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 classic horror characters such as Baron Victor Frankenstein, Count Dracula, and the Mummy, which Hammer reintroduced to audiences by filming them in vivid colour for the first time. Hammer also produced science fiction, thrillers, film noir and comedies, as well as, in later years, television series.
Amicus Productions was a British film production company, based at Shepperton Studios, England, active between 1962 and 1977. It was founded by American producers and screenwriters Milton Subotsky and Max Rosenberg.
Tales from the Crypt is a 1972 British horror film directed by Freddie Francis. It is an anthology film consisting of five separate segments, based on short stories from the EC Comics series Tales from the Crypt by Al Feldstein, Johnny Craig, and Bill Gaines. The film was produced by Amicus Productions and filmed at Shepperton Studios in Surrey, England.
The Curse of Frankenstein is a 1957 British horror film by Hammer Film Productions, loosely based on the 1818 novel Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus by Mary Shelley. It was Hammer's first colour horror film, and the first of their Frankenstein series. Its worldwide success led to several sequels, and it was also followed by new versions of Dracula (1958) and The Mummy (1959), establishing "Hammer Horror" as a distinctive brand of Gothic cinema.
Dr Terror's House of Horrors is a 1965 British anthology horror film from Amicus Productions, directed by veteran horror director Freddie Francis, written by Milton Subotsky, and starring Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee.
Roy Ward Baker was an English film director.
House of Frankenstein is a 1944 American horror film starring Boris Karloff, Lon Chaney Jr. and John Carradine. It was directed by Erle C. Kenton and produced by Universal Pictures. Based on Curt Siodmak's story "The Devil's Brood", the film is about Dr. Gustav Niemann, who escapes from prison and promises to create a new body for his assistant Daniel. Over the course of the film, they encounter Count Dracula, the Wolf Man and Frankenstein's monster. The film is a sequel to Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man (1943).
The House That Dripped Blood is a 1971 British anthology horror film directed by Peter Duffell and made by Amicus Productions. It stars Christopher Lee, Peter Cushing, Nyree Dawn Porter, Denholm Elliott, and Jon Pertwee. The film is a collection of four short stories concerning a series of inhabitants of the eponymous building. All of the stories were originally written, and subsequently scripted, by Robert Bloch.
I, Monster is a 1971 British horror film directed by Stephen Weeks and starring Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing. It was written by MIlton Subotsky, adapted from Robert Louis Stevenson's 1886 novella Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, with the main characters' names changed to Dr. Charles Marlowe and Mr. Edward Blake. It was produced by Amicus.
Blood of Dracula's Castle is a 1969 American horror cult B-movie directed by Al Adamson and starring John Carradine, Alexander D'Arcy, Paula Raymond, Robert Dix, Vicki Volante, and John Cardos. It was released by exploitation film specialists Crown International Pictures. Although his name was played up in the lurid ad campaign, John Carradine only played George the butler in this film, and not Count Dracula. DVD prints all suffer from extensive emulsion scratches.
Dr. Terror's Gallery of Horrors is a low-budget 1967 colour scope anthology film by David L. Hewitt from stories by Russ Jones. The film includes footage from Roger Corman's Edgar Allan Poe adaptations. The similarity of its title to Amicus Productions' hit Dr. Terror's House of Horrors led to numerous enforced title changes, including Return from the Past, The Blood Suckers, Alien Massacre, and most commonly Gallery of Horror (on-screen) and Gallery of Horrors. It has also been released as The Witch's Clock, after the first story, and the only one to feature star John Carradine, who hosts the interstitial segments. It also stars Lon Chaney Jr., Rochelle Hudson, Roger Gentry and Vic McGee. The other stories include "King Vampire," "Monster Raid," "Spark of Life," and "Count Alucard," which is credited as "Count Dracula." In the latter story, Jonathan Harker is revealed, in a humorous twist, to be a werewolf.
Ronald Henry Glynn Chetwynd-Hayes was a British author, known best for his ghost and horror stories.
Asylum is a 1972 British anthology horror film made by Amicus Productions. The film was directed by Roy Ward Baker and produced by Milton Subotsky. Robert Bloch wrote the script, adapting four of his own short stories.
Milton Subotsky 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 science fiction and horror films in the United Kingdom.
The Vampira Show was an American television show that broadcast vintage horror films presented by horror host Vampira. The series aired on the Los Angeles ABC television affiliate KABC-TV from April 30, 1954, through April 2, 1955. The weekly series was produced and created by Hunt Stromberg, Jr., and featured the Vampira character created by Maila Nurmi.
From Beyond the Grave is a 1974 British anthology horror film from Amicus Productions, directed by Kevin Connor, produced by Milton Subotsky and based on short stories by R. Chetwynd-Hayes.
Scream and Scream Again is a 1970 British science-fiction horror film directed by Gordon Hessler for Amicus Productions, and starring Vincent Price, Christopher Lee, Alfred Marks, Michael Gothard, and Peter Cushing. The screenplay was by Christopher Wicking, based on the 1967 novel The Disorientated Man, attributed to "Peter Saxon", a house pseudonym used by various authors in the 1960s and 1970s.
The Uncanny is a 1977 British-Canadian anthology horror film directed by Denis Héroux, written by Michel Parry, and starring Peter Cushing, Donald Pleasence, Ray Milland, Joan Greenwood, Donald Pilon, Samantha Eggar, and John Vernon.
Dracula is a film series of horror films from Universal Pictures based on the 1897 novel Dracula by Bram Stoker and its 1927 play adaptation. Film historians had various interpretations of what constitutes being in the film series, with academics and historians finding narrative continuation between Dracula (1931) and Dracula's Daughter (1936) with varying different opinions on if Son of Dracula (1943), House of Frankenstein (1944) and House of Dracula (1945) were part of the series. Author and academic Gary Don Rhodes stated the all the mentioned films would require an audience to be familiar with Count Dracula portrayed by Bela Lugosi and the various character traits the actor established in the original 1931 film.
The House of Hammer was a British black-and-white magazine featuring articles and comics related to the Hammer Film Productions series of horror and science fiction films. The brainchild of Dez Skinn, almost every issue of the magazine featured a comics adaptations of a Hammer film, as well as an original comics backup story, such as the long-running feature Van Helsing's Terror Tales.
