The City of the Dead.

Review #1283: The City of the Dead.

Cast: 
Christopher Lee (Alan Driscoll), Dennis Lotis (Richard Barlow), Patricia Jessel (Elizabeth Selwyn / Mrs. Newless), Tom Naylor (Bill Maitland), Betta St. John (Patricia Russell), Venetia Stevenson (Nan Barlow), Valentine Dyall (Jethrow Keane), Ann Beach (Lottie), Norman Macowan (Reverend Russell), and Fred Johnson (The Elder) Directed by John Llewellyn Moxey.

Review: 
Sometimes the most interesting little gems are the ones that come from England. Or perhaps ones from folks trying to make due with a small reasonable budget, which is the case here with this one from Vulcan Films. Two producers that worked on this film (Max Rosenberg and Milton Subotsky) later went on to form Amicus Productions (a British company headed by Americans) four years later, which dealt primarily in horror entertainment (which I've covered before with films such as They Came from Beyond Space and Tales from the Crypt), which generally had at least one name actor included in the film, which proves true with this one as well. Instead of gothic horror like fellow horror company Hammer, Amicus generally dealt its horror in the present day, with this being the story of a town wracked with a curse after having burned a witch at the stake in 1692. The film had its story done by Milton Subotsky (who also served as co-producer) while its screenplay was written by George Baxt, who eventually got into writing crime fiction. It was originally meant to serve as a pilot for a horror show with Boris Karloff (who would host two anthology series in the decade with Thriller and Out of This World).

The American version (known as Horror Hotel) notably omitted dialogue in the opening sequence involving the curse being a product of a deal by the witch to the devil. The version I watched is the original, which is generally easy to find in the public domain, so the film does roll along with fair ease. With a 76 minute run-time and a budget of 45,000 pounds, the film sure knows how to deliver a tense atmosphere early, with plenty of fog and black-and-white photography to make for a creepy time, complete with calm North American accents said by British people, which goes alright. The cast is fine to watch play out on screen, with Lee being capable as always, even when not needing to play a ham or someone with a few lines from time to time (the case for this one, although seeing his eyes go big when describing the witch burning is fun). Lotis and Naylor make for an okay duo, though the highlight generally falls to Jessel, who can give a chill or two along with the rest of this odd town. The look of the film (with encompassing fog on a compact soundstage) is a key highlight, where one can feel creeping terror in the air without having to ask for more. It has plenty of the horror tropes to follow along with that range from odd townspeople, mysterious disappearances, and other such weird things. It does so without needing to show much blood or anything really grisly, until around the climax anyway, evading being completely paint-by-the-numbers with fair craftsmanship. On the whole, this is a fairly imaginative little film, going by the motions with no problem while leaving its viewer with a fair bit of curiosity to go along with some creeps, which makes this a fine one to recommend.

Overall, I give it 7 out of 10 stars.