Amicus Productions
Amicus Productions is a British film production company, based at Shepperton Studios, England. It was founded by American producer and screenwriter Milton Subotsky and Max Rosenberg. Amicus is perhaps best known for Subotsky's own trademark portmanteau horror anthologies, such as Dr. Terror's House of Horrors (1964), directed by genre stalwart Freddie Francis, and The House That Dripped Blood (1970). These films, of which Amicus made several, typically feature four or sometimes five short horror stories, linked by an overarching plot featuring a narrator and those listening to his story. Amicus films are often mistaken for the output of the better-known Hammer Films, to which they are similar in visual style, and with which they share many stars, including Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee. Unlike the period gothic Hammer films, however, Amicus productions were usually set in the present day. They now enjoy a considerable cult following of their own.
Amicus Productions also produced small number of sci-fi films, with adaptations of several of the works of Edgar Rice Burroughs and, in the mid-1960s, two films based on the
then-relatively-new television series Doctor Who. Dr. Who and the Daleks and Daleks - Invasion Earth 2150 AD, the first (and still the only) big-screen adaptations of the long-running series, were filmed in Technicolor at a time when the series itself was still filmed in black-and-white, giving Dr. Who and the Daleks the additional distinction of being the first time Doctor Who had appeared in colour. In these films, Peter Cushing played The Doctor, and the backstory and continuity established for the TV series were largely ignored.
In 1968, Amicus funded and produced a film version of Harold Pinter's The Birthday Party, directed by William Friedkin, who later found fame with The Exorcist.
In 2003, Anchor Bay Entertainment released a five disc DVD box-set of Amicus films in a coffin-shaped container. In 2005, Amicus was revived to produce homages to the old titles as well as original horror fare.
Update:
British horror film label Amicus Entertainment has been reanimated by producer Robert Katz, longtime Amicus exec Julie Moldo and financier Jay Firestone.
Milton Subotsky
Milton Subotsky (b.
Milton Subotsky was born in
In 1964, with Max J Rosenberg, Amicus Productions was formed, based at Shepperton Studios,
Amicus broke up in 1975, but Subotsky continued producing. In 1980 he co-produced the TV series The Martian Chronicles, from the book by Ray Bradbury. He also worked on several adaptations of Stephen King's novels. He died of heart disease in 1991.
Max J. Rosenberg
Max J. Rosenberg (September 13, 1914 – June 14, 2004) was an influential American film producer, whose film career stretched across six decades. He was particularly noted for his horror or supernatural films, and found much of his success while working in
During his career he produced more than 50 films, on some of which he was not credited. Among the horror and supernatural films he produced were such titles as Tales from the Crypt (1972), The Land That Time Forgot (1975), and its sequel, The People That Time Forgot (1977). In 1957 he produced the first horror film in color, The Curse of Frankenstein.