The House That Dripped Blood is a 1971 British anthology horror film directed by Peter Duffell and made by Amicus Productions.

It stars Christopher Lee, Peter Cushing, Nyree Dawn Porter, Denholm Elliott, and Jon Pertwee.

Framework part 1 Shortly after renting an old country house, film star Paul Henderson mysteriously disappears and Inspector Holloway from Scotland Yard is called to investigate.

Method for Murder (Fury #7, July 1962) Charles Hillyer, a hack writer who specialises in horror stories, and his wife Alice, move into the house.

Suddenly, Dominic arrives and strangles Dr. Andrews while Charles lies back in a chair with his eyes closed.

When the doctor stops responding, Charles opens his eyes, and, jumping to his feet, backs away, screaming in horror as Dominic laughs.

Framework part 2 Sergeant Martin informs Holloway that Richard/Dominic was later found standing over Alice's body, laughing.

Grayson eagerly invites him to stay the night, and it becomes clear the two had both been romantic rivals for the same woman; however, the two had reconciled after her death.

The proprietor arrives and reveals he had framed his wife for his friend's murder, so that he could cover her corpse in wax and keep her to himself forever.

However, Holloway does not stay around to hear this story, believing the whole thing preposterous, and instead decides to confer with the estate agent, A.J.

Jane secretly uses the missing candles to form a wax voodoo doll, which she uses to leave John bedridden.

Henderson, a great fan of the horror genre, is angry over the lack of realism in the film, particularly over the cloak worn by his character (who happens to be a vampire).

He decides to purchase a more accurate cloak, and to that end stops at an antique shop run by the enigmatic Theo von Hartmann.

Henderson apologizes to Carla and invites her over to his home; he explains to her his predicament, but she is skeptical and demands he prove it by putting on the cloak.

He explores the house by candlelight, eventually breaking into a locked basement where he finds and kills Henderson, now a fully transformed vampire.

Freddie Francis was sought for the director's chair but he had prior commitments to a film in Hollywood, which ultimately fell through.

[4] Producer Milton Subotsky insisted on The House That Dripped Blood, telling Duffell "We're in the marketplace, we have to use that title".

[7] Pertwee also admitted that he intentionally based his character, the horror actor Paul Henderson, on his co-star and friend Christopher Lee.

[7] In a scene in which Henderson talks about favourite roles, he says that he prefers Bela Lugosi's Dracula rather than the chap who plays him nowadays (meaning Christopher Lee in the Hammer Films genre).

Roger Greenspun of The New York Times wrote in a mixed review that he was "of several minds" about the film, calling the first two stories "as dull in development as they are in idea.

"[8] Kevin Thomas of The Los Angeles Times wrote, "Richly atmospheric settings, muted color photography, an outstanding cast and competent direction (by Peter Duffell) do justice to Bloch's fine script, which deals with psychological terror rather than relying on the typical blood-and-guts formula.