Horror Hotel (1960)

☆ ☆ ☆

Horror Hotel (1960) – J. L. Moxey

The first film from the production team that later turned into Amicus Productions, a rival for Hammer, the primary producers of horror films in England in the ‘60s and ‘70s.  It is rather quaint and clearly low budget but it manages to create an air of foreboding on a par with what Bava accomplished in (the far superior) Black Sunday (also 1960).  The plot similarly sees a collision between a reincarnated witch (previously burned at the stake) and the modern folks who run across her and suffer for it.  In this case, uni student Nan Barlow (Venetia Stevenson) is writing a term paper about witchcraft (for Professor Christopher Lee!) and travels to an out-of-the-way New England town to do some research (upon Lee’s recommendation). She stays in the local inn which is full of shadowy guests and run by, you guessed it, the reincarnated witch herself. When Nan disappears, her brother and her boyfriend travel to the town to find her. (As some point out, the plot is reminiscent of Hitchcock’s Psycho, also 1960, in this way).  They get help from Patricia and her grandfather, the local clergyman who is blind and running on empty after his long battles with the forces of evil.  The mise-en-scene, although bare bones, is suitably creepy (fog everywhere helps) and the awkward acting from the undead adds to the effects. And the final showdown has to be seen to be believed. At only 76 minutes (in this US cut, which is missing 2 minutes of material that offended religious censors), Horror Hotel is short and scary/sweet and a recommended contribution to your horror film education.