{"id":126789,"date":"2023-09-05T14:34:31","date_gmt":"2023-09-05T14:34:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.horrifiedmagazine.co.uk\/?p=126789"},"modified":"2023-09-19T12:41:29","modified_gmt":"2023-09-19T12:41:29","slug":"dr-terrors-house-of-horrors-1965","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.horrifiedmagazine.co.uk\/amicus-retrospective\/dr-terrors-house-of-horrors-1965\/","title":{"rendered":"Dr Terror’s House of Horrors (1965)"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
1965 \/ Freddie Francis<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t D<\/b>r Terror\u2019s House of Horrors<\/strong> (UK, Freddie Francis, 1965) was a game-changer for Amicus Productions.<\/b> Formed by American expatriates Milton Subotsky and Max Rosenberg in 1962,<\/b> the Shepperton Studios-based production company initially set out to capture the teen market with a one-two punch of successive musicals It\u2019s Trad, Dad!<\/em><\/strong> (UK, Richard Lester, 1962) starring teen sensation Helen Shapiro and American idols Chubby Checker and Gene Vincent, and Just for Fun<\/em><\/strong> (UK, Gordon Flemyng, 1963) starring Bobby Vee, alongside DJ Alan Freeman and singer Kenny Lynch (remember those names, they\u2019ll appear again), it was perhaps another game-changer, the birth of Beatlemania and the Richard Lester-helmed Fab Four\u2019s cinematic vehicle A Hard Day\u2019s Night<\/em><\/strong> (UK, Richard Lester, 1964) that stymied Subotsky and Rosenberg\u2019s advancements in this field. Heading back to the drawing board, the two producers recalled their work together on the Christopher Lee-starring The City of the Dead<\/em><\/strong> (UK, John Llewellyn Moxey, 1960) and their mutual appreciation of the Ealing horror anthology Dead of<\/em><\/strong> Night<\/em><\/strong><\/a> (UK, Alberto Cavalcanti, Charles Crichton, Robert Hamer, Basil Dearden, 1945) and decided to put their efforts into another genre that held teen appeal \u2013 horror.<\/p> It was a bold gambit from Subotsky and Rosenberg to make because in the 1960s, British horror began and ended with the mighty Hammer Film Productions, the single greatest horror studio since Universal in the 1930s. Dr Terror\u2019s House of Horrors <\/em><\/strong>was the first horror film produced by Amicus and, whilst they somewhat cheekily pinched two of Hammer\u2019s greatest stars, Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee, the movie makes it clear that an Amicus horror will differ considerably from one made by Hammer. For a start, Amicus would routinely prefer to set their horrors in the present day, leaving the gothic period to the chaps at Bray. But crucially, Dr Terror\u2018s House of Horrors <\/em><\/strong>would not only be the first Amicus horror, it would also be their first \u2018Portmanteau\u2019 horror. Recalling their beloved Dead of Night<\/em><\/strong>, this Amicus production would be an anthology consisting of five short horror stories with an overarching plot. It was a canny move on the part of Subotsky (who also wrote the screenplay) and Rosenberg; if audiences grew bored or disliked one story, they didn\u2019t have to wait long for the next one to commence. This winning format continued for the rest of the decade and into the 1970s with films like The House That Dripped Blood <\/em><\/strong><\/a>(UK, Peter Duffell, 1971) and The V<\/i><\/b>ault of<\/em><\/strong> Horror<\/em><\/strong><\/a> (UK, Roy Ward Baker, 1973) punctuated by impressive, starry casts.<\/p> <\/p> We must talk about the particularly starry cast assembled for Dr Terror\u2019s House of Horrors. <\/em><\/strong>As a child in the 1980s, the film popped up on my radar precisely because of the somewhat eclectic cast. It\u2019s a given to expect Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee to appear in whatever vintage horror the BBC was screening before television shut down for the night, but my interest was piqued to see those two stalwarts of the genre alongside Roy Castle, then a popular face on children\u2019s television thanks to his hosting stint on Record Breakers<\/em><\/strong> (BBC TV, 1972-1993), but also a favourite of mine since seeing him star as the hapless companion to Cushing\u2019s time-traveller in Amicus\u2019 Dr Who and<\/em><\/strong> the Daleks<\/em><\/strong><\/a> (UK, Gordon Flemyng, 1965). Not only that but there was also that man again Alan Freeman, the DJ known to all as \u2018Fluff\u2019 Freeman and famous for his catchphrases \u201cAlright pop pickers\u201d and \u201cNot \u2018arf\u201d, and bona fide Hollywood star Donald Sutherland too. Of course, I didn\u2019t realise at that age that, before Hollywood came calling with M*A*S*H<\/em><\/strong> (US, Robert Altman, 1970), Sutherland was just another young actor whose Canadian accent ensured that he could pass for American like Shane Rimmer and Ed Bishop in any number of popular TV dramas like Man in a<\/em><\/strong> Suitcase<\/em><\/strong> (ITC, 1967-1968), The Saint<\/em><\/strong> (ITC, 1962-1969) and The Avengers<\/em><\/strong> (ABC, 1961-1969). I recall wilding out about this mix of screen talent and thinking that here, at last, could be a scary movie that didn\u2019t frighten me too much. You see, around this time I had persuaded my parents to let me watch Hammer\u2019s The Brides of Dracula<\/em><\/strong> (UK, Terence Fisher, 1960) and was absolutely terrified. But this one had Roy Castle in as well as Peter Cushing, so it must be more like Dr Who and the<\/em><\/strong> Daleks<\/em><\/strong> I reasoned. Not that Doctor Who<\/em><\/strong> (BBC 1963-1989), my favourite TV show, couldn\u2019t be scary \u2013 I\u2019d probably not long since endured the sight of Edward Peel\u2019s face melt away in \u2018Dragonfire\u2019! I begged my father to set the video to record it and promptly sat through it the following day with the same considerable unease approaching rigid fear I had experienced watching Cushing take on vampires. Clearly, I was a sensitive soul, and it wasn\u2019t until my teenage years that my fondness for vintage horror like this bloomed.<\/p>