HORROR HOTEL (DVD) DVD

Horror Hotel
George Baxt scripted this extraordinarily good chiller from a story by Milton Subotsky, who also co-produced. A college student (Venetia Stevenson) with an interest in witchcraft goes to the Massachusetts town of Whitewood. It's a foggy, spooky town which gets even scarier when Stevenson discovers that the owner of the Raven's Inn, Mrs. Newlis (Patricia Jessel) is in fact a 268-year old witch. Jessel sold her soul to the Devil to regain her life after being burned at the stake. The whole town is her coven, including Stevenson's kindly history professor (Christopher Lee). Stevenson's boyfriend and brother arrive to look for her and discover human sacrifices and all sorts of evil goings-on. One of the few horror films of the period which still has the power to frighten, Horror Hotel is required viewing for genre fans. ~ Robert Firsching, All Movie Guide

Cast n/a

Crew John Blezard - Art Director Freda Gibson - Costume Designer John Llewellyn Moxey - Director John Pomeroy - Editor Douglas Gamley - Composer (Music Score) Kenneth V. Jones - Composer (Music Score) Douglas Gamley - Musical Direction/Supervision George Claff - Makeup Desmond Dickinson - Cinematographer Milton Subotsky - Producer Max Rosenberg - Producer Donald Taylor - Producer Cliff John Richardson - Special Effects Desmond Dickinson - Screenwriter George Baxt - Screenwriter

Horror Hotel
The debut of director John Llewellyn Moxey (then billed only as John Moxey) is an atmospheric chiller filmed largely on studio sets with a cast that mixed veteran performers (Patricia Jessel and Christopher Lee) with young stars (the 22-year-old American Venetia Stevenson in the lead). It's a low-budget film that depends, like many of the horror films made for Britain's Hammer Studios, more on atmosphere than dazzling special effects. Released the same year as Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho, it shares that film's setup, of a beautiful young woman checking into a hotel that's a front for evil doings. Stevenson's Nan Barlow is an inquisitive college student investigating a New England town which was the scene of witchcraft trials some 250 years before. The film is less interested in making sense (the town is only partly inhabited by witches, so why don't they just take over so that none of the "civilians" can tell the outside world?) than in creating a mood of foreboding. Stevenson isn't much of an actress, but Moxey gives her enough support and offers a rousing, fiery finale in a graveyard to compensate. ~ Tom Wiener, All Movie Guide
 

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General Specifications: Language Options: Subtitle Options: Sound Processing: Additional Features: none specified MPAA Rating: DVD Discs Included: 1 DVD Sides: 1 DVD DVD Region Code: Content Length: 76 min Part of Series: Roan Group Archival Entertainment