In case you haven't noticed I've added a new feature to my blog (on the right hand side of the page) with "RECCOMENDED" stuff that's non-pre-code related. To me movies and music are as vital as comics so I hope you take the time to view these trailers that I will be posting in hopes that you'll then click the link to the right and view the movie at your leisure. Hell it's FREE and streaming, and if you've never seen it before then what've you got to lose? Plus, Horror Hotel is awesome...
The movie looks great, but I don't have the patience to sit at the computer and watch a feature length movie. I did, however, throw it on my Netflix based on the trailer.
ReplyDeleteWhatever it takes... rent it, buy it, or stream it online. I'm not going to steer anyone wrong with any of the films I reccomend here on my blog. Just don't forget to post your comments here after you've watched it too! Thanks.
ReplyDeleteone of my all time favorites!!!!!! never saw the trailer so that was cool..... makes me want to watch it again now
ReplyDeleteFor a guy like me who grew up in the mid to late 60s, this flick was the most waited for ever on late night TV. I say "waited" since this was pre-VCR days. RING FOR DOOM SERVICE! Has anyone noticed the similarities there are between the storyline here and that for PSYCHO? How the seeming heroine gets offed in the first third of the film, the final revelation of the villain (here, burnt corpse; in PSYCHO--withered corpse), etc.
ReplyDeleteYou're totally right... I never thought about the Psycho similarities but they are there for sure. Both corpses are revealed seated in a chair that is suddenly turned around. Another coincidence is that both films were made in the same year 1960... though according to IMdb Horror Hotel didn't actually get released until '61.
ReplyDeleteOther neat bits of trivia from IMdb:
Ravens Inn proprietress, Mrs Newless, who turns out in fact to be none other than witch Elizabeth Selwyn reincarnate, has a phonetically reversible surname that points to her true character.
"City of the Dead" aka "Horror Hotel" was the first film made by Amicus Productions, one of Hammer's most successful rivals in the 60s and 70s. At the time of this film, however, the company was known as Vulcan Productions.
THIS IS WITHOUT A DOUBT ONE OF THE 10 GREATEST HORROR FILMS OF ALL TIME! READING THESE COMMENTS MAKES ME SUDDENLY REALIZE ALL THE PSYCHO STYLE SIMILARITIES AS WELL...... I TOO LOVE THE FACT THAT THE GIRL WE THINK IS THE HEROINE GETS KILLED OFF HALFWAY THRU THE MOVIE. AND YES, CHRIS LEE IS GOD!!!!
ReplyDeleteThe fact that she suddenly gets killed without once actually being in any real terror is what makes her death all the more frightening becasue she just naively plunges headlong into the arms of evil without ever thinking for a second she's actually in any danger. Sure some weird things happen to her along the way before she heads down into the catacombs but you can almost imagine that she never really knows what's exactly happening to her until it's too late, and by then the sacrifical blade is already entering her doomed body.
ReplyDeleteI love movies like HORROR HOTEL because,along with PSYCHO and NIGHT OF THE HUNTER,you can see that this is where the real age of "sensation over sentiment began" ,where a heroine could be killed early on,and obvious clues would obviously be overlooked on the part of a conservative audience,its here where horror has its true roots,not in BLAIR WITCH(attempt to return to subtlety my ass!)or FRIDAY THE 13th.
ReplyDelete>return to subtlety
ReplyDeleteThat's what reviewers were saying about 1408 which was probably the worst actual non-return to subtlety I ever had the misfortune to sit through.