amicus

THE FLICKS: In the eyes of history Amicus films is only a polite footnote next to Hammer’s big red exclamation mark. The company, founded by two Americans but based primarily in London, put out a series of omnibus-style horror films (Tales from the Crypt and The House that Dripped Blood being the best known) that went head-to-head with rival Hammer Studio’s brand of assembly line gothic fear films, which themselves were on the wan. And Amicus got a few good licks in before both companies went belly up against the emergence of the big Hollywood blockbuster. Now Dark Sky Films has scored a trio of Amicus titles that give this underdog studio its due. Asylum, the last of Amicus’ episodic horror films, may not contain the best individual stories but its framing mechanism is a real stroke of genius. A psychiatrist arriving for a job interview at the Dunmoor Asylum for the Incurably Insane finds himself put to the test as the asylum’s director challenges him to uncover which of the facility’s patients is actually its former director, now gone mad. From there the movie segues into several Twilight Zone-style short stories, all written by Psycho novelist Robert Bloch and directed by Hammer veteran Roy Ward Baker. Bodily dismemberment, split personalities, and supernatural shenanigans make for a pretty average-to-low scare ratio, but the acting talent involved is top notch. Charlotte Rampling is superb (and quite beautiful) in her Psycho-inspired short in which she co-stars with ‘70s supermodel Britt Ekland. Peter Cushing and Herbert Lom (whose part was filmed in one day) stop by to add his usual touch of class. And the incomparable Patrick Magee adds just the right touch of unease as the acting asylum director. Mediocre the plot may be, but the execution is decidedly memorable. Amicus’ foray into feature-length scripts never proved to be quite as successful. In the DVD supplements, co-producer and moneyman Max Rosenberg goes so far as to say the horror genre itself can’t support a plot of more than 20-minutes. While his explanation is entertaining, the blame for the failure of And Now The Screaming Starts surely lies somewhere besides its 90-minute running time. And perhaps he first mistake was tackling the gothic period setting that Hammer itself had already beaten into the ground. Stephanie Beacham stars as Catherine, a virginal bride married into the Fengriffen family, one with a history that includes rape, debauchery and liberal limb dismemberment. After she herself is raped by a ghostly presence on her wedding night, Catherine endeavors to uncover the ancestral secrets that may have left her impregnated with the reincarnation of a vengeful farmhand. Obviously inspired by Rosemary’s Baby with the added attraction of a severed hand that pops in from time to time (and is responsible for at least one very good jump scare), And Now... is in the same boat as Hammer’s horror flicks of the period, caught between the cache of a period piece and the crass exploitation elements demanded by the era’s new audience. There’s not a whole lot of T & A added by director Roy Ward Baker, but the rape sequences are still a bit disconcerting and stand-out from the otherwise relatively reserved proceedings. The acting though from Beacham, with another cameo from Cushing, is impressively naturalistic and worthy of some admiration. With The Beast Must Die, desperation begets some unusual inspiration from the studio. A “werewolf mystery” with six houseguests invited for a weekend in the country is simply a pretense to gather these individuals, one of whom is a bonafide lycanthrope, whereupon their host will hunt and kill the beast in his own variation of The Most Dangerous Game. The casting of a black lead actor (Calvin Lockhart) combined with a synth-heavy ‘70s score makes it clear there was an attempt to capitalize on the success of the “blaxploitation” fad. And a “werewolf break” in which the film is interrupted 10-minutes from its conclusion, challenging the audience to guess which character will wolf out, is an old-school William Castle marketing tool. But for all its flaws, The Beast Must Die works as a piece of unpretentious populist filmmaking. Paul Annett directs with a straight face, even though his starring special effect is an Irish Wolfhound dressed up in a winter coat. The cuts are quick, the pace is fast and the cast is made up of people that know how to sell bad dialogue (Cushing, of course, joined by Michael Gambon, Anton Diffring and Charles Gray). There’s a made-for-TV feel that can’t hide the low budget or rushed shooting schedule, but Beast still ends up coming off as goofy fun. THE FEATURES: Dark Sky has been quietly establishing themselves as one of the more dependable cult DVD producers, and these three new releases in “The Amicus Collection” will only enhance that reputation. No one’s pretending these are the best films the studio put out, but you wouldn’t know it from Dark Sky’s slate of extras and immaculate video transfers. Asylum comes with the most comprehensive history of Amicus in the form of Inside The Fear Factory, a 20-minute collection of interviews and film clips that provide a brief history of the studio with refreshing honesty. Rosenberg (who doesn’t get much love from any of the creative personnel) cuts to the chase on how the operation was run. And you can always count on him for a callous comment or two (about And Now The Screaming Starts, “It was a dull and tedious novel we turned into a dull and tedious movie). But it becomes clear partner Milton Subotsky was the on-set presence, spending most of his time in the editing room. Directors Roy Ward Baker and Freddie Francis also provide some entertaining anecdotes. Asylum also includes a commentary from Baker, trailers, stills and written liner notes. And Now The Screaming Starts sticks to the movie at hand, with another commentary from Baker (joined by actress Stephanie Beacham) and an additional track featuring actor Ian Ogilvy. The Beast Must Die includes a commentary with director Paul Annett who gives us a good feel for what it was like shooting at Shepperton Studios in the ‘70s and the particular challenges of shooting day-for-night with a black man in a black costume. Yowsa! There’s also a featurette, Directing The Beast, that gives Annett some face time and mixes in shots from the set.