#Amicus Productions

[vintage1981]

The Life and Deaths of Christopher Lee Kickstarts Deluxe Blu-ray Edition

The Life and Deaths of Christopher Lee mixes traditional documentary with a dash of fantasy. It is narrated by Christopher Lee himself... in the form of an elaborate marionette, voiced by Peter Serafinowicz. The marionette was custom designed and built by Arch Model Studios, who made all of the puppets for Wes Anderson's Fantastic Mr. Fox, Isle of Dogs and Asteroid City and Tim Burton's Frankenweenie. 

The film combines new, exclusive interviews with filmmakers, including Peter Jackson, John Landis and Joe Dante, friends and family members with animated flights of fantasy from a wide variety of artists including 2000AD's Simon Coleby, award winning stop-motion animator Astrid Goldsmith and the legendary illustrator Dave McKean who directed, scored and animated a whole chapter of the film himself. 

Spanning eight decades and almost three hundred films, Christopher Lee became famous for his iconic performance as Dracula. But he was so much more than just the Hammer Horror roles he is so fondly remembered for. His career took him from uncredited parts in 1950s swashbucklers with Errol Flynn, through famous performances in 007 and Star Wars films, cult hits like The Wicker Man and The Return of Captain Invincible, right up to a lead role in cinema's biggest event - The Lord of the Rings trilogy. Along the way, he worked with everyone from Orson Welles to Mario Bava, Jess Franco, Tim Burton, Martin Scorsese and Steven Spielberg. 

Yet his story is so much richer than just his career. Lee was born into Italian aristocracy, with a military career shrouded in secrecy and kept his private life closely guarded. Some of his ventures and adventures seem highly improbable yet, as the film reveals, he often found himself in unexpected situations - he witnessed the last ever death by guillotine, was cousins with 007 creator Ian Fleming, he met Tolkien, performed with the classic Saturday Night Live line-up, was a friend and neighbour of Boris Karloff, he was the oldest person to ever get on the Billboard music charts (with his own Heavy Metal album), was an expert knife thrower, professional opera singer and a Nazi hunter. And somehow, he also managed to appear in almost 300 films of both the highest and lowest quality imaginable. 

The film is finished and producers Jon Spira and Hank Starrs want to share it with you by producing a top quality Blu-Ray with great extra features and a really amazing LIMITED/NUMBERED EDITION COFFIN-SHAPED BOX SET, full of goodies, which will look killer on the shelf of any discerning cineaste. The jewel in the crown of this box-set will be a 3D 'death mask' of Christopher Lee designed and produced by Arch Model Studio exclusively for this set. They also want to host some screenings - both online and in real cinemas - so we can all experience it together and you can get to meet some of the people behind it.

Making this film has been a fascinating journey - producers excavated the British Film Institute archives where they hold Lee's personal collection of scrapbooks detailing his career in his own hand, been given access to personal photos from the family archive, they met and interviewed his closest friends and family from all over the world and we've worked with some incredible artists, puppeteers, animators, musicians and filmmakers to bring his story to the screen in the most cinematic way. Whether you're a fan of Horror, Star Wars, Lord of the Rings or just cinema history in general, we think you'll be delighted by this revealing and eclectic documentary.

Risks and challenges

The film is fully edited and ready to go. This Kickstarter is to fund the final bits of post-production and the production of a fantastic Blu-ray and deluxe collectors edition box set as we're all still committed to physical media. Please note that all illustrations of rewards are designs/prototype images. The final items might differ - we hope they'll actually be better.

#Christopher Lee #Documentary #Hammer Films #Amicus Productions #Amicus Horror #John Landis #Joe Dante #Caroline Munro #Harriet Walter #Nazi Hunter #secret agent #Dracula #Jess Franco #Mario Bava #Steven Spielberg #George Lucas #Star Wars #007

[atomic-chronoscaph]

Dana Gillespie - The People That Time Forgot (1977)

#dana gillespie #the people that time forgot #70s fantasy movies #amicus productions #kevin connor #edgar rice burroughs #ajor #caprona #70s movies #seventies #1977

[beautifultyphoongentlemen]

Art by Andrew-Mark Thompson

#my post #not my art #doctor who #the doctor #jon pertwee #hugh grant #peter cushing #christopher lee #amicus productions #whoniverse #dr who #dr who fanart #unmade movies

[chernobog13]

"Yo, Klaus! You'll never guess what I just s---"

#The Land That Time Forgot #U-33 #U-boat #dinosaur #Caprona #Caspak #Edgar Rice Burroughs #Amicus Productions

[screamscenepodcast]

Your hosts encounter a film often overlooked... it's THE CITY OF THE DEAD (1960) aka HORROR HOTEL directed by John Llewellyn Moxey!

Designed to compete with Hammer Horror, this proto-Amicus Productions film stars Christopher Lee, Patricia Jessel, Venetia Stevenson and Betta St. John.

Context setting 00:00; Synopsis 17:02; Discussion 30:42; Ranking 55:04

#podcast #horror #classic horror #uk horror #horror hotel #the city of the dead #john llewellyn moxey #christopher lee #betta st john #patricia jessel #amicus productions #hammer productions #george baxt #milton subotsky #seymour dorner #max rosenberg #donald taylor #desmond dickinson #john pomeroy #douglas gamley #ken jones #satanism #pagan #folk horror #dennis lotis #venetia stevenson #valentine dyall #ann beach #james dyrenforth #SoundCloud

[horrorpatch]

DR. TERROR'S HOUSE OF HORRORS 4K Blu-ray Release Details!

Vinegar Syndrome will release Amicus’ Productions 1965 horror anthology DR. TERROR’S HOUSE OF HORRORS 4K Blu-ray Special Edition! The disc will be released on April 30, 2024. Read on for all the disc details and specs after the break below. From Blu-ray.com Dr. Terror’s House of Horrors 4K Blu-ray Description: Five men, all strangers, board a carriage on a train from London to the town of…

View On WordPress

#Amicus Productions #Christopher Lee #Dr. Terror&039;s House Of Horrors 4K UHD #Horror Anthology #Peter Cushing #Vinegar Syndrome

[doubtfultaste]

Asylum (1972)

#Asylum #1972 #horror #uk #anthology #robert bloch #Roy Ward Baker #Amicus Productions

[creativecuquilu]

Oh, look. It's Mr. Henderson again, but he has no fangs...and a rather peculiar friend is with him. The Vault of Horror is another Amicus horror anthology, this time featuring five men discussing their nightmares in a large round room. One of these men is Tom Baker, who plays a painter by the surname Moore. At Taihi, he buys voodoo in order to avenge those who wronged his artwork by drawing and mutilating their portraits...But the curse has a price - the voodoo affects his own self portrait too! His story is an adaptation of a Tales from the Crypt story, called Drawn and Quartered. That vault is mostly adaptations of said comics, while The house that dripped blood is Robert Bloch stories. It also features a neat freak, a bunch of vampires, Indian magic and even an insurance scam! British horror is quite possibly even creepier than American one. Maybe even european Horror - like the Spanish REC, El Dia de la Bestia (also a bit fun since it stars Santiago Segura) and Tesis! Maybe I should start finding a way out of the British media hole...Damn you, Doctor! Hope you like it! Artwork (c) @CreativeCuquiLu The House that Dripped Blood and The Vault of Horror (c) Amicus Productions

WATCH IT - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8HEpACQ6WK0

#amicus productions #speedpaint #pixelart #horror #anthology #tales from the crypt #painter #movie star #paintbrush #palette #cane #cool #fedora #shades #cravat #jon pertwee #tom baker #voodoo #vampire #the vault of horror #the house that dripped blood

[zippocreed501]

Amicus SF films

Yes, I know you look a tit but that costume cost me two quid in tape and tin foil!

Dr. Who and the Daleks (1965) Daleks' Invasion Earth 2150 A.D. (1966) The Terrornauts (1967) They Came from Beyond Space (1967) The Mind of Mr. Soames (1970) The Land That Time Forgot (1974) At the Earth's Core (1976) The People That Time Forgot (1977)

#amicus productions #sf #sci fi #dr who #doug mcclure #terrence stamp #peter cushing #caroline munro #from the badlands #from the b-movie badlands

[sonofshermy]

#tales from the crypt #amicus productions #1972 #freddie francis #chloe franks #oliver macgreevy #all through the house

[gotankgo]

my Amicus horror anthology viewing continues with Tales from the Crypt (1972) a movie with a Christmas themed segment even

#tales from the crypt #Tales from the Crypt 1972 #amicus #amicus productions

[vintage1981]

HAPPY BIRTHDAY CAROLINE MUNRO! 

Caroline Munro (born 16 January 1949 in Windsor, Berkshire) is a British actress and model best known for her many appearances in science fiction and action films of the 1970s and 1980s. According to Munro, her career took off in 1966 when her mother and photographer friend entered some headshots of her to Britain’s The Evening News “Face of the Year” contest.

“I wanted to do art. Art was my love. I went to Art School in Brighton but I was not very good at it. I just did not know what to do. I had a friend at the college who was studying photography and he needed somebody to photograph and he asked me. Unbeknownst to me, he sent the photographs to a big newspaper in London. The famous fashion photographer, David Bailey, was conducting a photo contest and my picture won.” 

This led to modelling chores, her first job being for Vogue Magazine at the age of 17. She moved to London to pursue top modelling jobs and became a major cover girl for fashion and TV ads while there. Decorative bit parts came her way in such films as Casino Royale and Where’s Jack? (1969). One of her many photo ads got her a screen test and a one-year contract at Paramount where she won the role of Richard Widmark’s daughter in the comedy/western A Talent for Loving (1969). 

1969 proved to be a good year for Munro, because it was then that she began a lucrative 10 year relationship with Lamb’s Navy Rum. Her image was plastered all over the country, and this would eventually lead to her next big break.

Hammer Films CEO Sir James Carreras spotted Munro on a Lamb’s Navy Rum poster/billboard. He asked his right hand man, James Liggett, to find and screen test her. She was immediately signed to a one-year contract. Her first film for Hammer proved to be something of a turning point in her career. It was during the making of Dracula AD 1972 that she decided from this film onward she was a full-fledged actress. Up until then she was always considered a model who did some acting on the side.

A string of fantasy and horror roles followed, including starring turns in Captain Kronos: Vampire Hunter (1973), The Golden Voyage of Sinbad (1974), At the Earth’s Core (1976),  The Spy Who Loved Me (1977), StarCrash (1978), Maniac (1980), The Last Horror Film (1982), Faceless (1988), and The Black Cat (1989).

By the 1990s Munro had decided to focus more on her family, daughters, Georgina and Iona, and husband George Dugdale. However, since 2003 Caroline has renewed her interest in acting and has appeared in a number of film and audio productions. Since 2021 Caroline has been presenting the hit television series The Cellar Club for Talking Pictures TV.

The title First Lady of Fantasy was given to Caroline by journalist Steve Swires, who wrote many Starlog and Fangoria (@FANGORIA) articles on the actress in the 1980s and 1990s. 

Happy Birthday Caroline!

Official Website:  http://www.CarolineMunro.org

Representation: Thomas Bowington/Bowington Management

Some of her credits include: Dracula AD 1972 (1972), Captain Kronos: Vampire Hunter (1973), The Golden Voyage of Sinbad (1974), At the Earth’s Core (1976), The Spy Who Loved Me (1977), StarCrash (1978), Maniac (1980), The Last Horror Film (1982), Faceless (1988), The Black Cat (1989), Flesh for the Beast (2003), Turpin (2009), Midsomer Murders (2013), The Landlady (2013), Crying Wolf (2015), Vampyres (2015), Cute Little Buggers (2016), Frankula (2017), End User (2018), House of the Gorgon (2019), The Haunting of Margam Castle (2020), Ulalume - A Ballad (2023), The Pocket Film of Superstitions (2023), and the upcoming The Presence of Snowgood (2024).

#Caroline Munro #Hammer Films #Amicus Productions #James Bond #Bond Girls #The Spy Who Loved Me #StarCrash #Jess Franco #Paul Naschy #Captain Kronos #Dracula AD 1972 #The Last Horror Film #Slaughter High #Vampyres #Maniac #At The Earth's Core #Peter Cushing #British Actress #British Horror #BOTD #Doctor Who #The Golden Voyage of Sinbad #Ray Harryhausen

[schlock-luster-video]

On June 23, 1972, The House That Dripped Blood debuted in West Germany.

#the house that dripped blood #peter duffell #amicus productions #ingrid pitt #horror #horror movie #horror film #horror art #gothic horror art #gothic horror movies #gothic horror #vampire art #vampire movies #vampires #horror anthology #haunted house movies #movie art #art #drawing #movie history #pop art #modern art #pop surrealism #cult movies #portrait #cult film

[twistedtummies2]

Christopher Lee: A Sinister Centenary - Number 9

Welcome to Christopher Lee: A Sinister Centenary! Over the course of May, I will be counting down My Top 31 Favorite Performances by my favorite actor, the late, great Sir Christopher Lee, in honor of his 100th Birthday. Although this fine actor left us a few years ago, his legacy endures, and this countdown is a tribute to said legacy! Today’s Subject, My 9th Favorite Christopher Lee Performance: Dr. Marlowe & Mr. Blake, from I, Monster (1971).

“I, Monster” is…weird. Mostly because of its title and its main character, played by Lee. To put it bluntly, this movie is a pretty darn straightforward adaptation of the classic story “The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde.” The plot follows the book quite closely, and even retains much of the original dialogue from the novel in various places. However, it keeps all the character names – Utterson, Lanyon, and so forth – EXCEPT for the title roles. At the time, no one was interested in funding “another Jekyll & Hyde film.” Therefore, the movie not only makes its title “I, Monster,” which…doesn’t even really seem to fit the story, to be honest…but it also changes Henry Jekyll to “Charles Marlowe,” and Edward Hyde to “Edward Blake.” Nothing else changed with the piece, but evidently, this was enough to fool the backers needed. So, in other words, this is a Jekyll & Hyde movie where Jekyll & Hyde are not called Jekyll & Hyde, but are still Jekyll & Hyde. In Lee’s own words on the matter, “You work that out if you want to, but to me, it’s COMPLETELY incomprehensible, even to this day!” This was a movie made not by Hammer, but by Amicus Productions. The self-proclaimed “Studio That Dripped Blood” was, in essence, a ripoff Hammer company, and fittingly, this film can basically be seen as a ripoff Hammer Horror movie, right down to the fact Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing play the lead roles. Putting the baffling title and character name changes aside, “I, Monster” is, nevertheless, one of the more underrated and underappreciated versions of the classic story ever put to the screen. It’s probably the most obscure film in my Top 10, and it’s not one that’s highly regarded: finding good reviews of the movie (heck, finding good copies of the movie suitable for viewing, even) is very, VERY hard. Personally, I really like this version! It’s not perfect, however: my primary issue lies in the pacing. Most of the film has this sort of creeping, tense pace, with spurts of quick action moving through it, as we follow the progression of Lee’s character through his experiments and his descent into madness and self-destruction, as well as getting a great deal of focus on the relationship between himself and his best friend, Mr. Utterson (played by Cushing), and so on…but then, in the last quarter, everything sort of feels like it’s on fast-forward, as if they realized they were running out of time on the picture and just decided to skim through a lot of the last act. Beyond that, however, I think this is a really, REALLY good version of Jekyll & Hyde, and Lee is the main reason why (which is the case with most takes on J&H). He brings a great deal of depth and nuance to Marlowe, as the role gives him a chance to show more vulnerable sides than many of his characters revealed, but he can still command authority when needed. It’s probably one of my favorite takes on Jekyll ever done, mixing the right amount of underlying darkness and superficial sympathy the character requires. I especially love the scenes between him and Peter Cushing’s Utterson: this is one of the films where, in my opinion, the real-life friendship these two actors shared shines strongly through the celluloid. The almost brotherly bond the pair have onscreen really does call to mind the relationship we all know about from behind the camera, and it helps to make both characters, and the story, all the stronger. As Blake, meanwhile, Lee goes through an interesting transformation: inspired by the 1920 silent film version of the story, starring John Barrymore (incidentally, that is my favorite film version of the story), this movie plays with the idea that, as time goes on, the Hyde character becomes increasingly more hideous and monstrous, his exterior ghoulishness matching the evil in his soul. Not only does he change physically, however, but even elements of his personality change; the movie depicts the potion as an addictive drug, and like all addictive drugs, the more you use it, the more the negative effects take a toll. When Blake first transforms, he has a near-permanent smile, and is quick and powerful, genuinely creepy and filled with a zest for life, doing terrible things just for the thrill of it…but as the film goes on, he becomes a lumbering beast, snarling and sneering at everything around him, as the evil he does affects his body and seemingly his mind. The more the evil grows, the more Blake, himself, suffers…yet he just can’t help himself. Again, the only downside to “I, Monster” – aside from the bizarre changes to the names and title, which I think even “Nosferatu” would tilt its head at – is that the last act IS pretty rushed, but up until that point, the rest of the movie is a very strong and well-handled psychological thriller and a fine adaptation of the Jekyll & Hyde story. And hey, even if that last section is a bit over-quick, we do still get another classic clash of the horror titans with Mr. Blake vs. Mr. Utterson in a grand brawl. Any movie that allows Cushing and Lee to be best friends AND worst enemies AT THE SAME TIME is clearly deserving of some credit. Tomorrow, I present my choice for Number 8!

#sinister centenary #christopher lee #happy birthday christopher lee #top 31 christopher lee performances #best #favorites #list #countdown #may special #number 9 #jekyll & hyde #dr. jekyll and mr. hyde #dr. marlowe #mr. blake #charles marlowe #edward blake #i monster #i monster 1971 #amicus productions

[fourorfivemovements]

Films Watched in 2022:

48. Dr. Terror’s House of Horrors (1965) - Dir. Freddie Francis

#Dr. Terror's House of Horrors #Freddie Francis #Peter Cushing #Christopher Lee #Neil McCallum #Bernard Lee #Donald Sutherland #Roy Castle #Peter Madden #Michael Gough #Ursula Howells #Katy Wild #Jeremy Kemp #Phoebe Nichols #Amicus #Amicus Productions #Films Watched in 2022 #My Edits #My Post

[esonetwork]

From Beyond The Grave | Episode 406

New Post has been published on https://esonetwork.com/from-beyond-the-grave/

From Beyond The Grave | Episode 406

Jim reflects on the final anthology film by Amicus Productions – 1974’s “From Beyond The Grave,” starring Peter Cushing, David Warner, Wendy Allnutt, Rosalind Ayres, Marcel Steiner, Ian Brennen, Donald Pleasence, Angela Pleasence, Diana Dors, John O’Farrell, Ian Carmichael, Margaret Leighton, Nyree Dawn Porter, Ian Ogilvy, Lesley-Anne Down, Jack Watson, Ben Howard and directed by Kevin O’Connor. Four stories centering around a strange curio shop are woven together nto a tale of the fantastical. Find out more on this episode of MONSTER ATTACK!, The Podcast Dedicated To Old Monster Movies.

#Amicus Productions #Angela Pleasence #Ben Howard #David Warner #Diana Dors #Donald Pleasence #ESO Network #From Beyond The Grave #Geek Talk #Ian Brennen #Ian Carmichael #Ian Ogilvy #Jack Watson #Jim Adams #John O'Farrell #Kevin O'Connor #Lesley-Anne Down #Marcel Steiner #Margaret Leighton #Monster Attack! #nerd podcast #Nyree Dawn Porter #Old Monster Movies #Peter Cushing #Rosalind Ayres #The ESO Network #Wendy Allnutt