Beebo and I kicked off the season of watching scary movies last night--kind of a day early, but it was a dark and rainy night, so I didn't want to squander it. We watched City of the Dead (aka Horror Hotel), a nice, efficient little witchcraft story from 1960. It's about a cursed Massachusetts town called Whitewood, where it's apparently always nighttime, and they have a serious fog problem. It was filmed in England, but most of the cast does a passable American accent.The big name star is Christopher Lee, playing a college professor teaching a course in witchcraft. This is the kind of course you can only take in the movies, from my experience.
It also stars lovely blonde Venetia Stevenson, who was married (at different times) to Russ Tamblyn and Don Everly. The funniest (non-scary) scene in the movie has her lounging in her room (at the creepy Raven's Inn), in a big quilted robe. Hearing that there's a dance going on in the lobby, she decides to take a break from her witchcraft research and join the fun. When she takes off her robe, she's wearing a baroque and ridiculously sexy merry widow with stockings and garters. If you've ever known a woman (or are one), you know that the first thing a girl who's just sitting around by herself does is get into the most comfortable lounging clothes possible. I could buy the part about the 300 year-old witches, and the cursed town, but this is where my suspension of disbelief was stretched a bit too far!But it's a great movie--highly recommended!
