Horror Hotel AKA The City Of The Dead (1960)

With atmosphere practically dripping from every frame, Horror Hotel (AKA The City Of The Dead, apparently) is yet another little gem of a movie ripe for rediscovery by horror fans.

It all starts with a witch named Elizabeth Selwyn (Patricia Jessel) being burnt at the stake. This happened a long, long time ago and is now a macabre tale being told by Alan Driscoll (Christopher Lee) to a class full of his students. Not everyone takes the tale all that seriously, but young Nan Barlow (Venetia Stevenson) does. In fact, she wants to visit the site of the alleged witch activity, a small village named Whitewood, and rack up some extra credits for a paper that she's working on. Taking the advice of Driscoll, Nan goes to Whitewood and seeks a room at the hotel run by Mrs Newless . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ignorant of the fact that Mrs Newless looks a LOT like the witchy Elizabeth Selwyn. Things don't look good for Nan.

Don't come to this film looking for logic, because you won't find it. The screenplay by George Baxt, and direction by John Llewellyn Moxey, keep focus on one thing and one thing only. Atmosphere. I don't think I'd be going too far by saying that Horror Hotel is one of the most atmospheric, low-budget movies I can think of, with the exception of Carnival Of Souls.

When Nan Barlow first arrives in Whitewood it quickly becomes clear that the film is a languid nightmare, practically overflowing with dry ice in every "outdoor" sequence. The characters around her help to reinforce that feeling, with people stopping to turn and stare at the interloper, and Jessel being wonderfully evil in her role, even though she doesn't really DO much at all in the first half of the movie.

The cast may not be at the top of their game but, with Jessel and Lee underpinning the whole thing, it's not that bad. Again, this is due to the film being all about the atmosphere. Stevenson is good enough in her role, all wide-eyed naivete and vulnerability, while Dennis Lotis, Tom Naylor and Betta St. John are all decidedly average as the people heading after her, and setting out, unwittingly, to uncover the darkness at the heart of Whitewood. Norman Macowan is a lot of fun as the reverend speaking of doom and gloom.

Available in its entirety on YouTube, I encourage viewers to at least give this a watch. If you like it then please try to seek out a decent DVD to purchase. And, if you have any shopping tips, feel free to comment below and let us all know.

7/10

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The Shadow Of The Cat (1961)

Mixing together elements of Poe, Hammer and also classic Ealing Studios fare (I, for one, felt a bit of a Kind Hearts & Coronets vibe running through the whole thing), The Shadow Of The Cat is a real treat for fans of the macabre.

Andre Morell plays the main role, a schemer who is shown killing his wife, and then burying her, at the start of the movie. He is helped in this matter by the butler (Andrew Crawford) and maid (Freda Jackson). There are no witnesses to the crime, except the cat owned by the deceased. While everyone involved tries to feign innocence and ignorance as the police investigate the disappearance of the victim, the cat starts to cause tension, and even seems to be deliberately plotting against the dastardly trio.

Written by George Baxt, and directed by John Gilling, this is standard stuff in many ways. The house in which all of the action takes place is full of dark corners and creaking floorboards, the assembled characters are, for the most part, not very nice, and the one true innocent (played by Barbara Shelley) takes a hell of a long time to realise that all isn't quite as it seems. The only main difference is the fact that revenge is being planned by a cat. That should make the whole thing quite laughable and ridiculous, but ends up making it quite amusing and brilliant.

Morell is as wonderful as he usually is in his role, and the scenes featuring him alongside Crawford and Jackson are all pretty great. Shelley is as lovely as ever, Conrad Phillips does his best to help her as the dependable Michael Latimer, a young man helping out the police in their investigation. Richard Warner, William Lucas and Vanda Godsell all do just fine as the other family members who arrive at the house to ensure that they're going to receive some inheritance, and Catherine Lacey plays the ill-fated cat owner for a minute or two at the start of the movie.

Well worth your time, The Shadow Of The Cat is an unjustly neglected slice of macabre fun that deserves to keep delighting fans who stumble across it.

8/10

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Shadow-Cat-dvd-UK-Release/dp/B00IORRBN0/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1394309535&sr=8-1&keywords=shadow+of+the+cat