Review: The House That Dripped Blood (1971)

Directed by: Peter Duffell
Starring: Christopher Lee, Peter Cushing, Ingrid Pitt
Written by: Robert Bloch
Music by: Michael Dress
Country: United Kingdom
Available on: Blu-ray (Scream Factory)
IMDb

The House That Dripped Blood, the third anthology horror film produced by Amicus Productions, is packed to the, err, cloak with British genre film stars like Christopher Lee, Peter Cushing, Ingrid Pitt, and Jon Pertwee. It’s written by Robert Bloch (the author of Psycho), based on his short stories. That all seems like a pedigree for something a bit more interesting than what we get, which concerns a film star who disappears shortly after renting a old house in the English countryside, prompting a Scotland Yard inspector to investigate the spooky history of the house. Each segment of the film focuses on a previous tenant: There’s a horror writer who believes he’s seeing hallucinations of the serial killer about whom he’s writing, a lonely businessman who stumbles upon a waxwork museum containing a statue resembling his dead wife, a widower raising a sadistic daughter who dabbles in witchcraft, and the aforementioned film star who, after playing vampires his entire career, eventually becomes one. Though “blood” right there in its title, this is an entirely bloodless affair, one whose inertia is stalled through long, slow stories that lack the punch of other Amicus productions (see Tales from the Crypt) or the artistry of others (Asylum). Though none of the segments are particularly awful (though “The Cloak” flirts heavily with silliness), they also don’t really resonate. Even with vampires, there’s not a whole lot of bite here and characters aren’t bestowed the necessary pathos to root for the comeuppance of their betrayers. I’m all for films eschewing formula of any kind, but I feel like the best anthologies serve one of or a combination of three purposes: (1) They present a series of morality tales in which shitty people face shitty ends because of their shittiness; (2) they’re setups for funny, gruesome, or unexpected twists; and/or (3) they offer different points of view on the same overarching theme. THTDB floats in a limbo, never quite settling in any of those lanes, and it’s somewhat unsatisfying as a result. Still, a movie laced with this much talent could never be entirely unwatchable. The premises for most segments are strong, even as execution falters, and the wraparound is a reasonably intriguing way to present them. As expected with the cast, the performances are solid throughout. There are no vaunting peaks or miserable valleys here; it’s consistently adequate and that’s enough to make watching it a decent use of time.

Overall rating: 6 out of 10