I personally love the movies released by Amicus pictures, but when British horror is discussed they seem to get overshadowed by Hammer, as a matter of fact some people mistakenly identify some Amicus releases as being from Hammer. In my opinion their films were just as good , i probably have more Amicus releases on my favorites list than Hammer releases. The company was founded by two Americans Milton Subotsky and Max Rosenberg . After Hammer had success with the CURSE OF FRANKENSTEIN in 1957 it sparked a worldwide intrest in British horror and the two Americans quickly relocated to the UK to capitalize on the trend and also Britain was giving tax incentives to movie company's who produced films in the country and forced cinemas to show a certain number of British produced films a year so you knew you more than likely would get your film shown on a large number of screens , so they founded their production company there and history was made. Even though they are now overlooked by many they were a serious rival to Hammer in the 60's and 70's . As a matter of fact both companies shared many of the same actors, writers and directors. Amicus seemed to find a niche in producing anthologies , they did not limit themselves to those films but they were by far the most well known and popular. In 1977 after two of their most successful films "The land that time forgot" and "At the earths core" and in the middle of production of the 3rd in the series "The people that time forgot" In a curious move Rosenberg abruptly quit, some say he just wanted to be back home in good ol' 'merica and the company soon there after disbanded ("People that time..... was eventually finished and released by AIP). Both men continued to work in film when they came back to the U.S , Subotsky had a minor hit in 1980 with the "MONSTER CLUB" he died in 1990. Rosenberg went on to produce the horror hits "THE INCREDIBLE MELTING MAN" in 1978 and"CAT PEOPLE" in 1982, he died in 2004. Now sadly with time , more and more people have all but forgotten about Amicus ,except for us few obsessive horror fans of course. So that being said , all my reviews in this post as a tribute ,will all be from Amicus :The studio that dripped blood. You can watch the trailers for most of the films by clicking on the link provided below the reviews.


THE SKULL(1965) Ill start with this one because its one of my all time favorites . A thief offers professor of occult studies ,Christopher Maitland(PETER CUSHING), a skull, which he claims is the skull of the Marquis de Sade. A fellow collector (CHRISTOPHER LEE) who once owned the skull warns him that it is possessed by an evil spirit and that the spirit emerges on the two nights of the new moon, the traditional nights of witchcraft and Devil worship. As the new moon arrives, Maitland finds himself being possessed and driven to unspeakable acts by the skull. Some younger folks might find this to be a little slow moving but in my opinion its just right, the tension builds slowly to an almost perfect ending, i love everything about this one ,the mood is set perfectly, hell i even like the color of the film , i saw this on late night TV when i was young and loved it , so maybe the nostalgia of it is why i still like it so much, or maybe its the evil spirit of de Sade possessing me , lol ,whatever it is, this is great and i highly recommend it.
http://youtu.be/8wSvF3msfK4

ASYLUM(a.k.a HOUSE OF CRAZIES, 1972) Here is another i saw as a youth , this time on one of my family's many trips to the drive - in were my love of horror was born.When a young doctor arrives at the Dunsmoor Asylum for the insane, he expects to be interviewed by asylum director Dr. Starr. Insted he is met by Dr. Rutherford , who explains that Dr. Starr has suffered a mental breakdown and is now one of the patients. He further explains that if Martin can deduce which one is really Dr. Starr, then he will be given the position. We get 4 tales of terror written by author Robert Bloch(of PSYCHO fame), the 1st and last are the best the middle two are o.k. Two scenes always stuck out in my mind when i was young , in the first tale a guy chops up his wife , wraps her body parts in paper and sticks them in the freezer, later they come back to life to exact revenge on him. In the last story a man makes robots with heads that look like real people someone steps on one and its filled with human innards. As i got older i couldn't remember the name of this one and i looked threw many books and magazines about horror films for years trying to figure out what it was but to no avail, finally in the late 80's i came across a video titled HOUSE OF CRAZIES and when i got it home low and behold there it was!! What i had been looking for for so long, so i went back to the rental store and persuaded them to sell it to me and its still in my collection to this day.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jjQFy-fcdOE


CITY OF THE DEAD(aka HORROR HOTEL 1960) - This is not officially an Amicus release but it was the first horror film made by the same producers of Amicus so i am including it here. This was released in America as HORROR HOTEL with about 2 min. of footage removed with dialog that dealt with satanism that the American distributors thought was too Strong for our audiences . This is an incredibly atmospheric film starring Christopher Lee as professor Driscoll who sends one of his students to the town of Whitewood to research a paper on witchcraft, the student becomes the victim of a coven of witches and later her sister comes to Whitewood to find her. Will she become a victim of the same fate that fell upon her sister? What does Professor Driscoll have to do with the mystery? She must uncover the truth before its to late!!! Great film, one of my top 10 favorites of all time, this one is creepy as hell. If your a 60's horror fan its a must see.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yzlnrLrXorw


DR. TERRORS HOUSE OF HORRORS(1965) - Another great anthology from Amicus . Five strangers board a train and are joined by a mysterious fortune teller who offers to read their Tarot cards. Five separate tales of horror unfold and by the end, the train riders learn of their true fates in a twist ending . This one stars Donald Sutherland in one of his first roles, Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing as DR. Terror/DR.SHREK . This is probably my favorite anthology from Amicus , another highly recommended film.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZQbJfNuRdrk




TALES FROM THE CRYPT(1972) - Another anthology film , this one based on stories from the EC comics of the same name. In the film, five strangers encounter the mysterious Crypt Keeper and he tells each tales that reveal the manner of their death , this one has almost the same twist ending as DR TERRORS HOUSE OF HORRORS. In my opinion its not as good as DR Terror or Asylum but still a good film, it seems tame by today's standards but at its release it was considered very shocking. The best segment stars Peter Cushing as an old man whose house is an eyesore so the neighbors try to drive him out, distraught he hangs himself and one year later his corpse rises from the grave to get revenge. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NnxFio89IU0


VAULT OF HORROR(1973 ) - Again we have an anthology pic based on an EC comics publication . Five men trapped in the basement vault of an office building share visions with each other of their demise. This time its a very uneven group of stories , its a fun movie but the results are not quit as successful as before even though it was directed by Roy Ward Baker who was responsible for some of the best Hammer movies , and once again they utilize almost the same ending as they did in the Tales.... and DR Terror... films . In my opinion there is a little too much humor injected into this one and the lack of a big name such as Cushing really hurts this one. If your an Amicus fan you'll want to see it and this in on a double feature DVD with TALES FROM THE CRYPT so money wise you cant go wrong . The movie is in color i have no idea why the trailer is in black and white.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vbJv40eM0IA

TORTURE GARDEN(1967) - Another anthology film ,this time we have four segments adapted from short stories by Robert Bloch. Each is introduced by Dr. Diablo played by Burgess Merideth(Penguin from BATMAN TV show), an evil character who runs a carnival sideshow. The doctor's audience are induvidualy told of their ultimate fates as Diabolo weaves his stories. This is probably the weakest of all of the Amicus anthologies, fact is the stories are just not scary and you can see the twists coming from a mile away. The best of all the segments is the last with Peter Cushing and Jack Palace in a story titled "The man who collected Poe". Even though its the weakest of the lot , if your a Amicus completest youll want to see it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pZYsfTJuwP0





THE HOUSE THAT DRIPPED BLOOD(1971) - Another anthology with four stories written by Robert Bloch staring Peter Cusing , Christopher Lee , in one of his few non- villian roles, and British scream queen Ingrid Pitt doing what she does best showing plenty of cleavage and portraying a vampire . A Scotland Yard investigator looks into four mysterious cases involving past residents of a now unoccupied house . All four segments are good but my favorite is the 2nd with Peter Cushing playing a man who falls under the spell of a wax figure in a house of horrors. This is one of the stronger anthology films from Amicus, right up there with "Dr. terror... "and "Asylum" and ends with a rather witty prologue delieverd by a real estate agent. Recomended.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wlfUdjxRPO8





THE DEADLY BEES( 1967) - A very popular film at the time of its release this one bosts a Robert Bloch screenplay based on the novel "A Taste of Honey "by H.F. Heard. The film was directed by Freddie Francis concerning a popular singer who goes to rest at a country estate ,when she arrives an outbreak of bee attacks start to happen by bees specially trained to kill by a crazy beekeeper. Not the best film in the Amicus cannon , no big name stars are involved but its still a fun watch , its saved by a couple of gruesome kills. It was widley reported that Francis hated working on this film, mainly because he didnt like Bloch. Sorry i couldnt find a trailer for this one

THE BEAST MUST DIE(1974 ) - Here we have a werewolf film starring Peter Cushing with a screenplay based on the short story "There Shall Be No Darkness" by James Blish. I didnt bother watching this one for years because for some reason i didnt like the title and i didnt like the synopsis on the video box. After i finally watched it i found it to be a fairly decent movie, i guess you cant judge a book (in ths case a video) by its cover. A millionaire invites a group of people to stay at his estate, where he reveals that one of them is a werewolf, and they will be submitted to various tests to see which one of them is the beast and then they will be killed. We the viewers are invited to join the fun and to help solve the mystery in a 30 second break called "The Werewolf Break" near the end of the film, the tag line for the film reads as follows - "One of these eight people will turn into a werewolf. Can you guess who it is when we stop the film for the WEREWOLF BREAK? See it ... solve it ... but don't tell!" A pretty silly film but its still a worth a watch. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=klfE_nescX0





MADHOUSE(1974) - Vincent Price and Peter cushing star in this film about a horror actor played by Price who returns to revive his most famous role,Doctor Death, years after being locked away because of a scandle, pretty soon the cast and crew begin to die in ways that portray scenes from his past films. Price must find the killer and end the madness before he himself becomes a victim. This was a fun film that was a joint release with AIP pictures, and one of the few times Price and Cushing starred together.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kl1QO7ljUIQ


FROM BEYOND THE GRAVE ( 1973) . I cant comment on this one because ive not seen it yet , i have recently found it online and will watch it and update here later , until then here is the plot summory found at IMDB: Anthology film from Amicus adapted from four short stories by R. Chetwynd-Hayes strung together about an antique dealer who owns a shop called Temptations Ltd. and the fate that befalls his customers who try to cheat him. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mcvlHU37bG0


...AND NOW THE SCREAMING STARTS(1973)- Im sorry to say that im going to have to have this thing on a downer but thats whats about to happen. They should have named this thing ...And now the sleeping starts because this is a terribly boring affair.The story concerns a family curse on the house of Fengriffen and a severed hand with a mind of its own crawling around. Its a shame this didnt work because it has all the right pieces in place , like a good director ,Roy Ward Baker , a good cast with genre vets Peter Cushing , Herbert Lom and Patrick Macnee but its just moves too damn slow and cant hold my attention. what a shame. Based on the novel "Fengriffen"(1970) by David Case.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7atpocQAqzI

WALKING DEAD TO PREMIER OCT 8

AMC is aiming for a Friday, October 8 date to premiere their zombie series THE WALKING DEAD , the show will revolve around a group of zombie survivors of an apocalypse who are in search of a safe place to live. The show is adapted from a comic book by Robert Kirkman.

Scream 4: Wes Craven was nice enough to post the first photo of GhostFace from Scream 4 on his Twitter account. Acoording to a number of sources after seeing the script and on set reports this could end up being one of the better films in the franchise.In my opinion any thing would be better than the extremly disapointing pt. 3.

BEAST OF THE YELLOW NIGHT (1971) This crazy Filipino flick stars genre vet John Ashley as a Satanist who sells his soul to the devil to keep from dying , but in turn becomes a horrible, murdering werewolf like creature that terrorizes a city and the locals are horrified and scramble to stop the beast. This is a not too bad B horror film with Ashley turning in a decent performance as he usually does, (well he does the best he can anyway with the material). This was probably a hoot at the drive in where it was shown on a double bill with THE CREATURE WITH THE BLUE HAND.


BLACK SUNDAY (1960) - This highly atmospheric Mario Bava film staring Barbara Steele, is one of my all time favorites and is considered by many to be one of the greatest horror movies ever made. The story concerns a witch who comes back from the grave to fulfill an ancient curse. Ms. Steele performs in a duel role and it launched her career as a female horror star. In my opinion Bavas best work.


BLOODY PIT OF HORROR (1965) This silly Italian cheapy stars Mickey Hargitay (Jane Mansfields husband and the daddy of that Hargitay chick on that cop show,law and order i think) as the Crimson Executioner an ex-actor who traps a number of beautiful women who are at his castle for a photo shoot and he proceeds to submit them to various medieval tortures. Fairly dumb and slow moving but it was a big drive in and late night hit in the 60's and 70's.

A BUCKET OF BLOOD (1959) - This stars Dick Miller as a wimpy waiter of a beatnik coffee shop who kills a bunch of people and animals, He then conceals them in clay and passes them off as statues and he's hailed as an artistic genius. I'm not much into horror/comedy's but I am a huge fan of this film and its one of the best known and most loved cult films ever made , if you've not watched it do yourself a favor and pick it up.

OFFSPRING(2009):The film adaption of Jack Ketchums novel Offspring is a psychotic brutal affair that lives for no other reason than shock value. The original novel is the sequel to Ketchums 1980 debut novel "Off season" which is about a feral cannibal family that feast on the residents of a small New England town, Offspring is about the return of the cannibal clan and their quest for flesh. Like most films on the subject its an acquired taste : )

THE ZOMBIE DIARIES(2006)I'm a sucker for zombie films and cinema verite / faux documentaries such as Blair Witch and this film combines the two so I'm happy .Rather than a strait forward narrative, The Zombie Diaries is a collection of three loosely connected video diaries, each of the segments depicts a different aspect of trying to survive in a zombie apocalypse. The film tends to lose some steam in the last 20 min. and has a subplot near the end which is unnecessary but over all an enjoyable film with some good tense moments. And before you go saying they stole the idea from Romero's DIARY OF THE DEAD this movie had already been filmed before that one was even announced.

THE RUINS(2008): - Well, what do you know! Ive been avoiding this one for the last couple of years just for the fact it was a big budget Dreamworks films production and assumed it was just watered down junk but it turned out to be really good!The film makers want you to think its a killer plant movie when its really about the lengths us so called rational humans will go to to survive. A special thanks goes to BIGLOTS for having this on sale for $3 or i would have never taken the chance on it.


DRAG ME TO HELL(2009)- Sam Raimi after many successful years of directing big budget blockbusters ( the spiderman trilogy, which i am a fan of) finally returns to his horror roots, and what a return it is! While not Evil Dead , this is a very good horror film about a women who has a curse placed on her by a old Gypsy and has three days to break the curse or she will be dragged to hell and throughout the three days she is stalked and harassed by supernatural forces. All the good gooey gross out moments we have come to expect from a Raimi horror movie are here ( in the unrated dvd anyway i heard the theatrical version was tame) and in typical S.R. fashion there is also some humor injected into the scares. Recommended.


GRUDGE 2 - Well i think Ive found it , the butthole of the horror movie universe ,this is total and utter junk , i didn't find the 1st one that good either but this is absolutely terrible. A seemingly separate storyline set inside an apartment building seems out of place and is very distracting, at the end they explain the connection but it does not help. The scares become very routine and there are so many characters here it becomes a jumbled mess. crap. poo. a steaming heap of excrement.


THE HAUNTING IN CONNECTICUT - Wow, i cant believe how absolutely boring this move was , 1hr 40 min. of nothing happening, i waited awhile to watch this because i heard over and over it was no good but jeez, i expected more than this, don't bother unless you need to sleep.Instead watch the Discovery Channel "A Haunting..." tv show based on this supposedly true story of a family who to be closer to the doctor who treats their son who is battling cancer, moves into an old funeral home and are terrorized by evil spirits . Not that horror movies are supposed to be believable , but you really have to suspend all logic to accept the ending here.

THE CHILDREN -This one is from Ghost House Underground films and like most of the releases from this company its a mediocre film at best. a family's Christmas vacation turns terrifying when the children turn murderess. No explanation is given for the kids sudden change and once they do change everything gets so chaotic in some scenes its more annoying than scary. Not terrible but Ive seen a hell of a lot better, this did get a ton of good reviews though so you may want to judge for yourself.

LAKE MUNGO - This is from from after dark horror fest 4 and I really enjoyed this one .This faux documentary is as much about the grieving process after losing a loved one as it is a straight forward ghost story. It takes a couple of turns in the film that makes you think its getting ready to totally fall apart but very quickly gets back on track, be sure to watch while the credits roll or you'll miss some of the story.

HIDDEN - Another one from after dark horror fest 4 , this is a Norwegian film about a guy who returns to his childhood home he ran away from 20 years earlier and is forced to confront his past. This ones got a couple of good jump scares in it and is over all a pretty effective horror movie. It kinda rolls psychological horror , ghost story and slasher all in one nice little package.

THE UGLY(1997) - In the 90's I was truly obsessed with serial killers, I read every book and watched every movie I could get my hands on, my interest in the subject has wained in the last few years but this one still resonates with me. The story follows a young man named Simon and his doctor during his psychological evaluation and we learn of his crimes through flash backs during his therapy sessions, there is also a hint of the supernatural dropped into the plot that adds to the overall creepiness . This movie really grabs you and drags you in and its not your typical serial killer film, it actually has a fresh take on the subject. Highly recommended

DOLL GRAVEYARD- B-movie director Charles Band presents his second effort under the re -booted Wizard Entertainment moniker with the low budget horror flick DOLL GRAVEYARD. This begins in the early 1900's as 12-year-old, Sophia dies at the hands of her abusive father and is buried in the backyard along with her dolls. 100 years later, the dolls are uncovered and Sophia's vengeful ghost returns to the house to protect the new owner's son from his older sister's asshole jock friends by possessing the dolls' bodies and unleashing a campy orgy of violence.

If your familiar with Bands PUPPET MASTER series of films you know what your getting into here, stupid but fun and at only 70 min. you don't have to invest to much of your time.

AMERICAN GOTHIC (1988) - Incest , rape and murder are all on hand in this 1980's slasher/thriller starring Rod Steiger and Yvonne De Carlo( t.v's Lilly Munster) . A group of yuppies charter a plane for a camping getaway, only to find themselves making an emergency landing on an isolated island. They are taken in for the night by the only inhabitants, the obsessively religious "Ma & Pa" and their crazy dysfunctional children(who are really adults kept in a state of perpetual adolescence), who seem trapped in a 1940's time-warp. This is extremely slow moving so some of you may get a little board, while not great its worth a watch.

THE CRAZIES(2010) - Well i finally watched this movie after having the DVD for a few weeks as i was not in a hurry to see it thinking it would not be anything great but alas i was wrong, i was very impressed with this one . This remake of a George Romero film actually ends up being better than the original. A military plane containing biological weapons crashes into the water supply of a small Iowa town and starts transforming the locals into crazed killers. It drags in a few areas but overall its a fine watch. A bleak and depressing film that really works because this kind of stuff is possible. scary.

TRICK R TREAT ( 2008) This is a great film in the EC Comics , CREEPSHOW vein that does not disappoint . It was selected to close out Montreal's 2009 Fantasia film fest and its comprised of five tales set on Halloween . The character Sam , is a mysterious little monster dressed in pajamas , has a burlap sack for a head and buttons for eyes, ties all the segments together by appearing briefly in each and is the main focus of the final story. I'm a huge fan of the Amicus anthology pics of the 60's and 70's and this is a good throwback to those days, absolutely wonderful, if your a horror fan you need to see this.