An Analysis of Media Text, "The House that Dripped Blood",

Directed by Peter Duffield

(Amicus Films 1970)

Nowadays all films contain special effects such as fake blood, spaceships and so forth, but in the 1970s many of these effects were no possible. This use of special effects and visual effects is what I am going to look at.

Amicus films, a low budget horror film company, have produced many famous writers' films as portmanteaus such as Robert Bloch's "Psycho." It works on a low budget of around £400 000, but hires the best of British and American actors.

To analyse this portmanteau I have split it into units one, two, three and four. In section one (from when Charles and Alice drive in to when they buy the house) there are many technical features such as the effects of the lighting and the special effects.

Unit 1

In the...