The Vengance of the 31 Days of Cheese - Day 2 City of the Dead

We open with a witch being burned in a backlot – the town is Whitewood, Massachusetts, but It looks rather English –which is not a surprise as this was filmed in England – as the witch Elizabeth Selwyn (played by Patricia Jessel – best known I think for being the wife in A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum) is being burned she and a guy in the crowd call upon Lucifer to help them (it does seem a little late in the day to ask but well so be it) which he does by sending along rain while the crowd cry burn witch burn.

Cut to

Christopher lee in close up saying the same thing with glee in his eyes – this is apparently a course on witchcraft being given at a university (not named) and they are now going on a two week break – a pretty young girl named Nan is very taken with the subject and is going – at the professor’s suggestion – to Whitewood to do some on the ground research on witches and their history – Nan’s Boyfriend is not happy as one suspects he had other plans for nan over the break – he also thinks the whole thing is hooey as does Nan’s brother Richard who is a professor at the college as well. He is the lead really, but right now he comes across as smug jerk – which to be honest he pretty much stays that way until the end.

Anyway promising to come back for a party Nan heads off to Whitewood – is almost warned off by the gas station guy who says nobody goes to whitewood anymore – (and just how do you manage to say in business then?) she then pics up a creepy hitchhiker who also heading for Whitewood (it’s the guy in the crown in the first scene run girl run!) and of course there is fog – tons of fog, acres of fog, more fog than you can shake a stick at.

So Nan arrives at the creepy named after a raven – which isn’t going to get you a good yelp review at all – she after being told there is no room says that she was sent there by Christopher Lee. She is then given the dead meat room.

Creepy things happen – people stare at here – the blind priest in the ruined church (seriously anybody with the sense god gave a rabbit is gone by now) the guests act weirdly.

She meets one friendly face a young woman who is a grand niece or something of the priest she runs the local bookstore which just happens to have all sorts of witch books – Nan takes on loan and then after reading a bit while the music of a swinging party is going on outside her door decides to join the party which vanishes just as she finishes getting dressed. (Again I am so outta here at this point)

I have to say that Nan getting dressed is a real weird beat in this film – she takes off a standard nightgown to reveal she’s wearing a lace corset looking thing and stockings – and well wow – it comes a bit of a shock after all the New England drabness.

Well to back track a bit Nan reads to a clearly bemused landlady (it’s the Witch from the first scene run! run!) the details about how the witches would sacrifice two victims a year at the stroke of 13 – and then well course all things that the book lists happen – so instead of running the hell always she ends up finding a hidden passage and then instead of running the hell away she goes down into the passage and is of course captured and sacrificed.  Mr. Lee attends.

I must say I have my limits and to be honest when no less than three spooky things happen that would cause anybody - I say this again - with the sense that god gave a rabbit to hightail it out of this town I lose all sympathy for the unfortunate Ms. Nan.

Cut to a party with Nan’s Brother Richard and boyfriend (Bill) are drinking and looking worried because Nan isn’t there yet – and no she doesn’t show up.    Alan decides to talk to Mr. Lee about Nan. We cut to Lee, who we see killing a pigeon for Satan. I have to say the prince of darkness is pretty easy to please – if all you have to do is kill a pigeon – hell half of New York would be Satan worshipers if that was all it took.

Well Richard and Lee talk a bit and as they are talking the niece of the reverend shows up as well she was given back the book she had lent Nan she’s a bit upset about all this   Both Richard and Bill deicide to head to Whitewood.

Both Bill and Richard (with niece in tow) have similar encounter with what must be a very lonely gas station owner  - Bill ends up getting in a car crash and we don’t see him for a while after that.

Meantime Richard and the niece arrive get the same sort of weird ass treatment that Nan had gotten (oh yes there is a subplot where the hotel has a deaf mute maid who tries to warn both Nan and Richard and is killed for her troubled)

Moreover, it turns out the witches need another sacrifice and the niece is it – Richard and the blind reverend are unable to stop her from being taken but as he is dying (of course), he says the only thing that will kill the witches is the shadow of the cross.

Richard attempts to rescue the niece but proves as utterly ineffectual as his sister in this sort of thing – he ends up a prisoner of the witches being forced to watch the sacrifice – they are doing in a cemetery rather than underground this time – why? I don’t know everything really.

At this point Bill who is pretty badly hurt shows up – Richard tells him that only the shadow of the cross will kill the witches – so Bill pulls up the biggest cross he can find and starts staggering towards the witches who are burnt up one by one by the shadow – they can’t flee until the clock strikes thirteen you see .

Joshing aside this is why you should see this film it’s an amazingly shot scene almost German Expressionist in its visuals – why Bill had to pick the biggest cross around well who knows – he wasn’t well at the time.

Anyway in the end all the witches including Mr. Lee are killed except the main witch who manages to flee but as they didn’t meet their dead girl quota – Richard and the niece find her dead in the hotel looking like she had died many many years ago.

It’s actually a rather well done spooky little film – we may not able to say that about everything that we see and it does have Mr. Lee in it.

Enjoy with Vermont cheddar.