Short sharp shocks: the glorious return of the Amicus portmanteau horror film

cross-posted from: feddit.uk/post/1382121

Although Hammer usually receives the bulk of the recognition, there would be no real British horror movie scene without Amicus Productions. Between 1962 and 1977, Amicus produced 28 movies, many of which have become cult classics. The Psychopath. The Deadly Bees. And Now the Screaming Starts! Fine films, all.

But where Amicus really sang was in its “portmanteau” films, made up of five or six short stories connected by a loose overarching theme. These films were not only masterpieces of creativity (after all, it’s much easier to string out one bad idea for 90 minutes than to cram in half a dozen) but also of marketing. Most of the seven Amicus anthologies were sold on the star power of one actor who, given the brevity of each story, might have only appeared on screen for a couple of minutes.

I’m telling you this because Amicus is back. According to Variety, its new president, Lawrie Brewster, has set the goal of re-establishing Amicus “as a beacon of independent British horror”. And it will try to achieve this by, you’ve guessed it, bringing back the portmanteau. The first new Amicus production will be In the Grip of Terror, a collection of four short spooky stories themed around the medical profession