A Bucket of Blood (1959)

Director: Roger Corman

Starring: Dick Miller & Barboura Morris

More Info: IMDB

Tagline: A Comedy of Errors! A Comedy of Terrors!

Plot: Walter Paisley, nerdy busboy at a Bohemian café, is jealous of the talent (and popularity) of its various artistic regulars. But after accidentally killing his landlady's cat and covering the body in sculptor's clay to hide the evidence, he is acclaimed as a brilliant sculptor - but his new-found friends want to see more of his work. Lacking any artistic talent whatsoever, Walter has to resort to similar methods to produce new work, and soon people start mysteriously disappearing...

My Rating: 8/10

Would I watch it again? Duh!


I've always had a fondness for this flick. One of my all-time favorite character actors, Dick Miller, has the lead role of Walter Paisley (he's used that character name in a few movies since). He does a great job playing Paisley's loser. He's awkward.

This...

plus this...

equals this...

CARLA: So what do you call it?
WALTER: Dead cat.

Priceless.


The luscious Barboura Morris who, by the way, needs to have my babies, is lovely as ever as one of the cafe's patrons, Carla. She becomes the object of Paisley's desires.


There's a wonderful cast of colorful characters that come together for one of the best low budget ensemble casts I've seen. The pretentious, pot smoking beatniks are a laugh riot and Fred Katz's super-cool jazz score is perfectly wild. Check it out...

Shot in only five days, it's well paced and darkly funny (like the scene where he's hidden his first human victim and you can slightly hear and see the blood dripping into a pot on the floor as Walter laments) and at just over an hour, it's a no-brainer.


The only thing I would have liked is ANYTHING in the way of extras. The DVD I have (MGM) is a bare bones release. This classic should have something better to represent it than this. I love this film and having LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS (1960) cued up next, it's a great double bill that will have you in tears with laughter.