The House That Dripped Blood

The House That Dripped Blood is a 1971 British anthology film from Amicus starring Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee, that classic duo from Hammer horror fright fests that are timeless if often stilted gems. It's an anthology film penned from the bloody fingers of Robert "Psycho" Bloch, and starring, additionally, Jon Pertwee, Denholm Elliot, and Ingrid Pitt.

It concerns a house, rented out by a realtor named "A. J. Stoker" (John Bryans), which is undeniably a draw for curses and all manner of foul vignettes readymade for bad early Seventies horror flicks such as this. A cop and a detective (John Malcolm and John Bennett, respectively), investigating the disappearance of a "temperamental film actress," recount the many odd and tragic events that have befallen those who have dared take up residence in the accursed abode.

The first episode, "Method for Murder," gives us a horror writer (Denholm Elliot) and his hussy wife (Joanna Dunham), a man from his stories who seems to have come to life, "Dominic" (Tom Adams), and the murder of his psychiatrist. But, is any of it real? The twist ending is on a par with the best of E.C. and Fifties horror comic book traditions.

The second episode "Waxworks," utilizes the time-honored tradition of setting the fulcrum of the story amid the suspended animation of a waxwork "chamber of horrors." Peter Cushing plays a lonely man consumed with his hobbies, enjoying the isolation of his cursed dwelling. Happening on the unlikely presence of a wax museum in a small English town, he investigates, finding a waxen image of "Salome" with a head on a platter--and, lo and behold, it looks like an old flame.

His friend (Joss Ackland) who comes to visit cannot be dissuaded, despite Cushing's best efforts, from going inside and checking out the museum of horrors for himself. Inside, he sees the Salome statue carrying the head of John the Baptist. He falls in love with the dummy, noting that it resembles their mutual old love. The wax works curator, of course, is the real culprit. We won't say much more, but you know, you really shouldn't go losing your head over an imitation woman.

Cult Films and Midnight Movies

"From High Art to Low Trash" Vol 1

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The third episode, "Sweets for a Sweet," concerns a little girl (Chloe Franks) and her father (Christopher Lee) who next move into the house. The father seems cold, and even abusive, and the nanny (Nyree Dawn Porter) wonders at this until it's revealed just who (or rather, what) the little girl's mother actually was. Christopher Lee is just a pin-prick away from knowing REAL terror.

The final segment, "The Cloak," features Jon Pertwee (who most famously played an incarnation of Dr. Who) as a pompous old actor, difficult and temperamental, who buys a cloak from the strange proprietor of a small shop. The cloak features some rather bizarre, transformative properties, as he discovers while he is filming a generic, low-budget vampire flick.

The wraparound at the end brings us full circle, with the Detective entering the house to investigate for himself why so many tragic and strange occurrences have transpired there. Needless to say, he gets the surprise of his life (and death), and the thing ends with Stoker walking outside, turning to the audience ("Breaking the Fourth Wall," as it were), and asking the viewers if they now understand the secret of the house and why it attracts so much evil. Of course, the audience understands such things all too well.

This is an entertaining if somewhat comic little horror gem, exploring themes that Robert Bloch obsessed over for decades, such as those he wrote into the classic episodes of Boris Karloff's "Thriller". If you've eaten a few leftovers here, don't be surprised. They taste just as bloody good as the warmed-over dead on those long, bitter, Transylvanian nights.

(Yeah, I know, the film is set in England. However, it does have vampires. So there.)

The House That Dripped Blood (1971) Trailer