The House That Dripped Blood (1971)

Simply A Masterpiece

Must See Movie...

Great movie! If you want to be entertained and have a few good laughs, see this movie. The music is also very good,

Great movie. Not sure what people expected but I found it highly entertaining.

The House That Dripped Blood: An Amicus anthology consisting of four scary stories from Robert Bloch wrapped around a police and well a realtor investigation into the titular house.Episode one "Method For Murder". A horror writers creation comes to life and attacks him during a bout of writer's block. I may be mistaken but I am pretty sure that the House That Dripped Blood appears in the Stephen King non-fiction horror treatise Danse Macabre under the chapter "Where I Get all My Ideas". This is a decent entry marred only by the old fifties chestnut of the dull Freudian psychiatrist and a really bad make-up job on Tom Adams looking like a silent movie antagonist.Episode two: "Waxworks" A gay stockbroker "Peter Cushing" retired from the city rents the titular house to enjoy some gardening and classical music. An old friend "Joss Ackland" stops by unexpectedly and a tension from their shared past rises up consuming them both.I understand that this is a horror anthology made on the cheap but the character development in this episode is simply non-existent. Apparently, we are lead to believe that both men are obsessed with the same woman from many years ago. Since they refuse to talk about it themselves we are meant to fill in the blanks. When a local waxworks in town has a wax statue of the same woman both men become obsessed unable to leave town.The episode simply fails to give enough information for us to care for the fates of our two leads. Add in lighting from the Batman TV Series, hammy acting from the Waxworks proprietor, very poor props and an ever increasingly ridiculous display of ascots on both our lead characters and any tension is out the window.Episode three: "Sweets to the Sweet" Probably the most solid of the four outings it has great acting from Christopher Lee and Chloe Franks as his daughter. A straightforward telling of a man who has a "special child" and a nanny/teacher to look after her. A little slow and certainly an often told tale but competently done.Episode Four: "The Cloak" Of the four episodes The cloak tells the most interesting of tales. A hammy horror actor (Dr. Who's own Jon Pertwee) buys a vampire cloak that turns him into a real vampire while worn. This episode is played for laughs with the always enjoyable Ingrid Pitt matching the hammy acting with her loose knowledge of English and her tight cleavage. Completely out of tone with the rest of the film it actually deserves its own feature.The Wraparound: An While it is only there to tie the four stories together it simply doesn't do the job. If this was outtakes of a short called "How to Rent Real Estate" featured on an MST3K shorts collection I would not have been surprised. Really drains the fun out of a film that needed no help.In Conclusion: At no point does the house drip blood. In fact, at no point does anything or anyone drip blood. This is clearly a film meant for the wee ones. A good your first horror film for the grade school crowd. For one thing, they might actually be surprised by the twists in the stories. For adults, the slow pace, predictable stories and the lack of wardrobe malfunction on Miss Pitt make this a pleasant time waster down memory lane but also an easy pass.

The Title is Metaphorical. There are Four Stories in this Amicus Anthology, a Horror Sub-Genre that was Popular in its Era.A Very Good Cast including Christopher Lee, Peter Cushing, Denholm Elliott, Jon Pertwee, and Ingrid Pitt are Interspersed Throughout the Stories. The not really Creepy House is the Lynchpin that Connects the Tenants in the Tales.Everyone has Their Favorites, but Truth be Told all are Equally Mediocre but Worth a Watch for the Twists, the Cast, and some Colorful Style.Overall, Horror Fans should get a Kick out of it, while Others may Find the whole Thing quite Unremarkable. Professionally Done and somewhat Interesting but Never Intriguing. The kind of Stuff that Writer Robert Bloch probably Dashed Off in a Week or so.Note...Although a different medium it should be noted that the Pre-Code E.C. Comics were the best at this sort of thing.

Amicus Studios was the biggest competitor to Hammer in the heyday of British horror during the 60s and 70s. While their movies never quite achieved the same cult status as Hammer's, Amicus cared themselves out a niche at producing excellent horror anthologies that are still some of the best ever produced. Unlike some of the later Amicus anthologies which were created by using the works of EC Comics, this movie was written by Robert Bloch, a well-known horror writer at the time who is best remembered for penning PSYCHO.This movie stands out from many other anthologies for a few reasons. For one, I don't see a "weak link" segment. Most any anthology you can think of had a throwaway part or two mixed with some excellent work, but the stories are all of a good caliber in this movie. The other thing that really stands out is the cast, which is comprised of a slew of Brit Horror all-stars, including Peter Cushing, Christopher Lee and the luscious Ingrid Pitt, along with Indiana Jones' best buddy and a former Dr. Who.The drawback of the movie, in my opinion, is that it is often very "stage bound". There aren't many extravagant sets and locales here and nothing that approaches the lavish sets of Hammer's movies. You often get the feeling that you're watching a stage play, but the directing and acting are able to elevate the work beyond those confines.Of course, you have a wraparound framework story here involving a Scotland Yard detective who's investigating a murder at the titular house. For the interlocking segments this amounts to nothing more than brief interludes, but the story provides the movie's last big shock. Amicus would provide better framework stories in some of their later anthologies."Method for Murder" is the first segment with Denholm Elliot as a horror writer with a case of writer's block, who rents the house for inspiration and gets more than he bargained for. It actually has quite a bit in common with the Johnny Depp movie SECRET WINDOW. It's held back due to a poor makeup job on the killer and a bad cliché twist with your standard back-stabbing wife."Waxworks" stars Cushing, who is excellent here as he is in every role given to him. Two old friends/ rivals find a small wax museum and become obsessed with a statue that reminds them of their lost love. Cushing saves the segment from becoming nothing more than a clone of HOUSE OF WAX."Sweets to the Sweet" is an evil child story starring Christopher Lee in a rare non-villainous role. It's probably my least favorite segment in the movie as it takes a while to get rolling and leads up to a fairly boring climax as well."The Cloak" is the best segment involving an aging horror actor (John Pertwee) who really takes on his role. It's more than a little campy and has a PG vampire tone, but it's fun and well worth it if for nothing more than Ingrid Pitt.Amicus would produce better anthologies in the years to follow this, including their best work TALES FROM THE CRYPT, but this works very well as a Saturday Midnight movie.

*Spoiler/plot- The House that Dripped Blood, 1971, Shortly after renting an old English country, a horror film star disappears and a Scotland Yard inspector arrives to investigate. Inquiring at the local police station, the inspector learns the house's history of multiple odd occurrences.*Special Stars- Peter Cushing, Christopher Lee, Denholm Elliott, Jon Pertwee *Theme- Old houses in England have a long history, possibly ghosts, and influences beyond the grave.*Trivia/location/goofs- British, Many short stories anthology revolving around this house's various occupants. Watch for Chris Lee's character "Dracula" tableau in the Waxworks segment with P. Cushing passing it several times. Christopher Lee is seen reading a book in his new rented home's study, 'Lord Of the Rings'. In 40 years, Lee would star in that film based book. Jon Petwee was still performing in the English science fiction series Doctor Who during this film's shooting. If you look closely in his dressing room mirror, there is a Dr. Who production photo of Pertwee in his Dr. Who car, 'Bessie'. The American actor, Vincent Price was asked to perform a major role in the waxworks scene. Price gained USA notoriety playing in the 3-D film, "The House of Wax' with an early film role for Charlse Bronson.*Emotion- An enjoyable series of stories putting England's best horror actors through their paces, but my most enjoyable one was a comedic tale with Jon Pertwee in it as a cowardly reluctant vampire. Having met him at several sci-fi fiction events and getting a taste of his personality, I wish I was on-set for this to be shot. It must have been a hoot.