Crypt of Terror Movie

Contingent on the success of the previous array of multimedia products, Archeon Media has the ambitious goal of creating a low budget anthology feature. Designed after the 1970s Amicus Dr. Terror’s House of Horrors, Tales of the Crypt and the Vault of Horror, the five story with wraparound horror DVD will be written and shot in the fine tradition of Freddie Francis, who lensed many of the Amicus features. While the sad state of the DVD market that has taken much of the ability to make any serious income, the movie will be an experimental mix of stop motion animation and live horror action. We may even see about a proper director and a few low budget stars for the marketing.

THE CRYPT OF TERROR DVD

A 1970s Style Retro Horror Production

Amicus was a British studio that created, from what many say Dead of Night (1945) was the real inspiration, the portmanteau horror anthologies. The studio was run by the principal screenwriters and producers Milton Subotsky and Max Rosenberg in Shepperton Studios from 1962 to 1977.

Freddie Francis was the director that gave us Dr. Terror's House of Horrors (1965), Torture Garden (1967), The House That Dripped Blood (1971), Tales from the Crypt (1972), Asylum (1972), Vault of Horror (1973) and From Beyond the Grave (1974). After Amicus closed, Subotsky concluded the genra with The Uncanny (1977) and the Monster Club (1980). The tales (with the exception of the four tale format with wraparound) always involved five persons who met in a central plot area of the film, each narrated their own personal tale to the others and then in the wraparound finale, we find they are all dead, in hell, in the grave and so on. Creepshow continued this tradition in 1982 and 1987.

If you are familiar with the old EC comics of the 1950s, then you will see the influence of these in the stories of the Amicus films. We saw some of the finest actors signed by the studio when actors and story writing carried the films, not special effects and the exploitation of the flesh. Peter Cushing, Christopher Lee, Joan Collins, Ralph Richardson, Tom Baker, Donald Sutherland, Robert Powell and Margaret Leighton were but of few of these. Robert Bloch, the famous tales of horror writer and friend of H.P. Lovecraft wrote of few of these.

When the Crypt of Terror is begun, the film script will follow the classic lines of Freddie Francis in direction and shooting. If you watch Tales of the Crypt and The Vault of Horror, you will see in the opening scenes the same camera angles and format are used for these films. Another note is proper story formatting. The many indie anthologies I have seen fail in this area-

they often are hacked together without proper flow or camera direction and look about what they are-

video spliced together without reason. We will also use the five tale anthology format, but use stop motion, CGI and other items to modernize the picture. I have spoken to several indies who have done films with low budget name actors that we all recognize-all on the IMDB to say the least for talent -

and the cost is very cheap. The cost of added value and benefit is already there. Some cost less than $3000.00 for a short lineup. Like Fred Olen Ray’s philosophy, using name actors in various parts of the film for star value is what we would shoot for in the same action. Who is available? Adam West, Margo Kidder, Tom Savini and others have indie ties to films.

So if we are successful, The Crypt of Terror will be the next major project.

NOW A NOVELETTE OF FEAR

Visit the Terror Crypt book page for more informtion.

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