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Amicus: A Subtle Madness
The story is your basic heroine fighting a witch at the local inn surrounded by mass amounts of dry ice. As a kid of the early '70s, I bugged the crap out of my folks to see every movie that had a scary name or was promoted by posters containing horrific imagery. A typical Citizen Dave scenario back then: Citizen Dave: "Mom, Dad, can we go to the drive-in and see The House that Dripped Blood?" Parents: "Hell no, off to Sunday school you go!" So I had to resort to reading the paperback version of these cinematic gems at the local drugstore. The films that stood out in my mind made use of those actors with funny accents who fought big-bosomed vampires at the pub; I mean castle. Years later, I found out that Hammer Studios was to be credited for many of the horror titles. But the films that burned into the dark recesses of my pre-pubescent psyche were by the Hammer adversary, Amicus. During the '60s and '70s, Hammer, Tigon and Amicus were all rivals for the throne of British horror. Hammer's approach was good vs. evil played out with lots of blood and sex. Tigon was the exploitation studio of the group that would focus on the film market of the time and churn out a lesser product. Amicus concentrated on tales of subtle madness and revenge with little gore. Both Amicus and Hammer employed the directing talents of Freddie Francis and British stars, Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee (Cushing and Lee where one of the most famous duets in horror history, defining the roles of Van Helsing and Count Dracula; Baron Frankenstein and the monster). |
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Amicus (Latin, meaning "friends") got its first break when it was asked to co-produce City of the Dead (1960), a UK film set in the US that starred Christopher Lee. The story is your basic heroine fighting a witch at the local inn surrounded by mass amounts of dry ice. The film was a great success but it took several more years for Amicus to make the transition to producing horror films full-time. The small company, run by Max Rosenberg (who handled accounting) and Milton Subotsky (a former WWII cameraman and American who handled the writing and producing) eventually began making some of the most significant horror films to come out of Britain. Subotsky had a love for fairy tales and ghost stories, so he left for Britain to shop around horror scripts to studios. He approached Hammer, where his welcome was short received after claiming that their films were too long. Because of a brief stint as a television editor, Subotsky was inspired by short 15-20 minute storylines pieced together. This anthology format went on to epitomize the Amicus style. |
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The first of these anthology films, Dr. Terror's House of Horrors (1965), brought together the talents of Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee for the first time at Amicus. The story consists of Dr. Schreck (Cushing) as a fortune teller on a train who reveals the fates of four passengers with tarot cards. The viewer gets to witness Subotsky's gift of constructing four different narratives all on course to one final destination: death. Amicus's second anthology was 1967's Torture Garden. Burgess Meredith runs a sideshow carnival where four viewers are permitted to go inside and have their future told. Two more popular anthology films were The House that Dripped Blood (1970) and Asylum (1972), both scripted by Robert Bloch. In The House that Dripped Blood, the stories revolve around the disappearance of a famous horror star and his connection with a strange house and the history behind it. Again we are treated to four stories involving voodoo, witchcraft and vampires. With Asylum, Bloch was at his best: a candidate for the asylum director must guess among four inmates which one was his predecessor. The previous anthologies opened the doors for the popular Tales from the Crypt (1972) and Vault of Horror (1973) stories based on EC horror comics. Ralph Richardson was the Crypt Keeper in this series that was played for laughs more than scares. EC comics were not pleased with the results, which kept a third anthology series from happening. |
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Amicus also produced several non-anthology films based on short stories by Robert Bloch. The best-known film was The Skull (1965), because it brings together once more the talents of Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee in leading roles. The two stars play antique collectors of the occult who are involved with the skull of the Marquis De Sade and its powers. Subotsky added footage to the ending that induced a surreal, nightmarish quality. Once again, his editing techniques saved the film when Amicus realized the story was too short to be declared feature length. Another film worth mentioning for its silliness is The Deadly Bees (1966). An obvious attempt to compete with The Birds (1966), islanders are terrorized by a fully developed group of killer bees. Subotsky also returned to the classics by adapting The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde into I, Monster (1970). As later Amicus pictures went, the story was flat and too long. It's a shame that you can't find or rent most of the titles mentioned in this article. The Tales from the Crypt series are available but weak in comparison to The House that Dripped Blood and Asylum. One can only be inspired by the editing and storytelling of madness that does not rely on gory details but settles in on the suggestion of a horrible action. By today's horror movie standards, it's a shame that studios can't go back to the day when fear was worth the price of a ticket. |
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