Amicus Productions

Amicus Productions were based at Shepperton Studios, (where, incidentally, Phil Alexander worked for a time as a production assistant), and were active between 1962 and 1977. The company was founded by American producers and screenwriters Milton Subotsky (who had a script for what eventually became “The Curse of Frankenstein” rejected by Hammer) and Max Rosenberg.

Prior to establishing Amicus, its two producers collaborated on the successful horror film “The City of the Dead” (1960). Amicus’s first two films were low-budget musicals for the teenage market, “It’s Trad, Dad!” (1962) and “Just for Fun” (1963). Amicus is best remembered for making a series of portmanteau horror anthologies, inspired by the Ealing Studios film “Dead of Night” (1945).

Amicus’s horror and thriller films were sometimes mistaken for Hammer productions due to their similar visual style and often used the same actors, and crew. Unlike Hammer’s period gothic films, Amicus productions were usually set in the present day.