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I'm sure you all know the famous, then-shocking twist of Alfred Hitchcock's "Psycho." Marion Crane (Janet Leigh) is set up as the film's protagonist; the opening scene is an intimate moment between her and lover Sam Loomis (John Gavin), who can't commit until he pays his debts. So, she impulsively steals $40,000 from her boss' client. Surely the movie will be about her on the run.

Well, it is for a while, but then she makes it to the Bates Motel. She chats up polite young innkeeper Norman (Anthony Perkins), but his elderly mother sure seems creepy. With an hour to go, Marion is murdered by a knife-wielding assailant in the motel shower (a scene so scary it left Leigh scared of showers). The film's second half becomes a new story about Sam and Marion's sister Lila (Vera Miles) investigating her disappearance. They stumble onto the truth -- that Marion was killed by Norman,...

The frights of Horror Hotel are back in an improved presentation in this 2018 Limited Edition. Set in New England but filmed in Old England, this creepy shocker is a favorite not just for the presence of Christopher Lee, but also the wonderfully mortiferous Patricia Jessel and the cadaverous Valentine Dyall.

The City of the Dead

Remastered Limited Edition Blu-ray

Vci

1960 / B&W /1:66 widescreen / 78 min. / Horror Hotel / Street Date March 27, 2018 / 12.89

Starring: Venetia Stevenson, Patricia Jessel, Christopher Lee, Betta St. John, Valentine Dyall, Dennis Lotis, Tom Naylor, Ann Beach, Norman Macowan.

Cinematography: Desmond Dickinson

Production Designer: John Blezard

Film Editor: John Pomeroy

Original Music: Douglas Gamley, Kenneth V. Jones

Written by George Baxt from a story by Milton Subotsky

Produced by Max Rosenberg, Milton Subotsky, Donald Taylor

Directed by John Moxey

Vci has released an improved Blu-ray of The City of the Dead, hereby designated their Remastered 2018 Limited Edition. Having been...

By Darren Allison

City of the Dead (Aka Horror Hotel) 1960 Directed by John Llewellyn Moxey, Starring Christopher Lee, Patricia Jessel, Venetia Stevenson, Betta St. John and Dennis Lotis. Arrow 2 disc Blu-ray and DVD released: 24th April 2017

When filming began on The City of the Dead, Christopher Lee was already established as a leading horror star. Hammer was paving the way with a new brand of horror and Lee had played a huge part in their success playing the Frankenstein monster, Dracula and the Mummy. The City of the Dead provided the perfect opportunity for Lee to spread his wings further within the genre by moving into the realms of witchcraft, the occult and American gothic.

Set in a small New England village (and hardly a city as the title suggests), Lee plays Professor Driscoll, an authority on the occult who persuades one of his students Nan Barlow (Venetia Stevenson) to research his hometown of Whitewood,...

Christopher Lee isn’t only an icon for the horror community. He’s an actor who has crossed over so many genres that you’d be hard-pressed to find a circle of geekdom that doesn’t hold him in high regard. He’s wielded lightsabers against Yoda and bested Gandalf in a wizard’s duel. But guess what, non-horror nerds? He was ours first. Taking the torch from Bela Lugosi to become the definitive Dracula of his era, Lee has a bevy of horror roles to his credit which, let’s face it, he makes iconic just by playing them. So the question is, what role would be a good fit for my little column? After quite a bit of searching, I decided to go with a movie in which Lee uses something that I’ve never seen him use before: an American accent. So let’s take a look...

This horror almost-classic has Christopher Lee and great atmosphere. Keep a sharp lookout for All Them Witches: they're not easy to spot... if you're as unobservant as Venetia Stevenson's sexy grad student. Were she studying sharks, this girl would wrap herself in fresh meat and jump into the middle of a mess of 'em. The City of the Dead Blu-ray Vci 1960 / B&W /1:78 widescreen / 78 min. / Horror Hotel / Street Date March 29, 2016 / 24.99 Starring Patricia Jessel, Dennis Lotis, Christopher Lee, Tom Naylor, Betta St. John, Venetia Stevenson, Valentine Dyall, Ann Beach, Norman Macowan. Cinematography Desmond Dickinson Production Designer John Blezard Film Editor John Pomeroy Original Music Douglas Gamley, Kenneth V. Jones Written by George Baxt from a story by Milton Subotsky Produced by Max Rosenberg, Milton Subotsky, Donald Taylor Directed by John Moxey

Reviewed by Glenn Erickson

Interest has been high for Vci's new The City of the Dead, a movie...