Re: The best & worst of Amicus Horror -- The Music of Universal Horror and Drama Films

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Date Posted: 04:06:20 11/23/13 Sat
Author: Tim
Subject: Re: The best & worst of Amicus Horror
In reply to: r 's message, "The best & worst of Amicus Horror" on 18:26:14 11/21/13 Thu

Amicus was a British movie production company that gave Hammer some competition in the 1960s and 1970s. Most of my favorite Amicus pictures were the anthology films featuring a number of shorter tales.

Dr Terror's House of Horrors (1965)
Directed by Freddie Francis.
Hammer stars Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee appear in the first of the Amicus anthology films. Of the five stories my favorite is "Disembodied Hand" with Christopher Lee as a self-centered art critic.

The House That Dripped Blood (1971)
Directed by Peter Duffell.
This one has four segments, all based on stories by Robert Bloch, with a house serving as the common thread. The best story is "Waxworks," with Peter Cushing as a recently retired gentleman who becomes obsessed with a figure in a wax museum. "The Cloak" is another memorable one, with Jon Pertwee and Ingrid Pitt.

Tales from the Crypt (1972)
Directed by Freddie Francis.
Five stories from the EC horror comics of the 1950s are adapted into film form. "And All Through the House" is the best known, with Joan Collins facing an escaped lunatic who is dressed as Santa Claus. The story was later adapted for the HBO Tales from the Crypt series. "Poetic Justice" is my personal favorite, with Peter Cushing as a kind, gentle man who falls prey to a vindictive neighbor.

Other Amicus anthology pictures included Torture Garden (1967), Asylum (1972) and The Vault of Horror (1973).

The final Amicus production was The Monster Club (1980) with Vincent Price and John Carradine. It was yet another anthology picture, with three stories. It's not as good as many of the earlier films, but is worth seeking out for its great cast.

The House That Dripped Blood
Waxworks
Uploaded September 5, 2011
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=njJ2Aa9QehY

Tim

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[> [> Re: The best & worst of Amicus Horror -- DAN, 14:15:45 12/23/13 Mon [1]

It's been a while since I've seen the Amicus Horror films. Though I liked the Horrors from Hammer better, many of the Amiscus films were quite good. And like Tim, I enjoyed the anthology films best. Especially the films that he listed.

The first one I saw was "Dr Terror's House of Horrors" in the theater when it first came out in 1965 and I took it for a Hammer production until a little later when I realized it wasn't from Hammer.

One of my favorites non-anthology was "I, Monster" starring Chris Lee and Peter Cushing.
It was another take on the Jekyll and Hyde story with the names changed to Dr Marlowe and Mr Blake. The movie had mixed reviews, but I thought Lee did a good job as the Jekyll/Hyde characters.

Actually the only ones that were kind of boring that I didn't care for were:

The Deadly Bees
The Terronauts
They Came From Beyond Space

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