THE HOUSE THAT DRIPPED BLOOD

THE HOUSE THAT DRIPPED BLOOD was the cover feature of FAMOUS MONSTERS OF FILMLAND #86 in September 1971. I was in tenth grade at Austin High when I bought that issue (I still have it, by the way). I was fascinated by the stills from the film but for whatever reasons, I never got around to seeing the movie.

I finally watched it yesterday afternoon and I can't honestly say that it was worth the wait. Oh, it's not a bad little movie, just a terribly routine one. It's an anthology format film featuring four vignettes all written by American horror maestro Robert (PSYCHO) Bloch. Produced by Britain's Amicus Productions (a Hammer Studios wannabe), the film stars genre vets Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee but they appear in separate stories and have no screen time together. Also in the cast is Denholm Elliott, Jon Pertwee (who played one iteration of Dr. Who) and the oh-so-lovely Ingrid Pitt.

The segments are linked together by a framing device regarding the title house. A Scotland Yard inspector is investigating the disappearances of various residents of the house and discovers the secret of the house in the last little epilogue segment of the film. The house is continually offered for rent by a real estate agent named A. Stoker (a nod, perhaps to Abraham (Bram) Stoker, of DRACULA fame?).

THE HOUSE THAT DRIPPED BLOOD is a passable time waster and it's always fun to watch Cushing and Lee but ultimately this one is for die-hard fans only.