Second Sight, out now

‘It’s the ’ouse, there’s somethin’ strange about it!’

Released as a limited edition last summer (which sold out – reviewed here), here we have the mass release of Amicus’ third horror portmanteau, The House That Dripped Blood. As with Asylum, there’s still a brand new reversable Graham Humphreys cover and some great extras, but more on that in a bit.

Investigating the sudden disappearance of film star Paul Henderson, Inspector Holloway (The Forsyte Saga’s John Bennett) visits the house that celebrity rented last. A house, according to the sergeant at the local police station (John Malcolm), which has a history of strange goings on. The first one we learn about revolves around the horror writer Charles Hillier (British stalwart Denholm Elliott) and his wife Alice (Joanna Dunham). Not long after moving in, Charles comes up with a new character, the psychotic strangler Dominick (Spy Trap’s Tom Adams), who appears to be coming to life…

In the second tale, retired stockbroker Philip (Amicus and Hammer regular Peter Cushing) takes up residence and promptly discovers a weird waxworks museum in the local town. But that isn’t nearly as weird as the fact he recognises one of the figures inside… Next we have John Reid (that other horror legend and Cushing’s old friend, Christopher Lee), who arrives with his young daughter Jane in tow (Chloe Franks). Taking on a tutor to school her at home, Ann (Nyree Dawn Porter from Never a Cross Word), it soon becomes apparent that there’s something very wrong with the little girl – not least her aversion to fire.

We finally return to Henderson (played by the third Doctor, Jon Pertwee), who rented the property while he was filming one of his many horror movies – The Curse of the Bloodsuckers, which also stars the buxom Carla (Countess Dracula, Ingrid Pitt). After acquiring a certain cape from a shop of curios, Henderson starts to believe he might actually be a vampire… But what really happened to him, and will Inspector Holloway ever get to the bottom of the House’s secret?

Like the following year’s Asylum, the segments presented here draw heavily on Robert (Psycho) Bloch’s massive back catalogue of stories, which probably accounts for why they’re so varied. It’s interesting to note that according to Pertwee, the production started off as a horror comedy but morphed into a more serious movie – though a lot of the humorous stuff remains, especially in his portion (put it this way, you don’t need to look far to see some of the influences for What We Do In The Shadows). This might account for The House That Dripped Blood’s schizophrenic feel, but there’s certainly room for more than one kind of horror in an anthology such as this. And it was also ahead of its time, in the shape of devices such as estate agent Stoker (John Bryans) turning and addressing the audience directly at the end.

There aren’t quite as many extras here as there are in the Asylum release, but you do get two audio commentaries (one with director Peter Duffell and author Jonathan Rigby, another with film historian and author Troy Howarth), plus trailers, radio spots and stills. Then there’s a lengthy interview with second assistant director Mike Higgins, who was working on his first film for Amicus here and tells a wonderful anecdote about the stand-in for Nyree Dawn Porter – whose loyalty on set was rewarded with a regular gig on The Protectors later. A Rated Horror Film is probably the most entertaining extra, however, as it contains interviews with director Duffell (‘Milton Subotsky was one of the people willing to take a risk with a young director.’), Geoffrey Bayldon, who sold Jon Pertwee his cloak in a memorable cameo (‘There were backstage rows going on, but then there always are.’) and Chloe Franks, who tells a great story about working with Christopher Lee as a child (‘He was quite a daunting person to be around.’). A worthy addition to any genre fan’s collection.

 

Verdict: ‘Perhaps you understand the secret of the house now.’            7/10      

Paul Kane

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