A Bucket of Blood

A Bucket of Blood
Theatrical release poster.
Directed by	Roger Corman
Produced by	Roger Corman
Written by	Charles B. Griffith
Starring	Dick Miller Ed Nelson Bert Convy
Music by	Fred Katz
Cinematography	Jacques R. Marquette
Editing by	Anthony Carras
Distributed by	American International Pictures
Release date(s)	October 21, 1959[1]
Running time	66 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$50,000[2]

A Bucket of Blood is a 1959 American comedy horror film directed by Roger Corman. It starred Dick Miller and was set in beatnik culture. The film, produced on a $50,000 budget, was shot in five days,^[2] and shares many of the low-budget filmmaking aesthetics commonly associated with Corman's work.^[3] Written by Charles B. Griffith, the film is a dark comic satire^[2][4] about a socially awkward young busboy at a Bohemian café who is acclaimed as a brilliant sculptor when he accidentally kills his landlady's cat and covers its body in clay to hide the evidence. When he is pressured to create similar work, he becomes murderous.

A Bucket of Blood was the first of three collaborations between Corman and Griffith in the comedy genre, followed by The Little Shop of Horrors, which was shot on the same sets as A Bucket of Blood,^[5] and Creature from the Haunted Sea. Corman had made no previous attempt at the genre, although past and future Corman productions in other genres incorporated comedic elements.^[2] The film is a satire not only of Corman's own films, but also of the art world and teen films of the 1950s. The film is noted as well in many circles as an honest, undiscriminating portrayal of the many facets of Beatnik culture, including art, dance and style of living. The plot has similarities to Mystery of the Wax Museum (1933). However, by setting the story in the Beat milieu of 1950s Southern California, Corman creates an entirely different mood from the earlier film.^[6]

A Bucket of Blood was remade in 1995 as a made-for-television film for the Showtime network. The character name of Walter Paisley has been adapted by actor Dick Miller as an in-joke in productions such as The Howling and Shake, Rattle and Rock!, which credit otherwise unrelated characters played by Miller under the character name.^[7][8]

Plot

One night after hearing the words of Maxwell H. Brock (Julian Burton), a poet who performs at The Yellow Door cafe, socially awkward busboy Walter Paisley (Dick Miller) returns home to attempt to create a sculpture of the face of the hostess Carla (Barboura Morris). He stops when he hears the meowing of Frankie, the cat owned by his inquisitive landlady, Mrs. Surchart (Myrtle Vail), who has somehow gotten himself stuck in Walter's wall. Walter attempts to get Frankie out using a knife, but accidentally kills the cat when he sticks the knife into his wall. Instead of giving Frankie a proper burial, Walter covers the cat in clay, leaving the knife stuck in it.

Carla and Leonard admire Walter's "sculpture," Dead Cat.

The next morning, Walter shows the cat to Carla and his boss Leonard (Antony Carbone). Leonard dismisses the oddly morbid piece, but Carla is enthusiastic about the work and convinces Leonard to display it in the café. Walter receives praise from the beatniks and poets in the café and is approached by an adoring fan, Naolia (Jhean Burton), who gives him a vial of heroin to remember her by. Naively ignorant of its function, he takes it home and is followed by Lou Raby (Bert Convy), an undercover cop, who attempts to take him into custody for narcotics possession. In a blind panic, Walter tries to knock the gun out of his hand with the frying pan, but the gun goes off, killing Lou.

Meanwhile, Walter's boss discovers the secret behind Walter's "Dead Cat" piece when he sees fur sticking out of it. The next morning, Walter tells the café-goers that he has a whole new piece, which he calls "Murdered Man." Both Leonard and Carla come with Walter as he unveils his latest work and are simultaneously amazed and appalled. Carla critiques it as "hideous and eloquent" and deserving of a public exhibition. Leonard is aghast at the idea, but realizes the potential for wealth if he plays his cards right.

The next night, Walter is treated like a king by almost everyone, except for a blonde model named Alice (Judy Bamber), who is widely disliked by her peers. Walter later follows her home and confronts her, explaining that he wants her to model. At Walter's apartment, Alice strips nude and poses in a chair, where Walter proceeds to strangle her with her scarf. Walter creates a statue of Alice which, once unveiled, so impresses Brock that he throws a party at the Yellow Door in Walter's honor. Costumed as a carnival fool, Walter is wined and dined to excess.

After the party, Walter later stumbles towards his apartment. Still drunk, he beheads a factory worker with his own buzz-saw to create a bust. When he shows the head to Leonard, his boss realizes that he must stop Walter's murderous rampage and promises Walter a show to offload his latest "statues." At the exhibit, Walter proposes to Carla, but she rejects him. Walter is distraught and now offers to sculpt her, and she happily agrees to after the reception. Back at the exhibit, however, she finds part of the clay on one figure has worn away, revealing a human finger. When she tells Walter that there is a body in one of the sculptures, he tells her that he "made them immortal," and that he can make her immortal too. She flees the exhibit, and he chases after her. Meanwhile, the others at the exhibit learn Walter's secret as well, and chase after them. Walter and Carla wind up at a lumber yard where Walter, haunted by the voices of Lou and Alice, stops chasing after Carla, and runs home. With discovery and retribution closing in on him, Walter then vows to "hide where they'll never find me." The police, Carla, Leonard and Maxwell break down Walter's apartment door only to find that Walter has hanged himself. Looking askance at the hanging corpse, Maxwell proclaims that this could be "his greatest work."

Production and release history

In the middle of 1959, American International Pictures approached Roger Corman to direct a horror film, but only gave Corman a $50,000 budget, and a five-day shooting schedule. Corman accepted the challenge, but was uninterested in producing a straightfoward horror film. Corman and screenwriter Charles B. Griffith developed the idea for producing a satirical black comedy horror film about the beatnik culture.^[9] Corman and Griffith proceeded to research the film at various coffeehouses along the Sunset Strip, developing the film's plot structure by the evening's end,^[2] partially basing the film's story upon Mystery of the Wax Museum.^[9]

The film was shot under the title The Living Dead.^[10] According to actor Antony Carbone, "[The production] had a kind of spirit of 'having fun,' and I think [Corman] realized that while making the film. And I feel it helped him in other films he made, like [The Little Shop of Horrors]—he carried that Bucket of Blood 'idea' into that next film."^[10] Actor Dick Miller was unhappy with the film's low production values. Miller is quoted by Beverly Gray as stating that "If they'd had more money to put into the production so we didn't have to use mannequins for the statues, if we didn't have to shoot the last scene with me hanging with just some gray makeup on because they didn't have time to put the plaster on me, this could have been a very classic little film. The story was good, the acting was good, the humor in it was good, the timing was right, everything about it was right—-but they didn't have any money for production values, and it suffered."^[3]

American International Pictures' theatrical marketing campaign emphasized the comedic aspects of the film's plot, proclaiming that the audience would be "sick, sick, sick—from laughing!"^[11] The film's poster consists of a series of comic strip panels humorously hinting at the film's horror content. When Corman found that the film "worked well," he continued to direct two more comedic films scripted by Griffith,^[2] The Little Shop of Horrors, a farce, which was shot on the same sets as A Bucket of Blood,^[5][4] and Creature from the Haunted Sea, a parody of the monster movie genre.

The film is in the public domain^[12] and has been widely distributed on home video from various companies. The film's negative was acquired by MGM Home Entertainment upon the company's purchase of Orion Pictures, which had owned the AIP catalog. MGM released A Bucket of Blood on VHS and DVD in 2000.^[13][14] MGM re-released the film as part of a box set with seven other Corman productions in 2007. However, the box set featured the same menus and transfer as MGM's previous edition of the film.^[15]

In 2009, a musical production of A Bucket of Blood was produced by Chicago's Annoyance Theatre.^[16] It opened Sept. 26, and closed Oct. 31, 2009, garnering exceptional reviews,^[17] including a recommendation from the Chicago Reader.^[18] The musical was directed by Ray Mees, with music by Chuck Malone. The cast included James Stanton as Walter Paisley, Sam Locke as Leonard, Peter Robards as Maxwell, Jen Spyra as Carla, Colleen Breen as Naolia, Maari Suorsa as Alice, Tyler Patocka as William and Peter Kremidas as Lee.^[16]

See also

• List of films in the public domain

References

External links

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