The House That Dripped Blood is a 1971 British anthology horror film directed by Peter Duffell and made by Amicus Productions. It stars Christopher Lee, Peter Cushing, Nyree Dawn Porter, Denholm Elliott, and Jon Pertwee. The film is a collection of four short stories concerning a series of inhabitants of the eponymous building. All of the stories were originally written, and subsequently scripted, by Robert Bloch.
Contents
Plot
Framework part 1
Shortly after renting an old country house, film star Paul Henderson mysteriously disappears and Inspector Holloway from Scotland Yard is called to investigate. Inquiring at the local police station, Holloway is told some of the house's history.
Method for Murder (Fury No. 7, July 1962)
Charles Hillyer, a hack writer who specialises in horror stories, and his wife Alice, move into the house. Charles begins working on a novel focusing on Dominic, a murderous, psychopathic strangler; Charles becomes simultaneously enamoured and disturbed by the character. Charles soon starts to see Dominic, who begins stalking and tormenting him.
Charles begins seeing a psychologist, Dr. Andrews, who suggests Dominic is the other half of a split personality formed by Charles getting into Dominic's mindset to write the novel. Charles's visions of Dominic become even more pronounced. He sees Dominic strangling Alice, only for her to claim that Charles had been strangling her. At another session with Dr. Andrews, Andrews suggests Dominic is the result of darker sides of Charles's personality being released by writing the novel, though Charles is sceptical as he has written horror stories for years and never had a problem. Suddenly, Dominic arrives and strangles Dr. Andrews while Charles lies back in a chair with his eyes closed. When the doctor stops responding, Charles opens his eyes, and, jumping to his feet, backs away, screaming in horror as Dominic laughs.
At the house Dominic approaches Alice, only to reveal that he is actually Richard, her lover. Richard, an actor, had been pretending to be Dominic to drive Charles insane, so that Alice and Richard could take the money made from his novels and run off together. Alice gets a call from the police, and learns that both Dr. Andrews and Charles had been strangled to death. Alice asks Richard why he had killed them, as it was not part of the plan, only for Richard to reveal he now believes he is Dominic. Richard/Dominic then strangles Alice while laughing maniacally.
Framework part 2
Sergeant Martin informs Holloway that Richard/Dominic was later found standing over Alice's body, laughing. He says he believes that it was not merely a case of Richard/Dominic being driven to madness by the role, but some effect of the house itself. Holloway dismisses this as absurd, so Martin tells him another story, of the next tenant to inhabit the house.
Cast (by segment)
"Framework"
John Bennett as Detective Inspector Holloway
John Bryans as A.J. Stoker
John Malcolm as Sergeant Martin
"Method For Murder"
Denholm Elliott as Charles Hillyer
Joanna Dunham as Alice Hillyer
Tom Adams as Richard/Dominic
Robert Lang as Dr. Andrews
"Waxworks"
Peter Cushing as Philip Grayson
Joss Ackland as Neville Rogers
Wolfe Morris as Waxworks Proprietor
"Sweets to the Sweet"
Christopher Lee as John Reid
Nyree Dawn Porter as Ann Norton
Chloe Franks as Jane Reid
Hugh Manning as Mark
Carleton Hobbs as Dr. Bailey
"The Cloak"
Jon Pertwee as Paul Henderson
Ingrid Pitt as Carla Lynde
Geoffrey Bayldon as Theo von Hartmann
Jonathan Lynn as Mr. Petrich
Production
Freddie Francis was sought for the director's chair but he had prior commitments to a film in Hollywood, which ultimately fell through.
Originally, director Peter Duffell wanted to have the title Death and the Maiden as he used Franz Schubert's composition of the same title in the film. Producer Milton Subotsky insisted on The House That Dripped Blood, telling Duffell "We're in the marketplace, we have to use that title". Not one drop of blood appears in the actual film.
When Peter Duffell was engaged the participation of actors Lee, Cushing and Pitt had already been decided by the producers. All other actors were cast by Duffell.
Jon Pertwee later wrote in his memoir that the film was meant to be a comedy-horror film and was initially filmed in that way. According to Pertwee, during the production "the producer came in, took one look at what we are doing and went raving mad", insisting it was to be a horror film and not a comedy. This meant a change of tone, but the material which had already been filmed remained, resulting in the film dipping in quality and edits to remove comedy elements from Pertwee's sequences. Pertwee also admitted that he intentionally based his character, the horror actor Paul Henderson, on his co-star and friend Christopher Lee. During the production Lee realised that Pertwee was basing his performance on an actor, but did not know it was based on him. In a scene in which Henderson talks about favourite roles, he says that he prefers Bela Lugosi's Dracula rather than the chap who plays him nowadays (meaning Lee in several Hammer Films).
Release
Critical reception
Roger Greenspun of The New York Times wrote in a mixed review that he was "of several minds" about the film, calling the first two stories "as dull in development as they are in idea. But the latter two stories, though necessarily too short and too schematic, generate some interest, and humor, and even a bit of characterization." Variety called it "one of the most entertaining of its genre to come along in several years and should prove strong opposition to the general monopoly of that market by Hammer Films ... even for filmgoers who don't usually follow the shocker market, this one is worthwhile." Kevin Thomas of The Los Angeles Times wrote, "Richly atmospheric settings, muted color photography, an outstanding cast and competent direction (by Peter Duffell) do justice to Bloch's fine script, which deals with psychological terror rather than relying on the typical blood-and-guts formula." Tom Milne of The Monthly Film Bulletin called the first two stories "enjoyable enough in a rough-and-ready way" and the fourth story "a pleasant joke which would have been much funnier had it been played by a genuine horror star such as Vincent Price," but singled out the third story as "in an altogether different league ... it is mainly a mood piece which brilliantly orchestrates the child's loneliness, the father's hapless cruelty, and the governess' well-meaning failure to understand, into a haunting picture of the evil that can come of good intentions."
Among more recent reviews, AllMovie's review of the film was mostly positive, calling it "a solid example of the Amicus horror anthology." Halliwell's Film Guide described the film as "neatly made and generally pleasing despite a low level of originality in the writing."
Box office
The film was a minor success in the UK but did very well in the US.