The House That Dripped Blood

The House That Dripped Blood (1971)

Genres - Mystery, Horror, Thriller  |   Sub-Genres - Haunted House Film, Horror Comedy  |   Release Date - Feb 1, 1971 (USA - Unknown), Mar 31, 1971 (USA)  |   Run Time - 101 min.  |   Countries - United Kingdom, United States  |   MPAA Rating - PG
  • AllMovie Rating
    5
  • User Ratings (0)
  • Your Rating

Share on

Review by Donald Guarisco

The House That Dripped Blood is a solid example of the Amicus horror anthology. Robert Bloch's stories don't hit the viewer hard, instead relying on imagination and subtlety to achieve their effect. The end result in every case is a chill instead of a shock but the sheer craft of the whole affair can be quite pleasurable for horror fans: director Peter Duffell gives the stories an old-fashioned sense of spooky atmosphere and Bloch's stories move with the precision and the spare quality one would expect from a veteran storyteller. However, the big appeal of The House That Dripped Blood is its cast: Peter Cushing is touching as a lonely man tormented by memories of a lost love, Christopher Lee is a gruff delight as a seemingly cruel father who may have good reasons to be chilly towards his daughter and Jon Pertwee steals the show as an egomaniacal horror star whose flair for the theatrical might be his undoing. The end result may leave those weaned on rough-and-tumble horror fare nonplussed but fans of old-fashioned spookiness will find The House That Dripped Blood an enjoyable exercise in old-school horror storytelling.