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A Passion For Horror
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The House That Dripped Blood (1971)Directed by Peter Duffell The
House That Dripped Blood is an anthology of four Robert
Bloch stories
that are strung together by their connection to a house where all but
one of the tenants have met with an unpleasant end. The last tenant was
a famous film star. What became of him is a mystery because he
disappeared. Scotland Yard send Inspectror Holloway to find out what
happened to the star, and Holloway’s investigation forms a kind of
wrap-around story that pulls the rest of the stories together. At first Holloway is annoyed at being given the
case and he is quick to
tell the desk sergeant that he has more important things to do than
chasing temperamental film stars. But the sergeant informs Holloway
that this is not the first time that something has happened to a tenant
of the house. He then presents him with a file about it, and this is
how the first two stories are introduced—with the estate agent, Mr
Stoker, filling in the blanks about the final two tenants. In "Method for Murder" Denholm Elliot
stars as horror writer, Charles Hillyer, who needs somewhere to rent
while he
writes his next book. Hilyer thinks that the house is perfect for his
needs, he and his wife move in, and work on the book begins. The
central character in Hilyer's book is a strangler, named Dominick, and
he becomes so real to Hilyer that the book is almost writing
itself. The problems begin when Dominick stops being just a
figment of Hilyer’s imagination and begins to appear around the house
and gardens. The tenant in the "Waxworks" segment is a retired
businessman named Philip Grayson
(Peter Cushing). Like the former tenant, he considers the old house
perfect for his needs, and intends to spend
a great deal of time reading books and listening to music. When he has
settled in Grayson takes a stroll into town and visits the waxwork
museum. The museum is a dreary place and most of the waxworks are of
killers, but one dummy stands out from the rest: a staggeringly
lifelike model of Salome, holding the head of John-the-Baptist on a
tray in front of her. Grayson becomes so captivated by the waxen beauty
that he finds it hard to tear himself away. Shortly after this,
Grayson’s friend, Neville, pays him a visit and—against Grayson’
better judgement—they visit the museum together. Neville also falls
under the spell of Salome, but he is not so successful at escaping her,
and later tells Grayson that the museum is an evil place. He is, of
course, very right about that. In "Sweets for the Sweet" John Reid (Christopher
Lee) and his daughter,
Jane, move into the house. Reid is a stern man and, as he does not want
his
little girl to mix with other children, he hires a private teacher to
tutor her. Jane’s new teacher, Mrs Norton, can see that that Jane is a
bright girl, but Mrs Norton can also see that she is a problem child.
After she has been at the house a while Mrs Norton realizes that John
Reid has some problems of his own and grows to believe that he may be
frightened of his daughter. Later she learns why he is so afraid of
Jane, but by then it is much too late. "The Cloak" is the final story. Jon Pertwee stars
as horror actor, John
Henderson, and Ingrid Pitt plays the leading lady in his new vampire
movie. Henderson needs somewhere to stay until the movie is finished
and
becomes the house’s latest tenant. Henderson loves the house, but he is
not so happy with his work. He considers the quality of the set to be
very poor and is so disgusted by the cloak the costume
department
give him that he refuses to wear it, goes off in search of something a
little more authentic, and finds exactly that when he visits an
antiques shop. Henderson’s new cloak used to belong to a real vampire
and every time Henderson wears it his dentistry goes haywire and he has
a job keeping his feet on the ground. Worse still he tries to bite his
co-star, who does not appreciate him trying to take a chunk out of her.
I enjoyed watching The House That Dripped Blood, but if I wanted to nit-pick I might point out that neither the police sergeant nor the estate agent could have any way of knowing the facts of the stories. Especially the last one because nobody witnessed John Henderson’s fate. The movie does not contain any scenes of sex or nudity and there is no gore whatsoever. Neither is there any dripping blood—not a drop—so if you were expecting any of these things you will be disappointed. I’d never seen the movie before I watched this DVD and I had no idea what to expect, but I was not disappointed because the movie has so many familiar faces. If you are a fan of Denholm Elliot, Peter Cushing, Christopher Lee, Ingrid Pitt or Jon Pertwee you would probably enjoy watching The House That Dripped Blood, even though the title is a little misleading. If, however, a not so subtle mix of flesh and gore, fast moving action and special effects, are more up your street, The House That Dripped Blood will be in the entirely wrong kind of neighbourhood and you will need to look elsewhere. Rating:
4 out of 5. CAST
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