The House That Dripped Blood

1971's The House That Dripped Blood was the third anthology film released by Amicus Productions.  The film was directed by Peter Duffell (England Made Me, Kind of the Wind) and was written by Robert Bloch who wrote the original novel Psycho.  The film stars horror movie icons Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing with Denholm Elliott (Alfie, Raiders of the Lost Ark), Ingrid Pitt (Countess Dracula, The Vampire Lovers), Nyree Dawn Porter (From Beyond the Grave, The Forsyte Saga), and Jon Pertwee (Doctor Who, Worzel Gummidge) co-starring.  The film centers around a mysterious house where an inspector from Scotland Yard is investigating a missing persons report and goes to the estate agent who is in charge of taking care of the house in between tenants.  The inspector is told the history of the house through a series of four stories.

The stories include:
 Method For Murder - A horror novelist is haunted by visions of the dangerous psychopath that is the main character in his new novel.

Waxworks - Inside of a wax museum two men find the wax figure of a woman that is very familiar to both of them.

Sweets to the Sweet - A teacher doesn't like the way a widower is raising his daughter.

The Cloak - An actor buys a cloak from a pawnshop in order to play a part in his new film.  The cloak comes with a mysterious power. 

This is another one of those anthologies where the stories get better as the movie goes on.  The first story is forgettable.  The second story is only slightly better but even a bad Cushing story is still a pretty good story.  The third is satisfying.  The final story is by far the best even if it is also the most lighthearted and campy part of the film.  Pertwee shines in the main role which oddly enough was originally supposed to be played by Vincent Price but he was under contract with AIP at the time and was not allowed to be in a horror film for a competing company.  The wrap around story is surprisingly well done also and captivated my attention throughout every change over in stories.  If Pertwee is the best male performance in the film I have to give the best performance for a female to Ingrid Pitt if for no other than her *ahem* considerable assets that add very nicely to the film.  While the house is sufficiently creepy and the atmosphere is set very nicely sometimes we need to be reminded that the story is about the house after all.  With that in mind there is not one drop of blood to be found in The House That Dripped Blood.  I give it 3 and a half For Rent Signs out of 5 while the Horror Honey was in the ballpark and gave it 3.