genre that I was unaware existed. Many are wretched third rate, Z grade cheapy's, but even a few cheapy's can be quite good, and this is one of those. Fortunately color free, this becomes all the more chilling and atmospheric with its black and white photography in its Massachusetts set small community who in the 1600's attempted to burn witch Patricia Jessel at the stake. Having just seen "Saint Joan" on Broadway, the idea of anybody burning to death is cringeworthy, but this witch is a vile, cursing creature who obviously deserves her fate, and in the background, Christopher Lee is seen praying for the return of Satan after having just denounced Jessel. The skies start thundering and rain appears, resulting in laughter from the sinister looking female about to be barbecued. Fast forward 300 something years later to a modern day university, and discussions of the underworld and Satanism lead by Lee leads student Venetia Stevenson out to the small town where this took place where nothing seems to have changed but the decay of the buildings. She ends up in an old inn where Jessel reappears as the innkeeper, politely checking her in, and inevitably leading Stevenson to her fate.Like Janet Leigh in "Psycho", Stevenson makes a dramatic exit, although it's unclear as to what happened. Her brother (Dennis Lotis) sets out to find her, and meets minister's granddaughter Betta St. John who had earlier lent Stevenson a book on the occult. It becomes very clear that this town is still stuck in its 17th Century ways, that strangers are not welcome unless they are ripe for the heinous ambitions of those who remain, and that some sort of spell has turned this community into an evil variation of Brigadoon where nobody who pops in unexpectedly is guaranteed to leave alive. The tension builds up, more revelations are brought out, and some really twisted events bring Lotis and St. John together where they must pull out all their faith to fight the forces of darkness that here seem possible to destroy. The film reminds me of the two part TV movie "Dark Secret of Harvest Home" with a bit of the gothic soap opera "Dark Shadows" thrown in. Jessel reminds me of "Dark Shadows'" matriarch Joan Bennett, but there's nothing kindly about her outside her passive/aggressive politeness that is easy to see through. She's one of the great forgotten screen villains, and gets a great exit. This is one film you must watch without distraction, but not before you go to bed. It is the stuff that horrific nightmares are all about!

Tweekums Student Nan Barlow is fascinated by the lectures given by Professor Alan Driscoll on the subject of witchcraft in seventeenth century New England and tells him of her intention to spend a fortnight investigating the subject in the area. He suggests that she goes to the town of Whitewood in Massachusetts and stay at the Raven's Nest Hotel. She heads there and finds a particularly spooky town with constant swirling mists and strange locals. She explores and is warned to leave by the vicar. After that she goes to a shop run by the vicar's granddaughter, Patricia, and borrows a book. It tells of witchcraft and devil worship in the area… particularly of interest is the story of Elizabeth Selwyn who was burnt in the site of the hotel in 1692. Talk of what happens next would spoil one's enjoyment of the film!This may be a low budget film from almost sixty years ago but it is still surprisingly creepy. It contains some good twists; including one genuinely shocking one. The town is very atmospheric… a fair portion of the budget must have gone on all the dry ice used to make the fog! There are some scary moments and a few violent moments… they may be tame by the standards of modern horror but are still effective. The cast is solid; Christopher Lee puts in an impressive performance as Professor Driscoll. The other, less well known cast members are good too; most notably Venetia Stevenson as Nan; Dennis Lotis, as her brother Richard and Betta St. John as Patricia. Overall I'd certainly recommend this to fans of classic horror.

Bezenby This one has similarities to Psycho as the heroine of the piece is killed about halfway through the film at a remote hotel, but this is a way different film about witches, devil worship, and not trusting Christopher Lee.You see, at the start of the film we get a quick intro of a witch called Elizabeth Selwyn being burned at the stake while her partner in crime Jethro watches. Turns out though she really is a witch and starts laughing! Fast forward to the end of the fifties, and student Nan Barlow is all hooked on the history of witches by her teacher Christopher Lee, who suggests that if she's so interested in witch burnings, she should head for the New England town of whitewood and check out the history there.This she does, much to the protests of her boyfriend and her teacher brother. Heading to Whitewood, she discovers that the place has a really bad fog problem like some late eighties Italian film director has been let loose on the place, the locals are creepy bastards who love staring at her, and the landlady of the local hotel is a dead ringer for Elizabeth Selwyn! Don't worry though, her name is Mrs Newless, although it's not established if her first name is Htebazile.After meeting a grand total of two friendly people in town (the blind priest and his granddaughter), Nan's in serious trouble from devil worshipper and disappears. It's up to her brother and boyfriend to get to the bottom of what's going before someone else is sacrificed for Satan.Very atmospheric, not to mention foggy, with a lot of visual references to fire, great use of shadow with even a noirish quality to it all, Horror Hotel may not be the most eventful film but certainly has a certain vibe to it all. Loads of echoes of this in future films like Messiah Of Evil and The Devil's Rain. Nice to see Christopher Lee being part of a group of bad guys rather than the main bad guy - it also reminded me a bit of Carnival of Souls too

Lee Eisenberg Since Christopher Lee died recently, I decided to watch one of his movies in his memory. The one that I found is "The City of the Dead", called "Horror Hotel" in the US. This story of a small town in Massachusetts that burned witches centuries earlier is sort of a corny movie, but a really fun one. And boy is Venetia Stevenson one hot babe! (somewhere between Carol on "Mister Ed" and Emmeline in "It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World") I would call Patricia Jessel's characters the most interesting in the movie. Her soft voice and eerie gaze gave me the impression that Norman Bates's mother was like this back in the day (and the movie has a number of similarities to "Psycho"). But I mostly liked seeing Christopher Lee. I've never seen a movie of his that I didn't like. From Count Dracula to Lord Saruman to Count Dooku to the Nazi in "1941" to the assorted appearances in Tim Burton's movies, Lee was an actor on whom you could always count. You're sure to like this movie.