The House that Dripped Blood Movie Review

The House that Dripped Blood is a 1971 horror anthology directed by Peter Duffell and starring Christopher Lee,Denholm Elliott, Peter Cushing, Jon Pertwee and Ingrid Pitt.

An actor called Paul Henderson goes missing after staying in a country house and Inspector Holloway(John Bennett) is investigating. He talks to a fellow policeman who tells him about mysterious things that happened in the house. There are four different segments in this movie.

Method for Murder:

Horror writer Charles Hillyer(Elliott) and his wife Alice(Joanna Dunham) move into the country house. Charles loves the house, but his wife hates it. The killer in his latest book is called Dominic.
Charles feels that Dominic is almost real. He thinks that he can see him in the house. His picture of Dominic disappears and then reappears . He throws it into the river then he sees Dominic. He tells his wife what he saw. She thinks that it is his imagination. She wants him to go and see the doctor. He goes to the doctor who thinks that he can help him. Charles sees Dominic trying to strangle Alice. She tells him that it was HE who tried to kill her. The doctor comes and Dominic strangles him. He goes into the house and meets Alice. It has all been a dastardly plan. Dominic kills Charles Unfortunately, the man who pretended to be Dominic now IS Dominic and he strangles Alice.

Waxworks:

Philip Grayson(Cushing) is the next occupant of the country house. He lives alone. He looks at a photo of a woman. He looks around the town and finds a museum of horror and decides to go inside. He looks an the exhibits and sees a waxwork of a woman who looks exactly like the woman in his photograph.The owner of the place tells Philip that his wife was murdered and she was a murderess. She killed his friend and she was executed. Philip rips up his picture. He has a dream about the woman in the waxwork museum. Philip's friend Neville(Joss Ackland) comes to visit him and they go to the waxwork museum. Neville sees the wax woman and he is transfixed by her. He tells Philip not to go to the museum anymore. He can't stay away from the place. Philip goes back later on and he finds out that the owner killed Neville. He attacks Philip too. The segment ends with Philip's head becoming part of the waxwork display.

The inspector goes to visit the estate agent Stoker(John Bryans) who tells him more stories of the house.

Sweets to the Sweet:

John Reid(Lee) is the next tenant of the house. He has a daughter called Jane. He gets a nanny for her. She is called Anne(Nyree Dawn Porter). She was a teacher. Jane seems like an unusual child. She is afraid of fire. Her father doesn't like her to play with dolls or play with other children. Anne wants Jane to go to the playground but John won't hear of it. Anne buys her a doll but John catches her and throws the doll in the fire. Anne is horrified. Jane is not happy. She starts reading about witchcraft.
John gets very upset when candles go missing. Jane takes some of her father's hair and she makes a wax dummy of her dad. She sticks pins in it. John feels a sharp pain. The doctor is called but he can't figure out what is wrong with John. John tells Anne that he is afraid of Jane. He thinks that she is evil. Anne sees Jane with a wax doll. She tries to get it from her, but Jane throws it in the fire. A piercing scream is heard as John dies.

The Cloak:

Paul Henderson(Pertwee) is an actor who stars in horror movies. He moves into the house which he is using to make his latest film. He is a tyrant who is critical of everything. He finds a card left in his dressing room. It advertises a costume hire shop. He goes there looking for a cloak to wear in the movie. An old, strange man sells him one for almost nothing. He is glad to be rid of the cloak for some reason. The cloak makes Paul act differently. He bites his co star and he has no reflection when he wears it. He is becoming a vampire when he wears the cloak. He reads in the paper that the costume shop burned down. They found a man in a coffin underneath the shop. His co star Carla(Pitt)
tricks him and wears his cloak. She turns into a vampire. She wants him to be one too.

The inspector gets the keys from Stoker and he looks around the house. He goes down to the basement and finds a door. There is a coffin in the room. There is a vampire in it. The inspector stakes the vampire and it disappears. Carla is there too and she attacks him. The movie ends with Stoker telling us that the house reflects the personality of the people who live in it.

I really liked this film. I love anthologies as you know so this was a real treat for me. I love these British horror movies which have such great actors in them. This had the best- Christopher Lee steals every scene that he is in and Peter Cushing makes the film better just by his presence.Former Doctor Who Jon Pertwee was great in his role too. I was very impressed with this movie as the stories were fun and interesting and I always love the ironic twists in each of them. There were vampires, witchcraft, murder,waxworks- what more could you ask for? There was no gore and next to no blood, but who cares as the stories were the star of the show! This is highly recommended. I give this one a 8/10.