"Superstition, fear, and jealousy."
A perfectly adequate, little, spooky movie. The black and white is adding a lot here with this short horror movie.
Set during the time it was made - 1960 - yet feels like a period piece when we are in the town of Whitewood - fun fact: Whitewood is the foggiest town in North America.
So, the movie is pretty to-the-point: witches in a town, people go to said town, murder.
_The City of the Dead_ is by no means a classic, but it was a fun watch, and does more right than wrong. My main problem was when the '60s era really killed the mood, either with the music or the college students trying to sound like hepcats. Dig it, daddy O.
Obviously, Lee is amazing here, but so is Patricia Jessel - who may be an actual wicked witch. Who I was surprised by was Venetia Stevenson, va-va-voom! There is a moment where she strips down to her unmentionables, and while I'm sure it was shocking during the time, it's very tame by today's standards, nevertheless, still super hot!
I totally recommend this for fans of subtle, black and white horror from the era.
Finally, there is a Rob Zombie sample early on.

I think there is more fog in this movie than in “The Fog”. Venetia Stevenson, whose daughter was the inspiration for the Guns N’ Roses song “Sweet Child O’ Mine” and was married to Axl Rose, is absolutely stunning…what a beauty. She has some decent acting chops as well. Another fun fact, her likeness has been printed on Sweetheart Stout bottles and cans since 1958. Anyway to the movie…more fog machine please. The beginning part of the movie has the witches declaring their souls to Satan which may have been edgy at the time and seemed almost as if it was a different film with a darker tone. The acting is above average for a horror film and takes a little bit of the bad taste out of your mouth at having been fed plot points repeatedly. In classic horror film fashion, the lead ignores all the clues, even though she reads them out loud to the audience, and [spoiler] she goes into the basement anyway. [/spoiler] This is a good movie even though the writers let you know at every turn what lies ahead. Literally…there is a guy at a stop giving directions and unheeded advice throughout the film, and another one that hitches rides at a turn towards town that is an omen of bad things to come.