The City of the Dead

Amid choral chanting, sketches of hooded devil worshippers, and dramatic orchestral bombast, courtesy of Douglas Gamley, we view the credits for City of the Dead (1960; also known as Horror Hotel, 1962).

We then focus on a burning torch and a fog-shrouded background. Among the pounding drumbeats, a mob of citizens approaches. The leader demands to bring out Elizabeth Selwyn (Patricia Jessel). Several men drag her out of her house, and citizens register fear of her. Her hair wild flies in the wind, and her eyes are filled with hatred. A woman shouts, “Witch,” and she spits at the people. When Selwyn sees a fiery stake between two women’s heads, panic begins to show on her face. “Burn the witch,” is demanded by citizens in the crowd, and Selwyn is forcibly chained to a stake, then lit on fire. Elizabeth squirms among the flames, and her body is gradually consumed by the smoke and fire. Suddenly, a storm develops, further darkening the location. “I have made my pact with Lucifer. Hear me! … Make this city an example of my curse. Hear me, oh Lucifer. Hear me!” Selwyn cries amid flames as she laughs hysterically.

We transform to today as college professor Alan Driscoll’s (Christopher Lee) snarling close-up as he rants, “Burn, witch, burn, witch, burn!” Then, in a regular voice, he continues his lecture to a few assembled students about witchcraft and the burning of Elizabeth Selwyn in 1692 in the city of Whitewood. The college students fit the formula of the hip teenager, one handsome fellow, Bill Maitland (Tom Naylor), quips, “Dig that crazy beat,” after Professor Driscoll repeats the ranting chant of” Burn, witch, burn” multiple times. Driscoll gives the boy an eye-piercing stare afterwards.

Maitland waits outside as his girlfriend, Nan Barlow (Venetia Stevenson), is asked to see Driscoll. The professor comments on her papers on the subject of witchcraft. Nan says, “I feel I need some firsthand research. I want to get the atmosphere. Find out how widespread witchcraft really was, and see what the witches were really like.” Broadly smiling, Driscoll says, “It takes a little time, you know.” Nan responds, “I have the time, my brother and I were going to spend our vacation with our cousins. What I’d really like to do is find a room in the smallest, oldest town in New England. Check through all the Town Hall records, check the libraries … make a really thorough investigation …”

Nan’s brother Dick arrives to see her. Driscoll confides in Nan, “If you’re serious about this, I happen to know the town in New England. As a matter of fact, it’s the exact place where the events in today’s lecture, Whitewood, took place.” He draws Nan a map since it’s off the beacon path. Nan argues with her brother, science professor Dick (Dennis Lotis), about changing her vacation plans, and he is upset. He scoffs at witchcraft, which insults Driscoll. “In 1692, Elizabeth Selwyn went to the stake. She was buried in the churchyard. And yet, three years later, a new wave of blood sacrifices broke out in the village. The daughters of the elders were found murdered with every ounce of blood drained from their bodies. Afterwards, people came forward to claim they actually saw Elizabeth Selwyn.” Dick makes a few sarcastic remarks, and Driscoll gives him the stink eye.

Later, Nan and her boyfriend Bill are at the soda shop, having a good time. Bill is upset about Nan going to Whitewood because he thought they would spend their vacation together. But Nan clearly takes witchcraft and the supernatural very seriously. Later, Bill talks to Dick, who respects her wish to explore something new, even if they disagree on the topic. Nan enters with her luggage and kisses Bill goodbye.

Amidst instrumental pop/jazz music, Nan drives through the fog toward Whitewood, stopping at a garage to ask the owner for directions. “Not many God-fearing folks visit Whitewood these days… if I were you…,” the old man is abruptly cut off as Nan asks for directions. Continuing through the dense mist, she encounters a man waiting in the fog, who asks for a ride to Whitewood. Nan is pleased to have the company. The man, who asks about her mission, is a face we remember from 1692—Jethrow Keane (Valentine Dyall). Nan slowly enters the village, which appears to be from the 1700s, shadowy and shrouded in mist. Ominous music plays. Nan remarks, “Just like a picture out of a history book. I feel as though I were back in the 17th century,” to which Jethrow replies, “In Whitewood, time stands still.” She notices that the town looks rundown, with a broken-down cemetery in front of their destination, the Ravens Inn. While grabbing her luggage, Nan turns back and notices Jethrow has disappeared. She walks into the Inn and stands alone in the dark, at the check-in desk in front of a fireplace. A plaque honoring the burning of Elizabeth Selwyn is displayed. The hand of a deaf-mute, sadness shadowing her face, taps Nan on the shoulder.

A stern woman slowly descends the stairs and says, “That will be enough, Lottie (Ann Beach).” The innkeeper, Mrs. Newless, is clearly Elizabeth Selwyn. The woman refuses Nan a room, claiming they are all full, but when Professor Driscoll is mentioned, Mrs. Newless offers her a room just off the lobby. As the women go inside, Jethrow mysteriously appears in the lobby. When Mrs. Newless leaves, Nan begins to unpack but trips over a trap door hidden beneath a rug. Over a raging fire inside the lobby, Newless and Keane discuss all the people who traveled so far for the festivities, noting what a delight Nan is.

Nan enters the lobby, suggesting she’ll tour the town. Jethrow smiles and says, “He will be pleased!” Even though it’s dark and foggy, Nan encounters another couple outside during her investigation, while another man exits the church. An old man blocks the church door as Nan tries to enter. The man sternly identifies himself as the reverend of this church, Reverend Russell (Norman MacOwan), who rarely sees strangers. The reverend tells Nan to leave immediately, warning, “That for over 300 years the devil has hovered over this city and made it his own … evil has triumphed over good … leave Whitewood tonight! I beg of you. Leave before it’s too late.” The reverend, who stares ahead strangely, is blind. Leaving the church, two women stop and stare at her. Nan then wanders into another building, The Parish House, run by a woman, Patricia Russell (Bette St. John), who returned to Whitewood only weeks ago to organize her recently deceased grandmother’s antiques and old books. She allows Nan to borrow an ancient book on witchcraft in New England.

Back in her room, she carefully studies the book and takes notes. Suddenly, she hears choral chanting in the distance. Nan decides to put her ear to the trapdoor in the floor, and the singing seems to grow louder. Nan rushes outside her room to report that she heard strange noises, and Mrs. Newless says it might be the pipes. She mentions that the noises seem louder in the basement, but Newless explains the cellar doesn't extend as far as her room. Nan asks why there is a trap door in her room, and Newless explains that the ground was filled in many years ago to strengthen the building’s foundation. When Mrs. Newless enters Nan’s room, there is no noise to be heard.

With many couples dancing in the main lobby, Lottie comes into Nan’s room with a pile of towels Nan does not need, and she starts to write on a pad of paper when Mrs. Newless abruptly enters the room and snaps at Lottie not to bother the guests. Nan shares some incidents that occurred in the Ravens Inn in the 1700s. Just as the girl in the ancient book died after the Coven stole something personal from her, Nan has misplaced a locket and can’t find it. Tempted by the dance music in the lobby, Nan decides to put on some clothes and join them. However, the instant she steps outside the room, the music ceases, and no one appears in the lobby, except Mrs. Newless. She tells Nan most of the guests have gone to services, since it is Candlemas Eve. And Nan returns to her room to find a dead bird with a spike through its body, just like the story told in the old volume.

As the clock strikes 12, choral music reappears. Outside, in the dense mist, several hooded figures appear walking somewhere. An ancient key has been provided to her, and she opens the trap door, noticing that a staircase appears, and that the ground has not been filled in. With a flashlight, she slowly descends the stone stairs, fighting cobwebs and centuries of dust. After she descends to the bottom, two hooded men grab her, putting a hand over her mouth momentarily. She screams in panic as a stone wall comes down behind her. They drag her along until she enters a room where the hooded Coven waits around a stone altar. As Nan continues screaming, the witches smile and chant. Mrs. Newless claims she is Elizabeth Selwyn, holding a large metal dagger raised over her head, and as the dagger plunges into Nan’s body, we cut to her friends and relatives cutting a birthday cake. Imaginative before this edit became a cliché.

As often noted, the female lead of the movie is ritualistically murdered halfway through, an obvious parallel to Psycho, where Janet Leigh is a victim of Norman Bates halfway through the movie. But who really knows who first created this trope, and does it really matter?

Vulcan Productions was a precursor to the more widely known Amicus Productions. Still, while City of the Dead might be Milton Subotsky’s initial horror production, it remains the best, far surpassing all the subsequent Amicus productions. Just as Orson Welles had Citizen Kane as his debut production, it is sad to think that over his long career, he never surpassed it. And Subotsky had to live with that fact, even if most of his productions were more financially successful. But Amicus rode the Hammer wave to success.

And why is City of the Dead his best? The black-and-white photography, thick movie fog hiding imperfections, rivals Black Sunday in creating a visual masterpiece, generating suspense and mood through its set-bound visuals and sound. It's a perfect marriage of sound and visuals, with a well-crafted scenario, including Christopher Lee in a significant role. Plus, we get the period horror of 17th-century Whitewood linked to modern college students played by twentysomethings performing as teenagers (made famous by American-International and other American studios in the 1950s). We cleverly parallel the ancient with the modern. What Amicus production rivals City of the Dead?

Celebrating Suzie’s birthday with a cake, her brother and Suzie worry about Nan, who hasn’t yet appeared. The doorbell rings, and Dick Barlow suspects Nan, but it's her boyfriend Bill, who notes that Nan is never late for anything. And Bill further adds, “She hasn’t written a letter in over two weeks.” Bill asks Dick to phone the Ravens Inn and see if Nan has left. Dick hangs up in shock, saying the operator says there is no such place as the Ravens Inn.

Meanwhile, back at the Ravens Inn, Mrs. Newless returns the book Nan borrowed to the shop’s owner, Mrs. Russell, explaining that Nan had to leave quickly. As the curator departs, Lottie slips something into her hand. The woman steps outside to confront two investigators from the Sheriff’s Office who are looking into a missing person report for Nan Barlow. They call Bill, informing him that Nan checked out two weeks ago. Dick plans to visit a colleague, Professor Driscoll, who is currently wearing a sacrificial robe and killing a pigeon with a metal spike. Then the doorbell rings, and Driscoll quickly washes his hands and discards the robe.

Nan’s missing, and she’s been missing since the night she arrived in Whitewood,” Dick shares. Driscoll says he has known about the Raven’s Inn since he was born in Whitewood, and he says Nan seems like a girl who can take care of herself. Barlow agrees, and he thinks he will retrace her steps to find her. Just as Barlow is leaving, the curator from The Parish House arrives, asking about Nan Barlow. The day after she arrived, she disappeared. Mrs. Russell asks for Nan’s address, as she has something to return. When the woman leaves with the address, the professor sports a very sinister face, closing the door behind her. The curator gives Bill and Dick Nan’s necklace, the one that Lottie slipped into her hand. “Strange, I don’t think she wanted Mrs. Newless to know I had it … she runs the Inn.”

Asked about her views on witchcraft, Mrs. Russell says she doesn’t know, but she is beginning to agree with her grandfather, the Reverend Russell, who says, “That there is something evil about the village … that on these nights, the dead come to life.” Then Bill offers that one of these nights is Candlemas Eve, and he shows Dick a drawing of a ritualistic sacrifice that occurs on such a witches' holiday from the borrowed book.

Mrs. Russell is once again driving through dense fog to go home to Whitewood, as she spots another man waiting in the mist. It is again Jethrow Keane, who asks if she is the Reverend Russell’s granddaughter. And when they reach their destination, Keane, as usual, disappears. Jethrow and Mrs. Newless talk before the raging fireplace in the Ravens Inn, noting that tomorrow is the Witches’ Sabbath.

That night, Dick makes the pilgrimage to Whitewood, again traversing pea-soup mist and stopping at the same garage Nan stopped at. This time, Dick observes the road sign directions, and Jethrow Keane does not await him. Bill closely follows behind, stopping for directions at the very same garage. Bill crashes his vehicle when he witnesses visions of Elizabeth Selwyn burning at the stake, laughing hysterically. Bill manages to climb out of the burning car, obviously hurt, and passes out.

Luckier Dick manages to arrive at the Ravens Inn and enters the lobby with Lottie and Mrs. Newless. Mrs. Newless tells him the inn is closing in two days, but he insists upon staying till then, renting the same room his sister stayed in. Asking questions about Nan, Mrs. Newless is not very helpful. As Dick enters his quarters, Jethrow is seen hiding in the shadows of the lobby. Dick is soon outside, focusing on the church, wanting to catch up with the Russells again. The blind Reverend Russell exits the church to confront unknown forces, while Dick wanders by. The same citizens who stopped and stared at Nan stare at him.

Dick stops at The Parish House and sees Mrs. Russell, who is happy to see him. Dick says the people are afraid of something. You just don’t think it’s my imagination?” Mrs. Russell states. Dick answers her by saying, “Who’s to say where imagination ends and truth begins?” Bill then asks to see the book that Nan borrowed.

We cut to Lottie as Keane and Newless enter the scene. They see Lottie’s door open as she writes on a pad. Sneaking up on her, Keane grabs the pad away from her. Seeing what she wrote, Newless says, ”I warned you, Lottie!” as Keane chokes her to death on her bed.

While Dick is reading the ancient book on witchcraft, Reverend Russell and his granddaughter enter from the fog outside. Mrs. Russell introduces the two men. And all three sit down to be more comfortable. The reverend is tired but ready to explain the horrors of the village. “I don’t have the strength these days against the fight against evil that besets this village. The people are the creatures of the devil; they know no other God! Satan was never stronger than at this present time. For 200 years, the people of Whitewood have observed a ritual that mocks the church’s teachings,” Russell says. For years, I fought against the witches, but the master took away my sight. “I know these people have a pact with the devil, to worship him and do his work. In return, they get eternal life. And to seal this bargain, they must sacrifice a young girl on two nights of the year: Candlemas Eve and the Witch’s Sabbath. Of course, the Witch’s Sabbath is tonight. Dick hurriedly exits to talk to Mrs. Newless.

After Dick leaves, Pat Russell finds a dead bird pierced with a metal spike, and an ancient herb is hanging on the door. “Shut the door!” the reverend yells. Reverend Russell says this is the Devil’s sign, that Pat must leave here. But when she hops into her car, it fails to start, with some residents claiming they wrecked it. Then, calling Dick, she says she’s in terrible danger, and her conversation erupts into screaming as Dick runs for her, Mrs. Newless smiling. Arriving at a dark house, the reverend falls out of a closet, barely alive. He tells Dick to use the cross, “The shadow of the cross,” to destroy the witches. Then Russell slumps downward, dead. At this moment, an injured Bill has walked to town, and in agony, passes out as Dick carries him to his car. Returning to his room and looking at a tombstone in the cemetery, there is one for Alan Driscoll, burned at the stake a long time ago. Trying to make a phone call in his room, which is never connected, he hears the weird chanting emanating from the trapdoor. He opens it and descends. Walking around the rocky tunnels and dust, the stone wall automatically opens, and Dick explores what lies behind it. The chanting grows louder, and he retrieves a pendant from the floor. Exploring further in the darkness, flinging away spiders, he comes across the corpse of Lottie.

Exploring a little further, he comes upon the sacrificial altar, where the devil worshippers (greatly diminished in number) are about to kill Pat Russell. “We’ve been waiting for you,” Elizabeth Selwyn exclaims. Out of the shadows emerges a robed Professor Driscoll, whom Dick shoots at, without any positive result. They quickly exit a graveyard mausoleum where the remainder of the Coven awaits. While Dick is restrained, Pat is placed on an outdoor altar as Elizabeth Selwyn raises the sacrificial dagger and places it on her neck, waiting for 13 o’clock to strike. At the same time, a significantly injured Bill emerges from the car headed for the graveyard. Selwyn throws her dagger into Bill’s back as he tries to lift a wooden cross from a grave. But Bill only manages to slump to the ground. But Bill starts to move and unearth the wooden cross again. One cult member approaches Bill, still with a dagger in his back, as he waves the cross, and suddenly the cult member bursts into flame, screaming. As Bill grows nearer to the altar, he engulfs more hooded Satanists in flame. But they dare not sacrifice Pat until the clock strikes 13! As Bill approaches, all the cult members are nestled in the fire, including Driscoll. They flee screaming, as Dick rescues Pat from the altar. After a long struggle, Bill finally falls down dead.

A hooded body lies slumped in Mrs. Newless’ chair. Dick, examining further, whips the hood back and reveals a burned and dead Newless, a second parallel to Psycho. Then we pan upward to revisit the wooden sign commemorating the burning of Elizabeth Selwyn in 1692, as end titles appear.

Director John Moxey is mainly responsible for City of the Dead rising above its budgetary limitations. He masks imperfections with dense, moody fog, employs some fog-saturated sequences for maximum horror and suspense, stages the entire film on modest soundstages where the sets are used effectively, uses several inspiring edits, includes some well-timed jump scares, and delivers some outstanding performances from his cast. This is a chiller I can watch again and again, and I always enjoy it.

CHRISTOPHER LEE AS PROFESSOR ALAN DRISCOLL

THE MOB APPROACHES ELAZABETH SELWYN! NOTICE THE SET BOUND SOUND STAGE AND MASSIVE FOG TO INCREASE MOOD. THE PHOTOGRAPHY IS STUNNING.

ELIZABETH SELWYN IS CHAINED TO A SAKE AND SOON PUT AFIRE.