I saw this when I was around 12 or something, when it was on TV late one night and I never forgot it. I had been desperate to see it again ever since but could never remember what it was called, and for some reason I remembered Peter Cushing playing Christopher Lee's role. I looked up the plot on the IMDB plot search and found it, so I got the DVD and its just as brilliant as I remember. Really atmospheric and haunting. Im so glad I found it.
shareI must be a bit of an exception. I never liked this film much when I saw it as a kid, yet I rediscovered it as an adult and now am quite fond of it. Overall, I think it's very atmospheric, although the attempts at being spooky are sometimes overdone almost to the point of laughter. Still, the ending is fabulous, one of the best ever for any horror movie.
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Actually I have to disagree with you on the ending. While I thought most of the film was top-notch, the climax was kinda weak to me. The 'shadow of a cross' is all that is needed to destroy a witch? There were crosses all over that cemetery, you would think one or more might cast a shadow on a witch even by accident at some point. Why would the witches even allow any crosses to be present in the cemetery? If they've been around for 300 years and basically own the town, they should have removed the crosses a long time ago. I still give the movie 7/10 but it would have been higher with a more sensible conclusion.
Also, why would the old minister stick around in town, with no congregation left? Why did the witches even let him live this long? Why did the minister let his grand-daughter even come to the village, let alone set up a shop there, given the inherent danger? And didn't the grand-daughter do any kind of research to determine if opening an antiques store in that location was even viable? The town was very much 'dead' (in every sense of the word), it did not appear that she was going to be making any money. The gas station attendant even said 'no one goes to Whitewood.' I actually thought the minister was a ruse being used to lure the grand-daughter and that he himself was a witch, but no, he turned out to be legit. Too bad, him being a witch would have been a good plot twist.
another great old 60's horror movie.love them in black and white.saw
this one in theater and tv.was a kid in san jose calif used to have
a movie house that showed 3 movies all the time.like 50cents to get in.
spend whole afternoon watching movies mostly monster films.great.
I saw it by mistake. I set my DVR to record Bride of the Monster, but the station played this in it's place. At first I was rather upset, but I greatly enjoyed this film despite that.
shareI bought this movie last week and watched it now. I had seen it once a couple of years ago on tv late night. And even though there are the cases when you remember a movie in a better way than when you watch it again, this one turned out to be even better the second time. I truly regret that such eerie and atmospheric gothic movies are not made anymore.
It used to thrill me as a teenager and it thrills me now, too - even though I´m not even 30... A great horror classic!!!
I've seen this film 3 or 4 times and I think it's really good. Christopher Lee is SO creepy in it!
"Hey! Ladies! That was fun!"
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Scott, I have lost count how many times I have seen it and never get tired of it. It is a great horror/witch movie and soooo atmospheric.
It is low budget, but some of the best movies that have come out have been too.
I bought a horror DVD collection and this was on it. I LOVE it. It's one of my favorite horror films. It's atmospheric and creepy without being disturbingly violent and disgusting like most of the horror movies or today.
share I watched this for the first time early this morning on Elvira's channel 20, which airs at 1:00am here in the bay area *northern California (which is surprising, because, I don't know why, but my thought was that she had retired some years ago, but no, it's an actual program and she looks fantastic) and found it to hold my attention all the way through for a 1960 horror genre movie.
I will NOT spoil the story, if it has not been done so already, but I was glued to the television just from the decisions the characters would make from the clues, always keeping in my the era the movie was made.
Mr. Christopher Lee is fantastic here and the hotel night attendant are both unnerving. There is something very charming about the lead actress.
I would definitely like to have this movie as my collection.
"You know, my name..."
I watched in the 1970s on Creature Feature and it was called Horror Hotel.
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