Editing Amicus Productions (section)

== Films ==

Prior to establishing Amicus, its two producers collaborated on the successful horror film ''[[The City of the Dead (film)|The City of the Dead]]'' (1960).  Amicus's first two films were low-budget musicals for the teenage market, ''[[It's Trad, Dad!]]'' (1962) and ''[[Just for Fun (film)|Just for Fun]]'' (1963).  Amicus is best remembered for making a series of [[Portmanteau film|portmanteau]] [[horror films|horror anthologies]], inspired by the [[Ealing Studios]] film ''[[Dead of Night]]'' (1945).{{sfn|Pirie|2008|p=133}} They also made some straight thriller films, often based on a gimmick.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://horrorpedia.com/2013/09/23/amicus-films/|title=Amicus Productions – film production company - HORRORPEDIA|work=HORRORPEDIA|date=23 September 2013 }}</ref>

Amicus's horror and thriller films are sometimes mistaken for the output of the better-known [[Hammer Film Productions]], due to the two companies' similar visual style and use of some of the same actors, including [[Peter Cushing]] and [[Christopher Lee]]. Unlike the period [[gothic novel|gothic]] Hammer films, Amicus productions were usually set in the present day.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.classichorrorfilmsguide.co.uk/amicus.html|title=Amicus Films|work=classichorrorfilmsguide.co.uk}}</ref>

Although not an Amicus Productions film, a film version of [[Harold Pinter]]'s play ''[[The Birthday Party (1968 film)|The Birthday Party]]'' (1968), directed by [[William Friedkin]], was produced by the team of Subotsky and Rosenberg for [[Palomar Pictures]] International.

===Portmanteau horror films ===

Amicus released seven [[Anthology film|portmanteau]] films; ''[[Dr. Terror's House of Horrors]]'' (1965), ''[[Torture Garden (film)|Torture Garden]]'' (1967), ''[[The House That Dripped Blood]]'' (1971), ''[[Tales from the Crypt (film)|Tales from the Crypt]]'' (1972), ''[[Asylum (1972 horror film)|Asylum]]'' (1972), ''[[The Vault of Horror (film)|Vault of Horror]]'' (1973) and ''[[From Beyond the Grave]]'' (1974). These films typically feature four or sometimes five short horror stories, linked by an overarching plot featuring a narrator and those listening to his story.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=H21BB8SZuyQC&q=amicus+portmanteau+films&pg=PA139|title=British Horror Cinema|isbn=9780415230032|last1=Chibnall|first1=Steve|last2=Petley|first2=Julian|year=2002|publisher=Psychology Press }}</ref>

The casts of these films are invariably composed of name actors, each of whom play a main part in one of the stories—a small proportion of the film as a whole. Along with genre stars like Cushing, Lee and [[Herbert Lom]], Amicus also drew its actors from the classical British stage ([[Patrick Magee (actor)|Patrick Magee]], [[Margaret Leighton]] and [[Ralph Richardson]]), rising younger actors ([[Donald Sutherland]], [[Robert Powell]] and [[Tom Baker]]), or former stars in decline ([[Richard Greene]], [[Robert Hutton (actor)|Robert Hutton]], and [[Terry-Thomas]]). Some, such as [[Joan Collins]], were in their mid-career doldrums when they worked with Amicus, while others such as [[Jon Pertwee]] and Tom Baker (later the [[Third Doctor|third]] and [[Fourth Doctor|fourth]] incarnations of [[The Doctor (Doctor Who)|the Doctor]] in the science-fiction series, ''[[Doctor Who]]'') were at the height of their careers.<ref name=guardian>{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/film/2009/feb/13/british-horror-film-studio-amicus|title=Blood and gutsiness|last=Hodgkinson|first=Will|work=The Guardian|date=13 February 2009 }}</ref>

''Torture Garden'', ''The House That Dripped Blood'' and ''Asylum'' were written by [[Robert Bloch]], based upon his own stories. An exception was the "Waxworks" segment of ''The House That Dripped Blood'', which was scripted (uncredited) by Russ Jones, based on Bloch's story. ''Tales from the Crypt'' and ''The Vault of Horror'' were based on stories from [[EC horror comics]] from the 1950s.<ref name=guardian /><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.britishhorrorfilms.co.uk/drippedblood.shtml|title=The House That Dripped Blood - 1970|work=britishhorrorfilms.co.uk}}</ref>

===Other horror films===

Amicus also produced some conventional chillers, such as ''[[The Skull (film)|The Skull]]'' (1965), ''[[The Psychopath (1966 film)|The Psychopath]]'' (1966),  ''[[Scream and Scream Again]]'' (1970), ''[[I, Monster]]'' (1971), ''[[And Now the Screaming Starts!]]'' (1973), and ''[[The Beast Must Die (1974 film)|The Beast Must Die]]'' (1974). ''The Skull'' was also based on a Bloch story (though scripted by Milton Subotsky). Bloch was also the screenwriter of ''The Psychopath'' (1966), and wrote the original adaptation of ''[[The Deadly Bees]]'' (based upon H. F. Heard's ''A Taste for Honey'').<ref name=bfi /><ref>{{cite web|url=http://explore.bfi.org.uk/4ce2b76d11211|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120804063833/http://explore.bfi.org.uk/4ce2b76d11211|url-status=dead|archive-date=2012-08-04|title=The Skull|work=BFI}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://explore.bfi.org.uk/4ce2baba04713|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120806062512/http://explore.bfi.org.uk/4ce2baba04713|url-status=dead|archive-date=2012-08-06|title=H.F. Heard|work=BFI}}</ref>

===Science fiction, espionage, drama===

In the mid-1960s, Amicus also produced two films based on ''[[Doctor Who]]'' which had debuted on television in 1963. The films, ''[[Dr. Who and the Daleks]]'' (1965) and ''[[Daleks' Invasion Earth 2150 A.D.]]'' (1966), are the only theatrical film adaptations of the series. In these films, Peter Cushing played "Dr. Who", a human scientist rather than an alien, with ''Who'' as his actual surname, disregarding the then-nebulous [[backstory]] of the TV series.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.screenonline.org.uk/film/id/1273075/|title=BFI Screenonline: Dr. Who and the Daleks (1965)|work=screenonline.org.uk}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.petercushing.co.uk/historydrwho.htm|title=THE HISTORY OF THE DR|work=petercushing.co.uk}}</ref>

Amicus also funded and produced films of other genres. ''[[Danger Route]]'' (1967) was a film version of [[Christopher Nicole]]'s (writing as Andrew York) 1966 spy novel ''The Eliminator'', directed by [[Seth Holt]], the only film of the Jonas Wilde series of novels to have been filmed.

[[Margaret Drabble]]'s adaptation of her novel ''The Millstone'' (1965) was filmed as ''[[A Touch of Love (1969 film)|A Touch of Love]]'' (1969), and [[Laurence Moody]]'s novel ''The Ruthless Ones'' (1969) was filmed as ''[[What Became of Jack and Jill?]]'' (1972)<ref name=screen /><ref name=guardian /><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.britmovie.co.uk/films/What-Became-of-Jack-and-Jill/listType/alpha|title=What Became of Jack and Jill - Britmovie - Home of British Films|work=britmovie.co.uk|access-date=17 February 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150217191303/http://www.britmovie.co.uk/films/What-Became-of-Jack-and-Jill/listType/alpha|archive-date=17 February 2015|url-status=dead|df=dmy-all}}</ref>

Amicus Productions produced a few [[science fiction]] films, including a 1967 [[double bill]] of ''[[The Terrornauts]]'' and ''[[They Came from Beyond Space]]'' that were produced when [[Joseph E. Levine]], who Rosenberg had previously worked with, told Rosenberg that if Amicus could produce two films for £200,000, [[Embassy Pictures]] would finance and release both of them.<ref>p. 292 Senn, Bryan ''“Twice the Thrills! Twice the Chills!”: Horror and Science Fiction Double Features, 1955–1974'' McFarland; Illustrated edition (30 April 2019)</ref>

Amicus later produced a trilogy of adaptations of the works of [[Edgar Rice Burroughs]], including ''[[The Land That Time Forgot (1974 film)|The Land That Time Forgot]]'' (1974), ''[[At the Earth's Core (film)|At the Earth's Core]]'' (1976), and ''[[The People That Time Forgot (film)|The People That Time Forgot]]'' (1977).<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.bfi.org.uk/features/amicus-and-art-film-poster|title=Amicus and the art of the film poster|work=British Film Institute|date=4 July 2012 }}</ref>