Sharing my love of Amicus films!
I just wanted to share my love of the wonderful horror portmanteau's that Amicus films produced throughout the 60's and early 70's. They sadly don't get nearly as much love as they deserve to and are mostly, extremely unfairly, overshadowed by the output of Hammer Studios, the company credited with starting the big boom of British horror films. Although it's mostly said that Amicus and Hammer were in competition with each other during this time the reality is that both studios horror productions were very different from each other, if not in tone then certainly in style. Hammer horror films were usually gothic period pieces, typically based on classic literature such as Dracula and Frankenstein, whereas Amicus' horror films were contemporary tales of terror set in the here and now, well the here and now of early 70's middle England anyway.
Hammer films were a British outfit through and through but Amicus, despite the fact that their films were very English and boasted the cream of British acting talent, actually had a strong American vein running through them in the form of the founder of Amicus films, Milton Subotsky. Milton was an American anglophile, a huge fan of British film (in particular Ealing Studio's 1945 portmanteau masterpiece Dead of Night) and a huge fan of the wonderful 1950's EC horror comics from America such as Tales from the Crypt and The Vault of Horror. It's no coincidence that those two titles would be the names of two of my favourite horror films of all time by Amicus! The comics featured wonderfully written and illustrated short horror stories all of which ended with a shock ending, a sort of macabre punch-line if you will. The film versions of Tales from the Crypt and Vault of Horror each contain five stories of horror, taken from actual EC comic stories, all with the same style of shock/twist endings and all greatly acted out by the amazing ensemble British cast.
Amicus didn't just make portmanteau horror films of course but those are the ones I love and have done ever since I was a child and would beg my dad to let me sit up with him to watch them only to have to hide behind him as my young mind was thrilled and terrified in equal measure! I have collected them all on DVD but am now replacing them with Blu-Rays as and when they are released. To date I own the UK Blu-Ray releases of Dr Terror's House of Horrors, Tales from the Crypt and The Vault of Horror. They are uncut, boast wonderful sound and picture quality and in some cases contain new and very informative extras. The portmanteau horror films that Amicus produced between 1965 and 1974 are as follows:
Dr Terror's House of Horrors
Torture Garden
The House that Dripped Blood
Asylum
Tales from the Crypt
The Vault of Horror
From Beyond the Grave
They are all very well written and directed horror films but my top three favourites are Asylum, Tales from the Crypt and The Vault of Horror. I can watch them again and again and it's fair to say that they don't make 'em like this anymore!
Outside of Amicus' films two of the best portmanteau horror films ever made are the aforementioned Dead of Night by Ealing Studios and the absolutely brilliant Creepshow, directed by George Romero and written by Stephen King, it's just a wonderful and great fun tribute to the great EC horror comics of the 50's.