Horror Hotel (aka City of the Dead) (1960)

Rather fine short horror movie, made in the UK with the actors doing American accents. A great beginning with the witchiest-looking witch you ever saw (well, without green makeup at least), atmospheric middle and striking end make this a real pleasure, and whilst it isn’t scary, it is atmospheric, creepy and rich, with some great scene-setting and sudbued, well-written characters and plotting. It also has some amazing parallels with Psycho (which came out just 3 months before), including a similar twist where the audience is misdirected about who the main character is, some fine black-and-white photography, right to a horrific reveal at the end.

It also resembles another great horror movie of 1960, the Italian production Black Sunday, and in fact I think Horror Hotel, despite the grindhouse title, is a better movie than Black Sunday. It also shares plot elements with the later Wicker Man, as noted by Danny Peary in his Guide For The Film Fanatic.

And I didn’t even mention it has Christopher Lee in a central role (doing an American accent too).

Produced by Milton Subotsky, who went on to found Amicus pictures.

Well, worth watching.