Atlanta, GA, July 1st, 2008

It’s long over-due, and the time is now…

After a year of promising, author Philip Nutman is finally providing new material for his official site.

“There are two Chinese sayings which sum up the last three years of my life,” Phil writes. “’Be careful what you dream,’ and ‘may you live in interesting times.’ Those two sentences say it all. Between screenplays, movie deals, producing two films, writing a non-fiction book (see below), writing a handful of short stories, and planning a new novel, the past three years have evaporated.
“When Webmaster Chris Kern revamped the Web site and gave PhilipNutman.com a new lease of life, I promised fiction and regular updates and all manner of interesting things. A lot of that promise was channeled into the Web magazine UP AGAINST THE WALL but now that chapter has come to a close – at least for the foreseeable future – that touring behind JACK KETCHUM’S THE GIRL NEXT DOOR is over, and the Amicus manuscript which has been waiting 23 years to see light of day is now out, it’s time to get back to giving something more personal to my faithful readers who continue to support me through thick and thin.”
Over the coming month, dozens of new photos will be added to the gallery, Phil will commence with a weekly blog, OFF THE WALL, and provide other new material for the site, including a GIRL NEXT DOOR archive and a section devoted to Amicus Productions and SCREAM AND SCREAM AGAIN, his acclaimed critical history of the British horror film production company, published this July by LITTLE SHOPPE OF HORRORS magazine.
“As they used to say on the old BATMAN TV show – ‘the best is yet to come!’”

AMICUS PRODUCTIONS SCREAM AGAIN WITH DEFINITIVE HISTORY

DR. TERROR’S HOUSE OF HORRORS, TORTURE GARDEN, THE HOUSE THAT DRIPPED BLOOD, ASYLUM, the original TALES FROM THE CRYPT film… classic British anthology horror movies made by Amicus Productions, who worked extensively with author Robert (PSYCHO) Bloch. Now the full story can be told…

In 1985, critically acclaimed, award-nominated writer and journalist Philip Nutman was commissioned to pen the definitive, illustrated history of Amicus Productions, the chief rival to Hammer Films in the British horror movie market of the1960s and ‘70s. Twenty-three years later, the manuscript – now expanded to over 80,000 words – will finally be published in a special issue of LITTLE SHOPPE of HORRORS magazine, one of the longest-running publications devoted to British horror films.

Given unprecedented access to over 600 pages of confidential company documents, memos, faxes, treatments, screenplays and production information, SCREAM AND SCREAM AGAIN: THE UNCENSORED HISTORY OF AMICUS PRODUCTIONS is the definitive critical history of one of the most beloved British film companies during the golden era of horror films when the names Peter Cushing, Christopher Lee and Vincent Price guaranteed chilling suspense and shocking scares from quality low budget movies.

Written and compiled from over 40 hours of exclusive taped interviews, including producer-screenwriter Milton Subotsky, director Roy Ward Baker, screenwriter Christopher Wicking, production manager Theresa Bolland, film editor Peter Tanner and production designer Tony Curtis.

Contributions from directors Freddie Francis, Gordon Hessler and Paul Annett, and author/screenwriter Robert Bloch.

Extensive, exclusive quotes from a never-published interview with producer Max J. Rosenberg, conducted by acclaimed film historian Tom Weaver.

Featuring over 260 stills, international posters and ad mats – many never-before-published.

Stunning front and back covers by Mark Maddox and acclaimed animator Bruce Timm.

Original artwork by comic book legend Stephen B. Bissette (SWAMP THING), acclaimed poster artist/designer Graham Humphreys (THE EVIL DEAD, et al), Adrian Salmon and Neil Vokes. Plus original sketches by Peter Cushing!

A guide to Amicus films on DVD.

Complete, detailed filmography of all Amicus productions.

Learn:

How CITY OF THE DEAD (aka HORROR HOTEL) nearly didn’t get made and its connection to the Hollywood Ten;

How DR. TERROR’S HOUSE OF HORRORS was financed three weeks after the start of principal photography;

That Amicus wanted to turn superhero Spider-Man into a movie written by Lenny Bruce in the early ‘60s;

What was censored from THE SKULL;

Why Oscar winner Freddie Francis nearly quit directing after making THE DEADLY BEES;

The truth concerning the behind-the-scenes creative battles over SCREAM AND SCREAM AGAIN, and how Rosenberg & Subotsky were barred from the set of their own movie;

How the anthology film ASYLUM was in British movie theaters 14 weeks after the start of filming and before TALES FROM THE CRYPT was released;

How the success of Amicus led to the company’s downfall;

And much, much more…

100 Pages. Color, laminated covers. B&W interiors.

Regular edition $8.95 plus S&H from the publisher (Little Shoppe of Horrors) or from independent book stores such as Hollywood Book & Poster and The Cinema Store (UK).

Signed copies (limited to 300) $12.00 plus S&H direct from the author. For more info and ordering instructions (PayPal included) visit PhilipNutman.com

NOTE TO VISITORS: We are currently setting up a system to use Paypal here from the site if you want to buy signed copies directly from Phil. This should be up and running soon. In the meantime, if you wish to reserve a copy – and they are starting to go fast! – please send an e-mail to PhilipNutman@gmail.com writing Amicus Order in the subject line.

“Philip Nutman screams and screams again in this definitive history of Amicus Productions, the studio that dripped blood and cast Peter Cushing as Dr. Who, Ralph Richardson as the Crypt Keeper, and Doug McClure as the unlikely conqueror of World War I dinosaurs. Producers Milton Subotsky and Max Rosenberg finally get the credit they deserve in this exhaustive volume.”

—Greg Lamberson, Author of JOHNNY GRUESOME
and writer/director of cult classic SLIME CITY

NUTMAN RETURNS TO SHORT FICTION WITH “THE BRITISH INVASION”

Two years ago, acclaimed, award-winning writers Christopher Golden and Tim Lebbon, along with James A. Moore, approached Phil and a number of other British writers to contribute original stories to an all-Brit horror anthology they were planning. Finally, that book is now a reality and will be available later this summer (the official word on the publisher’s Web site is “forthcoming, currently at the printers’” whatever that means.)

Phil’s story, his first published short fiction in over four years, is called THE MISADVENTURE OF FAT MAN AND LITTLE BOY, OR, HOW I MADE A MONSTER. “It’s about how not to make a low-budget horror film,” is all Phil will reveal. Other writers featured in the anthology include Ramsey Campbell, Peter Crowther, Mark Morris, Sarah Pinborough and Nicholas Royle. Kim Newman provides an afterword.

For more information, [visit Cemetary Dance]

Labels: Amicus, British Invasion, Girl Next Door, UATW

posted by Chris  # 11:07 PM