Review: The House That Dripped Blood

A policeman and a realtor discuss the horrific history of a house that is believed to be cursed. The tales are as follows :- 1) “Method for Murder” – A horror writer (Denholm Elliott) is convince that his latest creation, a monstrous strangler, is doing unimaginable, violent deeds. His wife (Joanna Dunham) claims it is actually Elliott doing the violence. 2) “Waxworks” – A retiree (Peter Cushing) is convinced there’s something sinister at a local wax museum. Wolfe Morris plays the creepy curator, Joss Ackland plays Cushing’s old friend come to visit. 3) “Sweets to the Sweet” – Humourless widow Christopher Lee hires Nyree Dawn Porter to tutor his young daughter (Chloe Franks). She’s troubled, though at first Porter suspects her icy father might be the reason for that. However, this girl may not be all sweetness and sunshine. 4) “The Cloak” – A cantankerous horror movie star (Jon Pertwee) acquires a new cloak for an upcoming role. The seller (Geoffrey Bayldon) claims it once belonged to a real vampire. Ingrid Pitt turns up as Pertwee’s main squeeze.

 

Amicus Films made a pretty decent start to their run of horror omnibus films with “Dr. Terror’s House of Horrors”, but they were really off and running this this 1971 film from director Peter Duffell (“Inside Out” with Telly Savalas, and quite a bit of British TV). Scripted by author Robert Bloch (whose work has been adapted into Hitchcock’s “Psycho”, as well as Amicus’ “Asylum”) from his own short stories, it still suffers from the same fate as most of these things, with one dud segment. The wraparound (or interconnecting) segments aren’t especially hot for the most part, either. However, by and large this one’s a lot of fun.

 

Putting aside the dreadfully and immediately obnoxious music score by Michael Dress (“Quackser Fortune Has a Cousin in the Bronx”), we begin with Denholm Elliott as a horror writer who conjures up something horrific in a very amusing opener. You can see where it’s going from a mile away, but classic is classic, and it fits the omnibus format perfectly. It’s very Stephen King-type stuff actually and although Denholm Elliott and sports cars don’t seem to immediately go together, he’s nonetheless well-cast as the frightened author. The sense of humour really lends an assist here, especially in a very funny bit where Elliott’s shrink is babbling on about how this monster is just a character who doesn’t exist except to do the things Elliott secretly wants to do…and then the shrink gets strangled by the cackling monster. However, there’s two twists to this one, and I didn’t see either of them coming. Well-done, Mr. Bloch and a really fun way to open the film.

 

Next up we have the very classy Peter Cushing in what is sadly the film’s one dud segment. A rather tedious entry unimaginatively named ‘Waxworks’, it co-stars Joss Ackland as well as Aubrey Morris’ less interesting brother Wolfe. It sounds like a classic horror idea -  “Mystery of the Wax Museum” or “House of Wax” – but, nothing remotely interesting is done with the idea, and Wolfe Morris isn’t half as creepy as his brother Aubrey, let alone Vincent Price or Lionel Atwill. It doesn’t really work in truncated form, despite the best efforts of the always professional Peter Cushing and a game Joss Ackland. Boring.

 

Perking things back up again is an entry starring Christopher Lee as the humourless and stern father to a little blonde girl whom he seems rather afraid of. Lee’s perfectly cast and his character gets more interesting the longer the segment goes on. There’s also fine work by young Chloe Franks as the daughter and Nyree Dawn Porter as the girl’s concerned tutor. It’s predictable, but it’s always enjoyable to watch Christopher Lee being the one who is tormented. This one could’ve worked in expanded form too, whilst fitting the format here just nicely.

 

The last story is almost entirely comedic, with “Worzel Gummidge” star (and “Dr. Who” for Whovians) Jon Pertwee playing an arrogant horror movie actor who buys a cloak from creepy Geoffrey Bayldon (looking like Ernest Thesiger from “Bride of Frankenstein”, in one of his best roles) that was apparently worn by a real vampire. It’s a decision the actor soon regrets as bloodlust and pointy teeth kick in. Pertwee (looking like Dr. Who’s evil twin brother or something) is utterly silly from moment one, but going almost entirely for comedy works well for both the actor and the segment. One wonders if anyone else in the cast here felt somewhat slighted by Pertwee’s portrayal of a horror film star who has little tolerance for fools, but I’m not going to name any names (He makes a much more overt derisive comment about the ‘new’ fellow playing Dracula, but still…not naming any names here. Nope. Not me. Uh-uh). Co-star Ingrid Pitt looks hotter than hell, but it takes a while for her character to get anything of interest to say or do here. The segment ends exactly as it should, but also plays a part in the wraparound, which is the only decent thing about the bookends. Terrific ending to both, actually.

 

Despite one dud segment and a mostly uninteresting wraparound, this is one of Amicus’ strongest horror anthologies. Almost worth it for the Jon Pertwee segment alone, he’s hilarious.

 

Rating: B-