A Bucket of Blood

 Year of Release:  1959

Director:  Roger Corman

Screenplay:  Charles B. Griffith

Starring:  Dick Miller, Barboura Morris, Antony Carbone, Julian Burton, Ed Nelson, John Brinkley

Running Time:  65 minutes

Genre:  Comedy, horror

Walter Paisley (Miller) is a none too bright busboy at the funky Yellow Door coffee house.  When he accidentally kills his landlady's cat, Walter covers it in clay and passes it off as a sculpture, imaginatively called "Dead Cat".  He is immediately hailed as the next big thing in the art world, the only question is how to follow it up?  Walter's answer is to become a serial killer, encase his victims in clay and pass them off as sculptures.  Soon he is making a killing on the art scene.

This horror-comedy was directed by prolific low-budget filmmaker Roger Corman in five days on a budget of $50,000.  While completely worthless as a horror film it does work as a dark comedy.  Corman pokes fun at the then topical beatnik scene, with the stoned hangers on in the coffee house listening to pretentious poetry and bad folk singers, and the pretentiousness of the art world, who hook on to whatever is seen the next big thing.  While times have changed, it still works as a genuinely funny film and poking fun at blindly following trends is as relevant today as it was in 1959.  Dick Miller, who appeared in numerous genre and cult films, gives a good performance in the central role as the likeable, nerdy killer, and Barboura Morris is engaging as the object of Walter's affections.  This is a textbook example of how talent can transcend limitations.  The production values might be low, but Corman directs with style and works from a witty script from Charles B, Griffith (who went on to write The Little Shop of Horrors (1960) for Corman).     

Dick Miller and Antony Carbone in A Bucket of Blood