Amicus Productions was a British film production company, based at

Shepperton Studios Shepperton Studios is a film studio located in Shepperton, Surrey, England, with a history dating back to 1931. It is now part of Pinewood Group, the Pinewood Studios Group. During its early existence, the studio was branded as Sound City (not ...

, England, active between 1962 and 1977. It was founded by American producers and screenwriters

Milton Subotsky Milton Subotsky (September 27, 1921 – June 27, 1991) was an American film and television writer and producer. In 1964, he founded Amicus Productions with Max J. Rosenberg. Amicus means "friend" in Latin. The partnership produced low-budget ...

and Max Rosenberg.

Films

Prior to establishing Amicus, its two producers collaborated on the successful horror film '' The City of the Dead'' (1960). Amicus's first two films were low-budget musicals for the teenage market, ''

It's Trad, Dad! ''It's Trad, Dad!'' (U.S. title: ''Ring-A-Ding Rhythm'') is a 1962 British musical comedy film directed by Richard Lester in his feature directorial debut. It stars singer and actress Helen Shapiro alongside Craig Douglas, John Leyton, the ...

'' (1962) and '' Just for Fun'' (1963). Amicus is best remembered for making a series of

portmanteau In linguistics, a blend—also known as a blend word, lexical blend, or portmanteau—is a word formed by combining the meanings, and parts of the sounds, of two or more words together.

horror anthologies, inspired by the

Ealing Studios Ealing Studios is a television and film production company and facilities provider at Ealing Green in west London, England. Will Barker bought the White Lodge on Ealing Green in 1902 as a base for film making, and films have been made on th ...

film ''

Dead of Night ''Dead of Night'' is a 1945 British supernatural horror anthology film directed by Alberto Cavalcanti, Charles Crichton, Basil Dearden, and Robert Hamer. It stars Mervyn Johns, Googie Withers, Sally Ann Howes, and Michael Redgrave. Produ ...

'' (1945). They also made some straight thriller films, often based on a gimmick. Amicus's horror and thriller films are sometimes mistaken for the output of the better-known

Hammer Film Productions Hammer Film Productions Ltd. is a British film production company based in London. Founded in 1934, the company is best known for a series of Gothic horror and fantasy films made from the mid-1950s until the 1970s. Many of these involve classi ...

, due to the two companies' similar visual style and use of some of the same actors, including

Peter Cushing Peter Wilton Cushing (26 May 1913 – 11 August 1994) was an English actor. His acting career spanned over six decades and included appearances in more than 100 films, as well as many television, stage and radio roles. He achieved recognition f ...

and

Christopher Lee Sir Christopher Frank Carandini Lee (27 May 1922 – 7 June 2015) was an English actor and singer. In a career spanning more than sixty years, Lee became known as an actor with a deep and commanding voice who often portrayed villains in horr ...

. Unlike the period gothic Hammer films, Amicus productions were usually set in the present day. Although not an Amicus Productions film, a film version of

Harold Pinter Harold Pinter (; 10 October 1930 – 24 December 2008) was a British playwright, screenwriter, director and actor. A List of Nobel laureates in Literature, Nobel Prize winner, Pinter was one of the most influential modern British dramat ...

's play '' The Birthday Party'' (1968), directed by

William Friedkin William David Friedkin (; August 29, 1935 – August 7, 2023) was an American film, television and opera director, producer, and screenwriter who was closely identified with the "New Hollywood" movement of the 1970s. Beginning his career in doc ...

, was produced by the team of Subotsky and Rosenberg for Palomar Pictures International.

Portmanteau horror films

Amicus released seven

portmanteau In linguistics, a blend—also known as a blend word, lexical blend, or portmanteau—is a word formed by combining the meanings, and parts of the sounds, of two or more words together.

films; '' Dr. Terror's House of Horrors'' (1965), '' Torture Garden'' (1967), '' The House That Dripped Blood'' (1971), '' Tales from the Crypt'' (1972), '' Asylum'' (1972), '' 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. 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 Herbert Charles Angelo Kuchačevič ze Schluderpacheru (11 September 1917 – 27 September 2012), known professionally as Herbert Lom (), was a Czech-British actor with a career spanning over 60 years. His cool demeanour and precise, elegan ...

, Amicus also drew its actors from the classical British stage ( Patrick Magee, Margaret Leighton and

Ralph Richardson Sir Ralph David Richardson (19 December 1902 – 10 October 1983) was an English actor who, with John Gielgud and Laurence Olivier, was one of the trinity of male actors who dominated the British stage for much of the 20th century. He wo ...

), rising younger actors (

Donald Sutherland Donald McNichol Sutherland (17 July 1935 – 20 June 2024) was a Canadian actor. With a career spanning six decades, he received List of awards and nominations received by Donald Sutherland, numerous accolades, including a Primetime Emmy Award ...

Robert Powell Robert Thomas Powell ( ; born 1 June 1944) is an English actor who is known for the title roles in '' Mahler'' (1974) and '' Jesus of Nazareth'' (1977), and for his portrayal of secret agent Richard Hannay in '' The Thirty Nine Steps'' (1978) ...

and

Tom Baker Thomas Stewart Baker (born 20 January 1934) is an English actor and writer. He is best known for having played the Fourth Doctor, fourth and longest-serving incarnation of The Doctor (Doctor Who), the Doctor in the science fiction television ...

), or former stars in decline ( Richard Greene, Robert Hutton, and

Terry-Thomas Terry-Thomas (born Thomas Terry Hoar Stevens; 10 July 1911 – 8 January 1990) was an English character actor and comedian who became internationally known through his films during the 1950s and 1960s. He often portrayed disreputable members ...

). Some, such as

Joan Collins Dame Joan Henrietta Collins (born 23 May 1933) is an English actress, author and columnist. She is the recipient of several accolades, including a Golden Globe Awards, a People's Choice Award, two Soap Opera Digest Awards and a Primetime Emm ...

, were in their mid-career doldrums when they worked with Amicus, while others such as

Jon Pertwee John Devon Roland Pertwee (; 7 July 1919 – 20 May 1996), known professionally as Jon Pertwee, was an English actor. Born into a theatrical family, he became known as a comedy actor, playing Chief Petty Officer Pertwee (and three other roles) in ...

and Tom Baker (later the

third Third or 3rd may refer to: Numbers * 3rd, the ordinal form of the cardinal number 3 * , a fraction of one third * 1⁄60 of a ''second'', i.e., the third in a series of fractional parts in a sexagesimal number system Places * 3rd Street (di ...

and fourth incarnations of

the Doctor The Doctor, sometimes known as Doctor Who, is the protagonist of the long-running BBC science fiction television series ''Doctor Who''. An extraterrestrial Time Lord, the Doctor travels the universe in a time travelling spaceship called th ...

in the science-fiction series, ''

Doctor Who ''Doctor Who'' is a British science fiction television series broadcast by the BBC since 1963. The series, created by Sydney Newman, C. E. Webber and Donald Wilson (writer and producer), Donald Wilson, depicts the adventures of an extraterre ...

'') were at the height of their careers. ''Torture Garden'', ''The House That Dripped Blood'' and ''Asylum'' were written by

Robert Bloch Robert Albert Bloch (; April 5, 1917September 23, 1994) was an American fiction writer, primarily of crime fiction, crime, psychological horror fiction, horror and Fantasy Fiction, fantasy, much of which has been dramatized for radio, cinema and ...

, 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.

Other horror films

Amicus also produced some conventional chillers, such as '' The Skull'' (1965), '' The Psychopath'' (1966), '' Scream and Scream Again'' (1970), '' I, Monster'' (1971), '' And Now the Screaming Starts!'' (1973), and '' 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'').

Science fiction, espionage, drama

In the mid-1960s, Amicus also produced two films based on ''

'' which had debuted on television in 1963. The films, ''

Dr. Who and the Daleks ''Dr. Who and the Daleks'' is a 1965 British science fiction film directed by Gordon Flemyng and written by Milton Subotsky, and the first of two films based on the British science-fiction television series ''Doctor Who''. It stars Peter Cushin ...

'' (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 A backstory, background story, background, or legend is a set of events invented for a plot, preceding and leading up to that plot. In acting, it is the history of the character before the drama begins, and is created during the actor's prepara ...

of the TV series. Amicus also funded and produced films of other genres. ''

Danger Route ''Danger Route'' is a 1967 British spy film directed by Seth Holt for Amicus Productions and starring Richard Johnson (actor), Richard Johnson as Jonas Wilde, Carol Lynley and Barbara Bouchet. It was based on Christopher Nicole, Andrew York's 19 ...

'' (1967) was a film version of

Christopher Nicole Christopher Robin Nicole (7 December 1930 – 2 September 2017) was a prolific British writer of over 200 novels and non-fiction books since 1957. He wrote as Christopher Nicole and also under several pseudonyms including Peter Grange, Andrew Y ...

'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 Dame Margaret Drabble, Lady Holroyd, (born 5 June 1939) is an English biographer, novelist and short story writer. Drabble's books include '' The Millstone'' (1965), which won the following year's John Llewellyn Rhys Memorial Prize, and '' Je ...

's adaptation of her novel ''The Millstone'' (1965) was filmed as '' A Touch of Love'' (1969), and Laurence Moody's novel ''The Ruthless Ones'' (1969) was filmed as '' What Became of Jack and Jill?'' (1972) Amicus Productions produced a few

science fiction Science fiction (often shortened to sci-fi or abbreviated SF) is a genre of speculative fiction that deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts. These concepts may include information technology and robotics, biological manipulations, space ...

films, including a 1967 double bill of '' The Terrornauts'' and '' They Came from Beyond Space'' that were produced when

Joseph E. Levine Joseph Edward Levine (September 9, 1905 – July 31, 1987) was an American film distributor, financier and producer. At the time of his death, it was said he was involved in one or another capacity with 497 films. Levine was responsible for the ...

, who Rosenberg had previously worked with, told Rosenberg that if Amicus could produce two films for £200,000,

Embassy Pictures Embassy Pictures Corporation (also and later known as Avco Embassy Pictures as well as Embassy Films Associates) was an American independent film production and distribution company, which was active from 1942 to 1986. Embassy was responsible ...

would finance and release both of them. Amicus later produced a trilogy of adaptations of the works of

Edgar Rice Burroughs Edgar Rice Burroughs (September 1, 1875 – March 19, 1950) was an American writer, best known for his prolific output in the adventure, science fiction, and fantasy genres. Best known for creating the characters Tarzan (who appeared in ...

, including '' The Land That Time Forgot'' (1974), '' At the Earth's Core'' (1976), and '' The People That Time Forgot'' (1977).

2000s

In 2003,

Anchor Bay Entertainment The revived Anchor Bay Entertainment is an American independent film production and distribution company owned by Umbrelic Entertainment co-founders Thomas Zambeck and Brian Katz. Anchor Bay Entertainment markets and releases "new release genre ...

released a five disc

DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for digital video disc or digital versatile disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any ki ...

box-set of Amicus films in a coffin-shaped container in the UK. In 2005, Amicus was revived to produce homages to the old titles as well as original horror fare. Their first production was

Stuart Gordon Stuart Alan Gordon (August 11, 1947 – March 24, 2020) was an American Filmmaking, filmmaker, theatre director, screenwriter, and playwright. Initially recognized for his provocative and frequently controversial work in experimental theatre, Go ...

's '' Stuck'' (2007).

Resurrection of Amicus

In 2023 it was announced that Amicus would recommence film production, led by Lawrie Brewster, Sarah Daly and Megan Tremethick, with support from the Subotsky family. Amicus would produce the upcoming film ''In the Grip of Terror''. ''Variety'' reported "The filmmaker (Brewster) and his team are also starting a crowdfunding campaign to facilitate the initial stages of the project. Their goal is far more ambitious than just one film. 'Our aim is to re-establish Amicus Productions as a beacon of independent British horror', Brewster said."