Horror Extreme Movie Catalog - Editorial Reviews

In a jumpin' java joint, filled to the brim with kooky beatniks, poets and hipsters, an artist wannabe discovers he has a talent for modern art...and murder. Dripping with blood, social satire and "sick, sick comedy" (The Film Daily) this film, according to critic Leonard Maltin, "nicely captures the spirit of the beatnik era" and zips along with vibes of counterculture creepiness.Walter (Dick Miller) is a busboy overly impressed with the cool cats who hang out at The Yellow Doorcoffee house, and he wonders how to become "hip." When he accidentally kills his landlady's pet cat, Walter panics and covers it with clay. His prayers are answered, and before he knows it he's the "cat's meow" of the art world. His talent develops and - surprise! - he can sculpt humans the same way too. Like so many artists, his real talent won't be discovered - until he's dead.

The great Roger Corman produced and directed this cheerfully gory skewering of beatniks and the arts community. Dick Miller plays Walter Paisley, a no-talent busboy who idolizes the artsy types who frequent the coffeehouse where he works. When Walter accidentally kills his landlady's cat, he tries to hide the crime by covering the kitty in clay, and is soon hailed as a sculpting genius. Sure enough, the fickle arts community begins clamoring for some larger work. As a horror movie, A Bucket of Blood is merely okay, but it's great as a little black comedy. Corman works in some nice gruesome touches, such as backing up Walter's Big Emotional Moment with a steady drizzle of blood from a victim's arm. Most of the jokes aimed at the artists' pretensions still seem fresh: When offering Walter some breakfast, Maxwell announces that they're having "soy and wheat-germ pancakes, organic guava nectar, calcium lactate and tomato juice and garbanzo omelettes sprinkled with smoked yeast." The free-verse parodies are also very funny. Don't expect Bucket of Blood to keep you up with nightmares, but do sit back and prepare to enjoy a refreshingly sick sense of humor. --Ali Davis