On the heels of Hammer Films’ resurrection comes the news that American-Internation Pictures is crawling out of its grave and getting back to the business of making cheap exploitation and horror pictures, just like they used to do in 50s, 60s and 70s.
Read on for the official press release:
Legendary low-budget film production company American-International Pictures, founded in 1953, and Visionary Cinema have joined forces to produce three original feature films.
As with the original AIP, the films will have modest budgets and be geared to the independent theatrical and worldwide DVD market.
Best know for the Roger Corman exploitation pictures, AIP is now the proprietorship of Craig Scott Lamb. Writer-director Scott Essman founded Visionary Cinema in New York City in 1988. The goal of both firms – leading to the natural collaboration – is to produce original content in both live-action and animation, focusing on the science-fiction, fantasy, and horror genres.
“I believe that all filmmakers should know about their industry’s past,” said Lamb. “It comes in handy to know what they used to do, especially when you can’t afford to have the latest frills.”
Essman added, “I’m thrilled to be aligned with AIP. They produced many memorable genre films at a time where the studios were rediscovering their métier. AIP stepped in and filled a great void in genre and exploitation films.”
The first two AIP-Visionary Cinema projects, to be initiated simultaneously, are a live-action and an animated film, both in the aforementioned genre:
Vampire Bat is a public domain remake of a 1933 obscure horror film that starred eventual genre stalwarts Fay Wray, Lionel Atwill, Melvyn Douglas, and Dwight Frye. Bat will retain all of the spirit and story of the original with key updates in designs and dialogue, but will remain a steadfast homage for fans of classic horror movies.
The Monster Makers is a mixed-media animation feature chronicling the history of cinema’s great character creators, from Willis O’Brien, Lon Chaney, Jack Pierce, to contemporary artists including Ray Harryhausen, Dick Smith, Stan Winston, Rick Baker, and Dennis Muren. “We want the type of animation used to reflect the spirit of the artists represented,” Essman said, noting those who worked in stop-motion animation, animatronics, special makeup effects, and computer graphics imagery.
The third collaboration between the two companies will be disclosed in the near future.
For those curious, THE VAMPIRE BAT is about the following (via IMDb): When the villagers of Klineschloss start dying of blood loss, the town fathers suspect a resurgence of vampirism. While police inspector Karl remains skeptical, scientist Dr. von Niemann cares for the vampire’s victims one by one, and suspicion falls on simple-minded Herman Gleib because of his fondness for bats. A blood-thirsty mob hounds Gleib to his death, but the vampire attacks don’t stop.
Pam Grier, from AIP’s “COFFY”