A Bucket of Blood (1959)
When it comes to horror movies, I tend to prefer my scares mixed with laughs; and few filmmakers mixed that potent cocktail more expertly than Roger Corman. During the 1960s, Corman directed several horror-comedies that have come to be considered classics, including the original Little Shop of Horrors (1960), Tales of Terror (1962), and The Raven (1963). That string of humorous horrors began when Corman was tasked with shooting a movie in five days on a shoestring budget of $50,000. Instead of creating a straight horror or sci-fi flick, as he had done before, Corman decided it would be more fun to create a hybrid comedy/horror, so he teamed with screenwriter Charles B. Griffith to create A Bucket of Blood (1959).
In a rare leading role, “that guy” character actor Dick Miller stars in A Bucket of Blood as Walter Paisley, a simple-minded, impressionable busboy in a coffee house full of beatnik poets and would-be artists. The manager (Antony Carbone) and most of the regulars treat Walter like dirt, but the hostess, Carla (Barboura Morris), treats him kindly. In order to impress Carla, Walter takes a stab at art himself but only succeeds in accidentally stabbing his landlady’s cat. Covering the deceased feline with clay, Walter’s first sculpture, “Dead Cat,” is hailed as a great piece. Unfortunately, in order to maintain his new-found popularity, Walter has to find more departed subjects in order to fill out his “body” of work. By the way, while the film does not feature an actual “bucket of blood,” it does contain a stew pot that serves that role.
The idea of fusing the horror and comedy genres was not new when Roger Corman unleashed Bucket of Blood on the drive-in crowd. Horror-comedies had been a cinema fixture since the silent era, with such examples as The Bat (1926) and The Cat and the Canary (1927). However, what did seem novel was that the humor was so pointedly contemporary. Instead of being set in a gothic castle or and old English manor, the action took place in a modern coffee house; and it satirized present-day beatnik culture, narcotics use, the opaqueness of beat poetry, and artistic pretension. Just as importantly, rather than relying on broad, slapstick “scare” gags to generate laughs, A Bucket of Blood utilized subtle, black comedy that was more in tune with the jazzy “sick humor” of contemporary comedians, such as Lenny Bruce, Jonathan Winters, and Tom Lehrer.
Despite the low budget and speedy shooting schedule, the film does not look cut-rate or rushed. The cinematography by Jack Marquette makes effective use of light and shadow, giving the film a beatnik noir look. The art direction by Dan Haller and Richard M. Rubin has a real coffee house authenticity (and the statues are suitably grotesque).
Of course, the film really rides on the shoulders of Dick Miller, who appears in nearly every scene. Being that Miller only played the lead role two or three times on film, he has become most associated with the role of Walter Paisley over the years. This is ironic, as Paisley was one of the least “Dick Millerish” roles he ever played. Miller was usually typecast as a tough guy with a tart tongue (not unlike himself), but Walter Paisley is meek, awkward, dim-witted, and high-strung. The character seems to have been modeled largely on Jerry Lewis (as does the character of Seymour Krelborn in Corman and Griffith’s follow-up, Little Shop of Horrors). Dick Miller runs with this against-type role, and he is excellent throughout, eliciting sympathy even while doing terrible things.
A Bucket of Blood won’t be for everyone, but it is a sardonic time capsule of bygone beatnik culture and a fun little dark comedy of murder. At only 66 minutes long, it doesn’t wear out its welcome, and it’s the perfect bite-sized portion for someone looking to sample a little gallows humor. It’s like crazy, daddy-o.
USA/B&W-66m./Dir: Roger Corman/Wr: Charles B. Griffith/Cast: Dick Miller, Barboura Morris, Antony Carbone, Julian Burton, Ed Nelson, John Brinkley, John Herman Shaner, Judy Bamber, Myrtle Vail, Bert Convy, Jhean Burton
For Fans of: If you like black comedy horrors, like Jack Hill’s Spider Baby (1967), then A Bucket of Blood may just be your cup of tea.
Video: The home video history of A Bucket of Blood has been mixed at best, with its public domain status ensuring a number of low budget, below average VHS and DVD releases. Happily, Olive Films has come to the rescue with their A Bucket of Blood (Olive Signature) [Blu-ray]. Olive’s Signature line has been uniformly excellent, and the new A Bucket of Blood Blu-ray, limited to 3500 units, is no exception. It is the Criterion-level, loaded edition that collectors have been waiting for. The new 4K transfer is the cleanest and sharpest that has ever been available. Fans of the film, who are used to public domain releases, will find the disc to be a revelation, as it displays levels of detail unseen in prior releases.
The Blu-ray is housed within a beautifully illustrated slip cover, and the special features included with the disc are just as impressive as the image upgrade.
The Olive Signature Blu-ray Extras Include:
- “Creation Is. All Else is Not” – Roger Corman on A Bucket of Blood
- “Call Me Paisley” – Dick and Lainie Miller on A Bucket of Blood
- An enthusiastic audio commentary by Elijah Drenner, director of That Guy Dick Miller
- Archival audio interview with screenwriter Charles B. Griffith
- “Bits of Bucket” – A visual essay comparing the original script to the finished film
- A rare (and weird) prologue from the German release of the film
- Super 8 “digest” version
- Theatrical trailer
- German theatrical trailer
- Gallery of newly-discovered on-set photography
- An 8-page booklet with an essay by Caelum Vatnsdal
Streaming: Low resolution copies of the film can be found streaming on YouTube and elsewhere, but they are nowhere near as sharp and clear as the Olive Signature Blu-ray.
More to Explore: Roger Corman followed his first horror-comedy with the cult classic The Little Shop Of Horrors (1960), which pairs nicely with A Bucket of Blood (1959). It even features Dick Miller (albeit in a much smaller supporting role). However, my favorite of Roger Corman’s horror comedies is The Raven (1963), which stars the amazing lineup of Vincent Price, Peter Lorre, Boris Karloff, Hazel Court, and a very young Jack Nicholson. The Raven is available in high definition as a part of Scream Factory’s The Vincent Price Collection II [House on Haunted Hill, The Return of the Fly, The Comedy of Terrors, The Raven, The Last Man on Earth, Tomb of Ligeia & Dr. Phibes Rises Again) [Blu-ray].
Trivia: When Joe Dante and Allan Arkush hired Dick Miller for their 1976 film Hollywood Boulevard, they recycled the character name of “Walter Paisley.” That began a tradition of naming characters “Walter Paisley” or a variant, such as “Officer Paisley,” when using Dick Miller in a film. The name shows up again in The Howling (1981), Twilight Zone: The Movie (1983), Chopping Mall (1986), Night of the Creeps (1986), Shake, Rattle, and Rock! (1994), and Rebel Highway (1994).
For More Info: If you want to know more about character actor extraordinaire Dick Miller, there is the entertaining documentary That Guy Dick Miller (2014), as well as the biography You Don't Know Me, But You Love Me: The Lives of Dick Miller by Caelum Vatnsdal. A Bucket of Blood is also one of several films covered in Comedy-Horror Films: A Chronological History, 1914-2008 by Bruce G. Hallenbeck.
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