Line #25 Film/TheHouseThatDrippedBlood


1	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/the_house_that_dripped_blood.jpg]]
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3	''The House That Dripped Blood'' is a 1971 British horror AnthologyFilm directed by Peter Duffell and distributed by Creator/AmicusProductions. It stars Creator/ChristopherLee, Creator/PeterCushing, Nyree Dawn Porter, Chloe Franks, Creator/DenholmElliott, Creator/IngridPitt, and Creator/JonPertwee. The film is a collection of four short stories, all originally written and subsequently scripted by Creator/RobertBloch, linked by the protagonist of each story's association with the eponymous building.
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5	A Scotland Yard investigator (John Bennett) looks into four mysterious cases involving an unoccupied house and its tragic previous tenants.
6	# "Method for Murder": A hack novelist (Creator/DenholmElliott) encounters a strangler (Tom Adams) who's the villain of his books, leading his wife to question his sanity.
7	# "Waxworks": Two men (Creator/PeterCushing and Joss Ackland) are obsessed with a wax figure of a woman from their past.
8	# "Sweets for the Sweet": A little girl with a stern, widowed father (Creator/ChristopherLee) displays an interest in witchcraft.
9	# "The Cloak": An arrogant horror film actor (Creator/JonPertwee) purchases a black cloak which gives him a vampire's powers.
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12	!!Tropes used in ''The House That Dripped Blood'' include:
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14	* ActorAllusion:
15	** Paul Henderson (Creator/JonPertwee) is describing the old horror films he loves, and mentions Dracula, but quickly adds "the one with Creator/BelaLugosi of course, not this new fellow". The new fellow he is referring to is Creator/ChristopherLee, who also stars in the film.
16	** Among the photographs in the frame of Paul Henderson's mirror is one of Pertwee driving "Bessie", the car he drove as [[Series/DoctorWho the Doctor]].
17	* AdamWesting: Creator/IngridPitt plays an actress who plays vampires and then turns out to be one for real.
18	* AlliterativeList: From the poster:
19	-->'''Vampires! Voodoo! Vixens! Victims!'''
20	* AppleOfDiscord: In "Waxworks", the wax figure of Salome causes all men to see it as the woman they most desire. This causes problems as Philip and Rogers had both been in love with the same woman, and both see it as her.
21	* AssholeVictim:
22	** [[spoiler:Alice]] in "Method for Murder" gets little sympathy when [[spoiler: she is strangled to death by her lover, who now believes himself to be Dominick.]]
23	** [[spoiler:Inspector Holloway]] from the FramingDevice is such a dick that it’s hard to feel bad for him when [[spoiler:Carla kills him for killing Henderson.]]
24	** Subverted by [[spoiler:Henderson]], who turns out to be a JerkWithAHeartOfGold undeserving of his fate.
25	* BecomingTheCostume: In "The Cloak", actor Henderson purchases a vampire's cloak to add verisimilitude to role as a vampire, only to discover that he transforms into a vampire whenever he dons the cloak.
26	* ClassicalMovieVampire: This is what Paul Henderson transforms into (minus the east European accent) whenever he dons the eponymous cloak in "The Cloak"; very appropriate given he is an actor who specialises in playing vampires.
27	* ClothesMakeTheManiac: In "The Cloak", whenever Paul Henderson dons the eponymous cloak, he turns into a vampire.
28	* DecapitationPresentation: In "Waxworks", the proprietor of the museum [[WaxMuseumMorgue created his figure of Salome by embalming his executed wife in wax]]. He later [[spoiler:uses the decapitated heads of Rogers and Philip as heads of John the Baptist in the display]].
29	* DiesDifferentlyInAdaptation: In the original short story for "Sweets for the Sweet," [[spoiler: Jane didn't throw the voodoo doll in a fire...she ''bit its head off.'']]
30	* DramaticIrony: [[spoiler:Alice's plan was to have her failed actor lover drive her husband insane. Instead, it's her lover who ends up going insane.]]
31	* EnfantTerrible[=/=]CuteWitch: [[spoiler: Jane Reid in "Sweets for the Sweet."]]
32	* FantasyForbiddingFather: In "Sweets for the Sweet", John forbids his daughter from any contact with other children, or even to have any toys. As it turns out, he does have some solid reasons for his incredibly strict parenting but, by the time these come out, it is far too late for all involved.
33	* TheFourthWallWillNotProtectYou: At the end of the film, the real estate agent Stoker looks into the camera and asks if you would consider yourself a suitable tenant for the house.
34	* {{Gaslighting}}: In "Method for Murder", Charles' sightings of Dominick turn out to be [[spoiler:part of a plan by his wife Alice to have him declared insane so she can run off with her lover]].
35	* GoneHorriblyRight: In "Sweets to the Sweet," the tutor's success at freeing Jane from her phobia of fire [[spoiler: allows Jane to start teaching herself witchcraft.]]
36	* GoryDeadlyOverkillTitleOfFatalDeath
37	* GoryDiscretionShot:
38	** [[spoiler:John burning alive]] at the end of "Sweets to the Sweet".
39	** [[spoiler:Philip]] being decapitated in "Waxworks".
40	* HighClassGlass: In "The Cloak", flamboyant movie actor Paul Henderson uses a monocle when reading. While undoubtedly an affectation, it appears he really does need the corrective lens as he is never seen reading without it.
41	* ItWasHereISwear: In "Method for Murder", all of Charles' attempts to convince Alice that Dominick is real and in the house end with him showing her an apparently empty room and her thinking he is cracking up.
42	* {{Jerkass}}: Inspector Holloway from the FramingDevice is an arrogant dick who views everyone he meets as beneath him for being from a small town and insults people who are genuinely trying to help.
43	* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: Paul Henderson.
44	* KillItWithFire: [[spoiler:In "Sweet to the Sweet" John dies when Jane throws the wax voodoo doll into the fireplace, causing him to burn alive.]]
45	* LostInCharacter: In "Method for Murder", [[spoiler:Richard, the failed actor that Alice uses to play Dominick, the strangler from her husband Charles' book, in order to [[{{Gaslighting}} drive him insane]] becomes so immersed in the role that he actually believes he is Dominick and murders the psychiatrist, Charles, and finally Alice]].
46	* MirrorMonster: In "Method for Murder", a shaken Charles is lighting a cigarette by the fireplace when he glances in the mirror and sees Dominick standing on the landing behind him. But when he turns around, there is no one there.
47	* MissingReflection: In "The Cloak", the first indication Henderson has that anything is wrong is when he tries on the cloak and then discovers he doesn't have a reflection in the mirror.
48	* NeverHadToys: In "Sweets for the Sweet", John is a FantasyForbiddingFather who forbids his daughter from any contact with other children, or even to have any toys.
49	* NeverTrustATitle: While the title may make sense figuratively--in that the house is responsible for a number of deaths, if Stoker is to be believed--no actual blood appears in the film (which is odd for a film involving vampires).
50	* PrettyInMink: Carla wears a mink stole while casually lounging around Paul's sitting room in "The Cloak".
51	* ThePrimaDonna: Paul Henderson. The first day he’s on set, he throws a tantrum over the set of the castle not being “real enough”, and proceeds to smash it with his cane to prove a point.
52	* PrivateTutor: Ann in "Sweets to the Sweet" is hired by John Reid to teach his daughter Jane.
53	* SapientHouse: While it is never implied that it's actually intelligent, the real estate agent Stoker says that the house reacts to the personalities of those who live there, and that the fates that befell the previous tenants were therefore of their own creating and somehow deserved.
54	* SanitySlippage: In "Method for Murder" Charles gradually starts to lose it from his constant visions of Dominick. [[spoiler:In the end, it turns out that some of the evidence for his SanitySlippage was just his wife gaslighting him.]]
55	* SlasherSmile: [[spoiler: Angelic-looking Jane after she's murdered her father in "Sweets for the Sweet."]]
56	* SmokingIsGlamorous: Most of the smoking in the film is very mundane, but Carla, the exotic foreign movie star in "The Cloak", smokes cigarettes in a long holder and looks very sexy while doing so.
57	* VoodooDoll: The European 'poppet' version is used in "Sweets for the Sweet", with Jane fashioning an effigy of her father out wax and imbuing it with hairs stolen from his razor. She causes him heart pains by stabbing it with a needle [[spoiler:and later tosses it on to the fire]].
58	* WaxMuseumMorgue: In "Waxworks", the proprietor of the museum created his figure of Salome by embalming his executed wife in wax. He later [[spoiler:uses the decapitated heads of Rogers and Philip as heads of John the Baptist in the display]].
59	* WhenTheClockStrikesTwelve: In "The Cloak", the most dramatic changes to Paul happen when he dons the cloak just as the clock is striking midnight.
60	* WhyDidItHaveToBeSnakes: At the start of "Sweets for the Sweet", Jane Reid is afraid of fire. It later appears that her father John deliberately instilled this fear in her.
61	* WouldHarmAChild[=/=]WouldHitAGirl: In "Sweets for the Sweet", John slaps his daughter across the face while her teacher stands by shocked, but doing nothing.

Context Film / TheHouseThatDrippedBlood