A few months ago, while covering Hex Studios’ fantasy film throwback The Slave and the Sorcerer, we also mentioned that Hex was also working to “build a new British horror and fantasy studio that’s inspired by the likes of Cannon, Hammer, and AIP”. Now their endeavor has taken a mind-blowing leap forward: Hex Studios has announced they’re working with the family of late producer Milton Subotsky to resurrect Amicus Productions! Hex co-founder Lawrie Brewster is set to be the president of the revived Amicus… and their first project will be exactly the sort of movie Amicus is best remembered for: a horror portmanteau (or anthology) film called In the Grip of Terror!
Milton Subotsky and Max Rosenberg founded Amicus Productions in the early ’60s, and from 1962 to 1977 they produced nearly thirty films, including Dr. Terror’s House of Horrors, Dr. Who and the Daleks, The Skull, The Psychopath, Daleks’ Invasion Earth 2150 A.D., The Deadly Bees, The Terrornauts, They Came from Beyond Space, Torture Garden, Scream and Scream Again, The House That Dripped Blood; I, Monster; Tales from the Crypt, What Became of Jack and Jill?, Asylum, The Vault of Horror, And Now the Screaming Starts!, From Beyond the Grave, Madhouse, The Beast Must Die, The Land That Time Forgot, and At the Earth’s Core. Their final release was The People That Time Forgot. As the company’s Wikipedia page notes, “Amicus’s horror and thriller films are sometimes mistaken for the output of Hammer Film Productions, due to the two companies’ similar visual style and use of some of the same actors, including Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee. Unlike the period gothic Hammer films, Amicus productions were usually set in the present day.”
As for the revival film, Brewster has said In the Grip of Terror will consist of “four segments based on classic horror stories by H.P. Lovecraft, Ambrose Bierce, and E.F. Benson, all centered around the theme of medical macabre. In the Grip of Terror was, in fact, a title shared with me by Sergei Subotsky, from a list of contenders compiled by his father decades ago. It is fitting that we are building upon the foundation of his imagination and genius. Interestingly, three out of the four stories we are adapting were suggested by none other than his wife, Dr. Fiona Subotsky – a renowned and accomplished author, known for her work Dracula for Doctors: Medical Facts and Gothic Fantasies.“
The film is set to star Laurence R. Harvey (Human Centipede II), Megan Tremethick (Ghost Crew), and Jonathan Hansler (The Devil’s Machine).
The new Amicus Productions will be launching a Kickstarter fundraising campaign for In the Grip of Terror on September 12th, and you can follow the campaign at THIS LINK.
How does In the Grip of Terror sound to you? Are you glad to hear that Amicus Productions is making a comeback after more than 45 years? Share your thoughts on this news by leaving a comment below.
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