City of the Dead (film)
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| German title | City of the Dead |
| Original title | The City of the Dead / Horror Hotel |
| Country of production | Great Britain |
| original language | English |
| Publishing year | 1960 |
| length | 76 minutes |
| Age rating | FSK 16 |
| Rod | |
| Director | John Llewellyn Moxey |
| script |
George Baxt Desmond Dickinson |
| production |
Max Rosenberg Milton Subotsky Donald Taylor |
| music | Douglas Gamley |
| camera | Desmond Dickinson |
| cut | John Pomeroy |
| occupation | |
| |
City of the Dead (original title The City of the Dead ) is a British horror film from 1960. In one of the leading roles the well-known horror actor Christopher Lee can be seen.
action
On the advice of her professor Allan Driscoll, the young student Nan Barlow went to the small town of Whitewood to research witchcraft and witch burnings in New England in the 17th century. Once in Whitewood, she rents a room at the Raven Inn and meets the mysterious landlady Mrs. Newlis. The residents of the village act very strangely towards Nan. The deaf and mute maid Lottie seems to be warning her of something. A short time later, Nan is killed in a cruel sacrificial ritual in an underground cave by members of a witch cult.
Since they haven't heard from Nan in days, her brother Richard and boyfriend Bill go to Whitewood themselves to look for the student. Once there, they fall into the clutches of the Satanists who killed Nan and are now looking for a new victim to pay homage to the devil. The members of the cult are all reincarnations of witches who were burned in the 17th century and who are doomed to eternal life because of a pact with the devil. Mrs. Newlis and Prof. Driscoll also belong to the cult and seriously injure Bill during a fight. However, the young man gathers his last strength and defends himself with a large crucifix, at the sight of which the witches burn.
Reviews
The film magazine Cinema wrote that the “gruesome B-film” was considered a “mini-classic of the British horror renaissance of the 1960s” . The work is also a "classic mixture of horror and humor" . The lexicon of international films described the production as a “ridiculous B horror film” . Film critic AH Weiler of the New York Times found the film "more chuckle than creepy."
background
City of the Dead is next to its original title The City of the Dead also known as the Horror Hotel .
The film opened in Great Britain in September 1960, in the USA on September 12, 1961 and in Germany on December 13, 1963.
The film has dramaturgical similarities with Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho , which was produced and published in the same year. In both films, a young woman, who is introduced as the protagonist, goes to an area unknown to her, checks into a hotel and is stabbed to death a short time later.
Web links
- City of the Dead in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- City of the Dead in All Movie Guide (English)
Individual evidence
- ↑ cf. City of the Dead from Cinema
- ^ City of the Dead in the Lexicon of International Films
- ↑ cf. Ronald M. Hahn & Volker Jansen: Lexicon of Horror Films , Bastei-Lübbe, 1985, page 408