#15. A Bucket of Blood (1959)

Nature of Shame:
Beatnik horror/comedy? Yes, please.

Hooptober Challenge Checklist:
Decade: 1950’s
Pre-1970
A Dick Miller jam

I’ve hit that mid-point. I no longer care about writing these reviews. This is a shame because I’ve watched all the damn Hooptober movies, but I’ve only logged half of my reviews. I should care less, write less and just finish. Eventually, you’ll probably get the totally half-assed rundown (fundown?) of everything else I watched this past October, but I haven’t yet reached that point. A Bucket of Blood arrived from Netflix DVD just in time for my Crystal Lake palette cleanse. Anything but Jason, please and thank you.

I don’t mean to spoil this review entirely, but as soon as I finished A Bucket of Blood, I went ahead and ordered the Olive Films Signature Edition Blu-ray. Either it pushed all the right buttons or I was destined to fall in love with the next movie that wasn’t about a machete wielding force of supernatural evil.

‘A Bucket of Blood’ Elevator Pitch

Dig this, man. This square cat, a busboy at a swingin’ cafe, eyeballs the scene and the chicks, but he’ll never cop a feel. After he accidentally wigs out and kills a stoolie pig he becomes made in the shade after turning the dead cop into a sculpture. After he gets hip to the scene, he needs to feed the beast to maintain his status as a certifiable Daddy-o.

Walter Paisley (Dick Miller) unveils his final masterpiece.

‘Sculpting With Dead Things’ Doesn’t Have the Same Ring To It

Produced and directed by Roger Corman, A Bucket of Blood looks like a movie made for $50,000 in five days. The production even shared sets with Corman’s Little Shop of Horrors. Viewers unacquainted with Roger Corman’s oeuvre might consider this a detriment to the film’s production or entertainment values. There’s a distinct different between “cheap” and “crap.” “Crap” can come in any budget. Just as cheap can come in any flavor.

The movies Roger Corman made with screenwriter Charles B. Griffith, marked a new direction for the producer who’d never before dabbled in comedy. A Bucket of Blood not only satirizes Corman’s own filmography and the illogical world of art, but also the teen films of the era. Unlike many of those other beatnik teen films of the 1950’s, Blood doesn’t feel like a mimeographed movie made about kids by adults; it feels like a reasonable facsimile of the culture made without contempt.

Walter’s ascendency to king of the hepcats coincides with his newfound talent for “sculpting.”

At only 66 minutes, A Bucket of Blood‘s barely a main course. Corman’s purposeful pursuit of story in the name of efficiency eliminates the fat and focuses on our busboy’s accidental ascendance and ultimately fall from grace. AIP had given Corman the budget, a shooting schedule, and leftover sets from Diary of a Teenage War Bride (1959). Corman and Griffith concocted premise after a night of drifting in and out of beatnik coffeehouses. They married the culture with 1933’s Mystery of the Wax Museum and begat A Bucket of Blood.

Final ‘A Bucket of Blood’ Thoughts

Rapid-fire fun with a thoroughly engaging lead performance. Roger Corman’s low-budget zinger is the perfect #31DaysofHorror entry when fatigue sets in after too many soulless slashers.

The performances, particularly that of Dick Miller, carry the film’s comedic tone without resorting to redundancies like winking at the audience. I never thought I’d use the word measured to describe a Roger Corman production, but A Bucket of Blood moves forward at a measured pace that maintains consistent humor and its pithy commentary on the New York art culture.

A Bucket of Blood is available on Blu-ray from Olive Films.

2019 @CinemaShame / #Hooptober Progress

#1. Shocker (1989) // #2. Etoile (1989) // #3. The Phantom of the Opera (1989) // #4. Blacula (1972) // #5. Scream Blacula Scream (1973) // #6. Jaws: The Revenge (1987) // #7. Blood Bath (1966) // #8. Friday the 13th Part V (1985) // #9. Friday the 13th Part VI (1986) // #10. Friday the 13th Part VII (1988) // #11. Dracula: Prince of Darkness (1966) // #12. Pet Sematary (1989) // #13. Eaten Alive (1976) // #14. Friday the 13th Part VIII (1989) // #15. A Bucket of Blood (1959)

James David Patrick is a writer. He’s written just about everything at some point or another. Add whatever this is to that list. Follow his blog at www.thirtyhertzrumble.com and find him on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook.

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