1970s Amicus Anthology Horror Films

I love horror anthologies. They were really big in the early seventies. The Amicus Productions company made quite a few good ones. I remember some of these as kids…especially number Tales from the Crypt. I’m going to list my top 5 of only Amicus today.

I am working on a post that lists my favorite 5-10 Anthologies of all time. Today I want to focus on the British film company Amicus. One actor that they depended on a lot was Peter Cushing. He is in all of the ones below except for Vault Of Horror.

Amicus Productions was a British film production company specializing in horror and suspense anthology films during the 1960s and 1970s. The company was founded in 1962 by Americans Milton Subotsky and Max Rosenberg, who aimed to replicate the success of Hammer Film Productions, another prominent British studio known for its horror films.

Despite their success, Amicus struggled financially in the late 1970s due to changing audience tastes and the declining popularity of horror anthology films. Milton Subotsky eventually left the company in 1975, and without his creative leadership, Amicus gradually faded from the spotlight.

The good news though… it was announced in 2023 that Amicus will be coming back to film production…they are trying to make a film called In The Grip of Terror.

Below are the 5 and most descriptions I got from IMDB. My favorite anthology horror is at the bottom.

Asylum 1972

A young psychiatrist interviews four inmates in a mental asylum to satisfy a requirement for employment. He hears stories about 1) the revenge of a murdered wife, 2) a tailor who makes a suit with some highly unusual qualities, 3) a woman who questions her sanity when it appears that her brother is conspiring against her, and 4) a man who builds tiny toy robots with lifelike human heads.

The Complete Movie

Vault Of Horror 1973

Five strangers board a descending lift, one by one, in a modern office block in London. They reach the sub-basement and find a large, elaborately furnished room that appears to be a gentlemen’s club. Resigned to waiting for help, they settle down with drinks and talk. The conversation turns to dreams, and each man tells of a recurring nightmare. Tom Baker is in the last episode of this one. My personal favorite Doctor of the Doctor Who franchise.

The complete movie!

From Beyond The Grave

The first tale, titled “The Gate Crasher” stars David Warner and has a sort of Hellraiser feel about it, as he buys an old mirror from the antique store and it turns out to be inhabited by a ghost-like thing that entices Warner into bringing it fresh blood. It’s not a bad story, though I feel that more could have been made of it. 2) Story number two is the best and focuses on a man who steals a war medal from the antique store to impress a former army man and ends up getting more than he bargained for. This tale is very strange and stars Donald Pleasance in one of his weirder roles. It’s imaginative and inventive, and therefore interesting as it’s impossible to tell where it’s going. 3)  Story number three, “The Elemental” is a fun little story, though there isn’t really a great deal of point to it. 4) The fourth and final tale appears to be the centerpiece and focuses on an old wooden door that gives way to an expansive blue room. This is a decent little story and we get to watch Lesley-Anne Down wielding an axe, which makes it worthwhile.

Overall, From Beyond the Grave is everything an anthology should be: it’s fun and interesting in the right places. There are plenty of plot holes, but also no need to pay them any mind. From Beyond the Grave comes highly recommended to horror fans!

The House That Dripped Blood

Peter Cushing, Christopher Lee, Joss Ackland, Jon Pertwee all star in this 4 story anthology.

A Scotland Yard investigator looks into four mysterious cases involving an unoccupied house and its tragic previous tenants: 1) A hack novelist encounters a strangler who’s the villain of his books, leading his wife to question his sanity, 2) Two men are obsessed with a wax figure of a woman from their past, 3) A little girl with a stern, widowed father displays an interest in witchcraft, and 4) An arrogant horror film actor purchases a black cloak which gives him a vampire’s powers.

Here is the complete movie!

Tales From The Crypt

Joan Collins, Peter Cushing are among the actors in the movie.  To me… this is the best anthology horror. Five people meet deep in a cave and they don’t know how they got there. They soon find out how and why and what is about to happen to them.

Five people come upon a catacomb and take the tour. After they get lost, they find they’re trapped, and they see The Crypt Keeper (Sir Ralph Richardson). He asks them each to see why they’re there: (1) And All Through the House: Christmas Eve, Joanne Clayton (Dame Joan Collins) kills her husband (Martin Boddey) expecting to receive his insurance. She hears on the wireless that the police are seeking an escaped homicidal maniac posing as Santa. When the man knocks on her door, she can’t phone the Police, and she has a Christmas surprise. (2) Reflection of Death: Carl Maitland (Ian Hendry) leaves his wife (Susan Denny) and children for his mistress, but something happens during his journey. (3) Poetic Justice: the widowed janitor, Arthur Edward Grimsdyke (Peter Cushing) is a good man who spends his leisure time with the children from the neighborhood. His heartless neighbor doesn’t like him and destroys his life, leading Grimsdyke to commit suicide on Valentine’s Day. A year later, Grimsdyke rises from his tomb seeking revenge. (4) Wish You Were Here: dirty businessman Ralph Jason (Richard Greene) is bankrupt, and his lawyer and friend, Charles Gregory (Roy Dotrice), tells him he must sell his real estate. When he tells his wife Enid (Barbara Murray), she recalls they have a statue with a legend; it’ll grant three wishes to the owner. She makes the wishes, and leads Ralph to eternal damnation. (5) Blind Alleys: cruel Major Rogers (Nigel Patrick) comes to the Elmridge home for the blind, with his dog, to be the new director. He tortures the internees until the day they get revenge. Soon, the internees discover they’re at the gate of Hell.

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Author: Badfinger (Max)

Power Pop fan, Baseball, Beatles, Alternative music, old movies, and tv show fan. Also anything to do with pop culture in the 60s and 70s... I'm also a songwriter, bass and guitar player. Not the slightest bit interested in politics at all.

44 thoughts on “1970s Amicus Anthology Horror Films”

      1. Did you say this is the first in a series of posts on horror anthologies? Tales from the Hood is a more modern one. Also one on netflix: Guillermo del Toro’s Cabinet of Curiosities which has one story per episode. Those things are really scary! They’ve got a great cast of characters in each one, with known faces in most.

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      4. No…but I LOVE scary…I just finished all of the Paranormal Activities movies….I love any horror but the slasher films…except Halloween.

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  2. Never heard of the company but ‘Tales From the Crypt’ I have heard of. I know some people who refer to anyone who looks really old as ‘the cryptkeeper’

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    1. They had a newer series called Tales From The Crypt but this is the one I remember…especially Joan Collings and Peter Cushing.

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  4. It’s always interesting to see British actors in all kinds of different things…

    The House That Dripped Blood has two Doctor Who’s in it: Peter Cushing played him in the movies, Jon Pertwee was the Third Doctor. In Tales From The Crypt, Ian Hendry was on the first season of The Avengers with Patrick MacNee, and Roy Dotrice is the father of Karen Dotrice from Mary Poppins.

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    1. Yea it’s like they had a limited stable of actors and went from there.
      It was cool seeing Tom Baker in the Vault of Horror. … I didn’t know that about Dotrice.

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  5. “Come to ‘The House Of Max’ for a bloody rip-goring time…” (Cue maniacal laughter.) I haven’t seen any that I recall but didn’t they do a Steven King similar thing over there- do I remember King in a cameo role as a farmer who comes into contact with some flying saucer gloop????

    Just wondering if you watched/seen ‘Tales of the Unexpected’ the Roald Dahl based series from way back?

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    1. I love that title!
      Yes! I just watched that one the other day…it was Creepshow….the original one.
      Tales of the Unexpected oh yes. In IT we share movies/TV Shows…I have the complete series…I have watched a few of them…the last one I watched was the one about the guy and the fingers….I believe it was the first one.

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      1. I havent’ seen ‘Tales OTU’ for ages, must re-view them. One really made my skin crawl, the guy coming back to England who tried to kill some rival with an earwig that eats through the brain of the victim- but he winds up the victim. But… the earwig crawls out his OTHER ear- a lot of brain eating gone on there- and all seems, well, as well as you could hope for under the circumstances. BUT the earwig is a female, just done her egg laying cycle.

        I cringe even now!

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      5. I thought it was the Dahl one, but it WAS ages ago- I don’t recall the Serling one playing here, but my memory hasn’t been that great, certainly not since that trip to India long long ago.

        But now I’ve a seed of doubt (or something) gnawing away in the back of my mind. (Cue yet more maniacal laughter!)

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      6. I’m still looking…it could have been a similiar story…and The Night Gallery is the same kind of thing…or dang close.
        Hmmm something you not telling me? A personal earwig experience! lol

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  7. I caught all these. Hammer Horrors were my go to films when I was a kid. They stand up today (for me anyways). I’m unapologetic when it comes to this stuff. Get the popcorn ready, get comfortable and hit play. I’m in every time. All these actors made these more than watchable. Great stuff Max. A knuckleball by you. Love it. Friday Night Horror here we come.

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    1. CB I love me some anthologies…I grew up with these…I need to watch more of the Hammer Horrors…I did some but I want to see more. I do remember The Devil Rides Out and it was great…
      Glad you liked this CB…

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      1. Loved the take. Hammer Horrors had great production values with very good actors. Christopher Lee in ‘Devil Rides Out’. He actually plays the hero. Funny, it’s up on our to watch list. Keep the curves coming.

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  8. I’m afraid none of these films ring a bell. While growing up in Germany I watched a good deal of movies while, I was primarily into Western and film noir. Regarding horror movies, it came mainly down to Dracula and Frankenstein.

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    1. That probably would have been Hammer Studios doing Frankenstein and Dracula unless they were the classic versions.
      I grew up with these…something about an Anthology I really like…3-5 stories in a movie I have a weakness for.
      Thanks for reading Christian!

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  9. My mom took me to see Tales from the Crypt when I was six. I remember that night vividly as I was pretty freaked out by the movie, in particular, the Santa story. I think I asked my mom a dozen times to explain again what had happened and was I at any risk. I saw it again recently and thought it held up well, and probably the best of the films from the list.

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    1. Oh that is something that it affected you like that…and yes when I was a kid I saw it and it disturbed me as well at about the same age but on TV.
      Yea I do think it’s the best.

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      2. Yep…this one done the same thing at the end…I lvoed when he came on though…all of us kids did…and we loved the movies.

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  12. Max, I don’t think I’ve seen any of these, and the scariness level looks about right for me. Thank you for including the links to the complete movies. I tagged them to watch later — and I will! Never heard of Amicus or of its Hammer Horror wannabe status. Peter Cushing is at the top of the heap for these kinds of movies.

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    1. Ok…Lisa…bookmark this please…this is the complete Tales From The Crypt….it is the best…the stories are awesome and you feel so sorry for Peter Cushing in this one…in one of the stories.

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      1. I’ll check all of the full movies you linked after I’m done with Vikings. Halfway thru S5 of 6 seasons, but each season is 20 episodes so it won’t be for a bit yet.

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