Label: Second Sight Films
Region Code: B
Duration: 102 Minutes
Rating: Cert.12
Audio: English DTS-HD MA Mono 1.0 with Optional English Subtitles
Video: 1080p HD Widescreen (1.85:1)
Director: Peter Duffell
Cast: Christopher Lee, Peter Cushing, Nyree Dawn Porter, Denholm Elliott, Jon Pertwee, Joanna Dunham, Joss Ackland, John Bennett, John Bryans, Wolfe Morris, Tom Adams, Ingrid Pitt
The House That Dripped Blood (1971) was the third anthology horror film from Hammer Film's arch rivals Amicus Films, a delightfully macabre and fun set of stories based on the writings of Robert Bloch (Psycho) with a wrap around story featuring Scotland Yard Inspector Holloway (John Bennett, Split Second) investigating the disappearance of an actor living in the area. The inspector speaks to a local cop who in turn spins a yarn of the peculiar property the actor was living in at the time of his disappearance, a spooky mansion whose past tenants have all met with mysterious ends, and thus begins our story proper.
The first segment 'Method For Murder' is the tale of a horror writer named Charles Hillyer (Denholm Elliott, Trading Places) who as he types away in his study on his latest murderous opus is haunted by one of the characters from his story, a sadistic killer named Dominic (Tom Adams) whom has seemingly manifested from the written page into mind-bending reality. As Dominic lurks in the shadows the writer's sanity begins to slip away, slowly losing his grip on reality as the threat looms ever larger. It turns out that Charles is the only one who sees the phantom, but is it a figment of the writer's disturbed mind or is there something supernatural afoot, or possibly something more reality-based? The truth is a mix of all three and it's a deliciously tasty EC Comics inspired bit of comeuppance at the end, a great start to one of the all-time great horror anthologies.
The next unfortunate renter is Philip Grayson (Peter Cushing, Corruption) in the vignette 'Waxworks', Cushing plays a lonely older man who one day visits a creepy (is there any other kind?) wax museum and is struck by how one of the figures bares an uncanny resemblance to a former flame. The mysterious caretaker of the wax museum (Wolfe Morris) informs him the figure's likeness is based on his own deceased wife, a murderess whom was executed by the authorities.
Even after leaving the establishment Grayson is all-consumed by the likeness and has a surreal nightmare of visiting the figure at the museum, only to be awoken by an estranged friend named Neville (Joss Ackland,
Lethal Weapon 2) who's unexpectedly come calling. Grayson shares his waxy nostalgic encounter with the man, who it turns out also has a flame burning for the same woman, leading to an investigative trip to the wax museum with dire consequences for both men. Peter Cushing is typically great here, with an shocker finale at the wax museum that will leave your head rolling.
In 'Sweets to the Sweet' we have the other Hammer horror legend, Christopher Lee (Dracula - Prince of Darkness), appearing as a seemingly cruel father and widow named John Reid who leases the house of horror with his adolescent daughter Jane (Chloe Franks, Who Slew Auntie Roo?). He comes off as unnecessarily strict in regard to his daughter's upbringing, refusing to allow her to attend school or have friends, to that end he hires a nanny named Ann (Nyree Dawn Porter, From Beyond the Grave), who home schools the girl. We learn that Jane fears fire and is not allowed to play with dolls or candles, which seems odd at first, but when it is revealed that her mum was a suspected witch things begin to come into focus, but is it all unfounded fear on the part of her father or does the young girl have the dark magic of the occult within her? Lee is in fine form as the harsh father, and young Chloe Franks is pretty great as the fresh-faced and mischievous little girl who is none to pleased with her father's restrictive ways, with a wonderfully twisted finale.
The fourth and final story as told to the inspector is the case of the missing person's report that brought the attention of Scotland Yard in the first place, the disappearance of a veteran horror star obviously modeled after Vincent Price in 'The Cloak'. Price was the first choice of the director for the role but whom for contractual reasons with AIP was not available to play fictional horror star Paul Henderson, instead we have Jon Pertwee of TV's Doctor Who in a wonderfully fun performance as an aging actor who is very unhappy, even bitchy, about the state of modern horror films with their cheap sets and lack of imagination. Striving for authenticity on the set of his latest vampire picture the actor refuses to wear the cheap-looking cloak supplied by the production and goes to a local vintage store to find something more sinister and vampyric looking. Sure enough, with the help of a strange shop keeper (Geoffrey Bayldon, Asylum), he finds a cloak that not only makes him look like a vampire, it turns him into one! Ingrid Pitt (Countess Dracula) plays against him as his voluptuous co-star who has her own secret to share with the difficult star. This one is so much fun and well-done, with tongue planted firmly in cheek it's a nice send-up, complete with a jab against Christopher Lee's Hammer bloodsucker! The scenes of Pitt and Pertwee flying around on strings is also a goofy delight, coming to an end with the inspector finally visiting the storied house to dispel any notion of it being evil or cursed, which of course does not end well for him!
Like the HD master we also get the same set of extras as the Scream Factory release, this these include a pair of commentaries, the first being a vintage track with with director Peter Duffell and author Jonathan Rigby, the other a more recent contribution from the always great film historian/author Troy Howarth, detailing some great insights into the production and the cast and crew.
There's also a 9-min interview with second assistant director Mike Higgins who mentions that this was hist first film for Amicus, going into a story about actress Nyree Dawn Porter regarding her almost leaving the production, and speaking fondly of director Peter Duffell. We also get a vintage 2003 VisArt featurette, the 17-min 'A-Rated Horror Film' – featuring interviews with director Peter Duffell, actors Geoffrey Bayldon, Ingrid Pitt and Chloe Franks, it's vintage but quite good, and one I hadn't seen before.
We also get a full-frame English theatrical trailer plus a widescreen Spanish-language trailer, plus an image gallery with stills, promotional images, lobby cards and various movie posters, newspaper ads, and home video releases. One of my favorite inclusions on the disc are 14-min of vintage Amicus radio spots that play along to images of stills and movie posters from all the films.
The single disc release comes housed in oversized black Blu-ray keepcase with a reversible sleeve of artwork, the a-side featuring new artwork from by artist Graham Humphreys, the b-side featuring the original illustrated artwork for the film, without the blemish of the ratings logo obscuring the front cover and the spine, with the Humphrey's artwork option also being featured on the disc itself.
The film was previously issued by Second Sight Films as a limited edition release with a rigid slipcase along with a 40-page booklet with new essays by Allan Bryce, Jon Towlson and Kat Ellinger. While that edition is now out-of-print the film has kindly been reissued by Second Sight as this attractive standard release.
Special Features:
- Audio Commentary with director Peter Duffell and Jonathan Rigby, author of 'English Gothic'
- Audio Commentary by film historian/author Troy Howarth
- Interview with second assistant director Mike Higgins (9 min)
- Vintage Featurette: A-Rated Horror Film – featuring interviews with director Peter Duffell, actors Geoffrey Bayldon, Ingrid Pitt and Chloe Franks (17 min)
- Theatrical Trailers (English and Spanish) (4 min)
- Radio Spots (3 min)
- The Amicus Radio Spots Collection:
Asylum (1 min), At The Earth's Core (1 min), From Beyond the Grave (1 min), Madhouse (1 min), Scream And Scream Again (2 min), Tales from the Crypt (1 min), The Beast Must Die (1 min), The Land That Time Forgot (1 min), The Mind of Mr. Soames (1 min), The People That Time Forgot (1 min), Vault Of Horror (2 min)
- Still Gallery (5 min)
The House That Dripped Blood (1971) is an anthology that wonderfully mixes the macabre with a darkly comedic touches, in my opinion there's not a bad apple in the bunch, what's not to love? Sure, some of the special effects, a faulty looking severed head vampires flying around on wires among them, are a bit hokey looking, but this is one horror anthology that remains a high point of the British portmanteau movies. Very pleased to see it get a solid release in the U.K. with great-looking artwork and an excellent set of extras from Second Sight Films.
Top: Second Sight Films Blu-ray (2019)
Bottom: Scream Factory Blu-ray (2018)
