In 1964, American producers Milton Subotsky and Max J. Rosenberg team up to create Amicus Productions, a small independent film company based in Shepperton Studios, England. Among the first films they release is Dr. Terror’s House of Horrors, a portmanteau horror film starring Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing. They quickly become closely associated and compared to Hammer Films to which their films share many similarities: directors such as Freddie Francis, stars such as Lee and Cushing, and stories that cover gothic, horrific content (even though Hammer Films at that time were mostly based in Victorian England and Amicus films were mostly based in the present). For most of the next two decades, Amicus would specialize in anthologies, producing some of the best, most entertaining films of that type. What follows is a general overview of seven such gems from Amicus Productions.
Dr. Terror’s House of Horrors (1965)
Director Freddie Francis is hired to helm Amicus first and signature anthology film, Dr. Terror’s House of Horrors. Producer Milton Subotsky handles the writing chores. Unlike many of the anthologies that preceded it, would utilize a framing sequence to bind the five short stories together; a technique Amicus would employ in all the anthologies that follow. The framing story for Dr. Terror is staged within a train’s cabin confining five strangers and a fortune teller going by the name Dr. W. F. Schreck (Doctor of Metaphysics) on a trip from London to Bradley. One by one, the good doctor tells each passenger’s fortune revealing the horror of their future. A bearded Peter Cushing, sporting bushy eyebrows, strikes an impressive visage as Dr. Schreck in a reserved, yet campy, performance.
The first of the five stories is Werewolf in which an architect is hired to remodel an old family home; however, he soon uncovers the family secret and unleashes a feral nightmare buried in the cellar. The second tale is Creeping Vine where a vacationing family returns home to find their home invaded by a vicious plant with a mind of its own. Next up is Voodoo where a jazz musician traveling in the Caribbean where he unwisely steals the music played at a voodoo ceremony, music the voodoo spirits are not willing to share. In the most memorable tale, Disembodied Hand, a famous art critic runs over a painter who has repeatedly humiliated him, only to find the artist’s disembodied hand returns from the grave to seek revenge. The final story, Vampire, tells the tale of a doctor who discovers his new wife is one of the undead.
Along with Peter Cushing as Dr. Schreck, Dr. Terror’s House of Horrors has a large cast of horror icons and Hollywood and UK film stars. Christopher Lee stars opposite Michael Gough in the Disembodied Hand. A very young Donald Sutherland stars in Vampire with Jennifer Jayne and Max Adrian. Musician Roy Castle headlines Voodoo. Werewolf stars Neil McCallum, Ursula Howells and Katy Wild. Alan Freedman, Ann Bell and Bernard Lee star in Creeping Vine.
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