Un cubo de sangre

If anyone is fed up with the pretentious nitwits that dictate what is good art, chances are you'll enjoy this classic campy tale. The protagonist is a weakling who works as a waiter at a beatnik coffee shop and hangs around psuedo artist snobs, sucking up their every last syllable as if it is a mocha frapuccino. He wants very much to carve a niche for himself in this group of losers and manages to do so when he makes a sculpture out of his landlady's dead cat! True to herd mentality, everyone is soon basking in this guy's coolness, singing his praises, and generally kissing his talentless behind. Only problem is, he keeps making sculptures from bodies! By the time these Bohemians catch on to the fact that this guy may not be so hip after all, the death toll has risen and laughter is abound. Also make sure to look out for the fat bearded character Maxwell, this guy is a total riot. The sad thing is every time I go to an open mike I meet some "poet" who is just like him. Great sardonic humor from the master of the macabre Roger Corman. 8/10

A Bucket of Blood (1959)

Beats, Artists, and a Sweet Tempered Killer

This is a romp, a riot, and a rebellious ripoff. Most of all it's rotten, so rotten it's terrific. It's a must see, in a way, for anyone into the beats, and into C-grade horror films.

Is it good at all? Yes, yes! As clumsy as it is, Bucket of Blood has an innovative (if ridiculous) plot. It has an unlikely hero who meets an unlikely demise. It has real poetry, and real hep cat talk (of the lowest form, but hey, show me more fun). It has mood, heroes and villains, a chase scene (on foot), stupid broads and stupid cats and funny situations.

One key to liking this kind of thing is to remember that the filmmakers, even if on a starvation budget, are no idiots. Director Roger Corman most of all. They know they are making a laugh-out-loud send up of horror films, and they know the beat slang is absurd, and they know the plot is crazy, man. So you can have fun with them, and really get a good laugh, and a little chill, and a weird reminder that in some sad sad happy way, this is what it was like in smaller city coffeehouses where Ginsberg never set foot but where Corman and crew did. Even the photography, led by Jacques R. Marquette (of Attack of the 50 Foot Woman fame, quote unquote), is really worth watching.

There is nothing like it.

Not including almost every entry in the terrific Edgar Allen Poe cycle he did, "A Bucket of Blood" unquestionable is Roger Corman's best and most entertaining film. And – coincidentally or not – this movie also contains many references towards Poe (a walled-up cat!!), so maybe Corman simply needs the legendary horror author's oeuvre in order to deliver great movies? "A Bucket of Blood" is a truly slick and ingenious little quickie that terrifically blends the classic terror premise of "Mystery of the Wax Museum" with the typical psychotronic-humor that Corman largely invented himself. Corman regular Dick Miller (terribly underrated throughout his whole career) gives away a near-perfect performance as Walter Praisley, a clumsy waiter and wannabe artist whose biggest wish to get as famous as the talkative stars he serves coffee to every day. His dream accelerates rapidly and unexpectedly when he covers his landlady's dead cat in clay and people proclaim it an art-masterpiece. Walter naturally enjoys his easily earned artist-status but he also realizes that he'll have to move on to bigger (read: bloodier) projects if he wants to stay in the picture. Dick Miller's exhilarating acting together with Charles Griffith's wit scripting skills, makes this a very fun production that every cult-film fan will enjoy watching. Although chuckles clearly have the upper hand in "A Bucket of Blood", Corman doesn't ignore the horror entirely and some of the death-sequences are definitely more chilling than the ones featuring in other contemporary and "serious" horror movies.

"A Bucket of Blood", for all it's cheapness, contains some great dialogue. I suspect that John Waters paid close attention to the snappy repartee delivered by the entire cast of this little gem. How can you not love a movie that has lines like: "Take me to some cool blue place...and gas me!". A total hoot, all the way around.

In Roger Corman's autobiography, he credits himself to creating the sub-genre "black comedy". His version of "black comedy" featured gruesome elements, that were sometimes played for laughs. With BUCKET OF BLOOD and LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS, he furthered this along, and although I'm not sure if he did indeed invent the "black comedy", he sure had a good run with it.

BUCKET OF BLOOD is near-perfect. Which is saying a lot when you think of some of Corman's films. BUCKET OF BLOOD stars Dick Miller in his only starring performance. He plays a struggling busboy/artist, whose only real desire in life is to impress the local beatnik girl (the talented Barboura Morris). Miller works at the same coffee house that Morris frequents. The place, run by Anthony Carbone, features poetry and art. There are also pretentious beatniks, drug dealers, and undercover detectives.

I don't want to give much else away, aside from that the film itself has a life of its own. The energy is high, the camera and editing work are effectively polished, and the dialogue is uniformly crisp. Corman's direction is fluid. Next to LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS and maybe a few of his Poe films, BUCKET OF BLOOD is his best film.

Dick Miller, has never received such a juicy part to play as this. He handles the jokes well, and his interplay with Carbone, and especially Ed Nelson, is great.

The sets are cheap, the conclusion is rushed, but BUCKET OF BLOOD made me giggle, and unlike some horror films, it is supposed to.