During the ’60s and ’70s when Hammer was making their classic horror films, there was a second company also scaring audiences with movies made in England. Amicus Productions weren’t a knock off company although you could confuse their productions with their more famous neighbor. Many of the actors and crew members that worked for Hammer found themselves on location for Amicus. Take for instance Amicus’ The House That Dripped Blood. The movie stars Christopher Lee (Lord of the Rings), Peter Cushing (Star Wars) and Ingrid Pitt ( Countess Dracula). Who wouldn’t think back to the film and imagine they’d seen a Hammer horror with those stars? Two things separated Amicus from Hammer. A large number of their horror films were set in contemporary time and used anthology set ups with a framing narrative and three or four short films within. This allowed them to have big stars for short times and treat them as stars and not supporting players. The film also stars Jon Pertwee (Dr. Who), Denholm Elliott (Raiders of the Lost Ark) and Jonathan Lynn (Doctor in the House). The House That Dripped Blood was about various people who rented a home over the years. The script was written by Robert Bloch (Psycho) based on his short stories run in Weird Tales magazine. Now The House That Dripped Blood is receiving the Scream Factory treatment on May 8. There’s plenty of fresh bonus features with crew members talking about their time on cursed real estate. Here’s the press release from Scream Factory:
SCREAM FACTORY PRESENTS
THE HOUSE THAT DRIPPED BLOOD
IN ITS BLU-RAY DEBUT
ARRIVING MAY 8, 2018
Los Angeles, CA – Vampires! Voodoo! Vixens! Victims! Terror waits for you in every room. A quartet of frightening fables is presented in The House That Dripped Blood, which comes to Blu-ray for the first time on May 8, 2018.
A Scotland Yard inspector’s search for a missing film star leads him to a haunted house. The house sets the framework for four separate tales of terror written by the author of Psycho, Robert Bloch, and starring horror icons Peter Cushing, Christopher Lee and Ingrid Pitt. All four stories center on the mysterious fates of tenants who have leased the mansion over the years.
Special Features:
NEW Audio Commentary by film historian/author Troy Howarth
NEW interview with second assistant director Mike Higgins
Audio Commentary with director Peter Duffell and author Jonathan Rigby
Vintage Featurette – A-Rated Horror Film – featuring interviews with director Peter Duffell, actors Geoffrey Bayldon, Ingrid Pitt and Chloe Franks
Theatrical Trailers (English and Spanish)
Radio Spots
The Amicus Radio Spots Collection
Still Gallery
