Jan 30 2009
A Bucket of Blood (Review)
A BUCKET OF BLOOD (1959)
Written by Charles B. Griffith (Death Race 2000)
Directed by Roger Corman (The Raven)
If there is one genre of filmmaking I think is the hardest to achieve, it would have to be dark comedy. I’ve lots of dark comedies that are either too dark and depressing to be considered comedic or far too humorous to be considered dark. A Bucket of Blood is a perfect example of a good dark comedy. It’s rich with comedy, but not forced. It’s dark in its subject matter, but not depressing. And considering it was made on a light budget and shot in just five days, it just goes to show you that Roger Corman is the king of directing low-budget movies that make bank.
Walter Paisley (Dick Miller) is a busboy at a Bohemian café where artists and beatniks hang out and sling hilariously dated beatnik slang at each other. Walter desperately wants to break into being an artist, but he’s so wimpy and not capable of making anything beautiful. That is, until, he accidentally kills his neighbor’s cat and gets the genius idea to cover it in clay and pass it off as art. It’s a horrible and immoral idea, but in Walter’s lonely and depressing world, it makes sense. And the fact that Walter does it just so he can gain the popularity of crazy beatniks holds an element of comedy. Naturally, Walter gets carried away and ends up murdering people who find out, which leads to Walter’s next ‘artistic’ piece. When Walter’s boss, Leonard, discovers his secret to artistic success he becomes nervous around others and Walter’s latest work. Eventually, the whole thing snowballs into Walter’s scheme being revealed and he ends up going crazy by turning himself into work…sort of.
The tone and build up of the movie is perfect. As the movie progresses, you grow just as nervous and edgy as Leonard. However, I’m not one of those people to look away at such an alluring conflict, so I grew more intrigued as the story progressed. The entire cast brings their A game to a B-movie. They all fulfill their roles perfectly and none of them feel as if they were sleepwalking through their lines (although the beatnik slang is a bit off-putting at times). The humor is a mix of dark comedy and social satire that actually blends together surprisingly well. I mean, you feel bad for the people Walter murders, but you can’t help but laugh at his artistic successes. Not to mention that the actual expressions Walter captures with his sculptures are priceless. I did feel a little bit of sympathy for Walter considering he just wanted to be socially accepted, but by the time I reached the climax, he was so far gone he had to be brought down.
As for the cons of the movie, the only real ‘look-how-cheap-this-is’ moment was with the dead cat. The cat is arched and stiff as a board, but thankfully the lighting tries to cover this up as much as possible. The only real bad thing I can say about the movie is that its title will appear misleading as there is not a spec of blood in the whole movie. But maybe that’s just an attention getter. Those who go into this movie may be disappointed with the lack of blood and gore, but they’ll get something even better.
DVD Dump Counter:
-1 stabbed cat turned into clay art.
-2 people murdered and turned into clay art.
-1 person decapitated and turned into clay art.
RATING: B-Movie
At a brisk 66 minutes, A Bucket of Blood doesn’t outstay its welcome or milk the concept dry. Unlike Roger Corman’s other movies, this one I can recommend to anyone as its story holds together with likable character and a creative subject of horror. Overall, it’s a fun dark comedy that’ll surprise those not expecting much. Think of it as an extended Twilight Zone episode too gruesome in its subject matter for TV.
