Although the '60s British horror film is most closely identified with Hammer, other
companies including Amicus were involved in the genre. The firm was set up by
two Americans, producer/writer Milton Subotsky and Max J. Rosenberg, and was based at Shepperton Studios.
Amicus did make films in other genres including the musical It's Trad, Dad! (d. Richard Lester, 1962), the spy film Danger Route (d. Seth Holt, 1967), and A Touch of Love (d. Waris Hussein, 1969) adapted from a
Margaret Drabble novel, but the company specialised in the horror film,
beginning in 1960 with City of the
Dead (d. John Llewellyn Moxey). Many of Hammer's personnel worked for Amicus including Peter Cushing,
Christopher Lee, and director Freddie Francis, and Robert Bloch, author of Psycho, wrote a number of their films.
The studio's distinctive contribution to the genre was the anthology film such
as Dr Terror's House of Horrors
(d. Freddie Francis, 1964), The House that Dripped Blood
(d. Peter Duffell, 1970), and Tales from the Crypt
(d. Francis, 1972). Tom Ryall, Encyclopedia of British Film
|
