The House that Dripped Blood

The House that Dripped Blood (1971)

Runtime: 102 minutes

Directed by: Peter Duffell

Starring: Christopher Lee, Peter Cushing, Denholm Elliott, Jon Pertwee, John Bennett

From: Amicus

It's been too long since any horror anthologies have been viewed, especially from Amicus. For the newer readers, I enjoy most of the anthologies I've seen made before 2000, while the only one I've ever liked made in the 21st century was Trick 'r Treat... and some famous efforts were seen by me, including those terrible V/H/S movies and The ABC's of Death. Amicus made the likes of the 1972 film Tales from the Crypt, Vault of Horror (both were also based on the 50's EC Comics that the 90's show was inspired by) and The Monster Club... all of which I enjoyed like I enjoyed The House that Dripped Blood.

The framing story: a Scotland Yard detective is in a police station, to investigate a missing horror actor-Jon Pertwee in a part designed to be hammy, and he delivered! That was my favorite story. Overall, an officer regales him with a quartet of tales set at the eponymous house. What happened to Pertwee is the final tale-there's also Denholm Elliott being driven batty while attempting to write a horror novel in the house, recent retiree Peter Cushing being unable to enjoy a life of reading & gardening due to a wax statue, and the weird interactions Christopher Lee has with his young daughter... don't worry, it sounds gross but the scenario is frightening instead of upsetting.

One reason I tend to enjoy these older anthologies: they are usually fun, light in tone. Each segment here isn't dour or miserable; instead, while they have their chilling, frightful moments, they are also quite entertaining. As always with these, some segments are better than others but I enjoyed all four plus the wraparound segment, the expected variety that you expect in all anthologies. To my delight, not only did one segment feature some Bava lighting, the film is imbibed w/ an interesting, fitting score from Michael Dress.

The house (a mansion out in the middle of the woods) is appropriately moody, totally early 70's in that the interior is full of green. While The House that Dripped Blood ironically does not feature any blood on screen, that was irrelevant to me with the presence of a nice cast-there's also the likes of Joss Ackland & Ingrid Pitt-spooky figures associated w/ this time of year, deaths, and the macabre vibes throughout. My opinion is likely an outlier but I'll forever be salty that the 21st century anthologies are so dark & miserable, instead of being delightful like the 70's movie Tales from the Crypt or even something like Tales from the Hood.