Director Roger Corman has a reputation for creating quickie exploitation themed films made on a shoe-string budget and filmed in a matter of a few days. His 1959 film – A Bucket of Blood is no exception. Bucket of Blood is often referred to as the precursor to another Corman masterpiece – Little Shop of Horrors. Both films star Dick Miller.
A lonely coffee house waiter named Walter Paisley, played by Miller, can’t seem to fit in at The Yellow Door – a swanky beatnik hangout that displays local art, music and poetry. One day he accidentally stabs the land lady’s cat while trying to cut a hole in his apartment wall. He discovers a way to grab attention at The Yellow Door by molding clay around the corpse of the cat to create realistic sculptures. His next victim is an undercover narcotics cop who follows Paisley to his apartment to bust him for heroin. Patrons of The Yellow Door praise Paisley for his artistic genius and hail him as a great sculptor.
One sassy patron however is not convinced of Paisley’s talents. Paisley follows her home to ask for a nude posing session to sculpt her figure. Paisley murders the beautiful woman, then his next clay masterpiece and first nude is set in motion. Beatniks at the coffee house arrange for an exhibition of Paisley’s sculptures and invite art critics and collectors.
At the exhibit, a patron discovers the flesh of the murdered woman showing through the molded clay. The patrons realize that Paisley’s work is a fraud and chase after him for the murders of the victims used in his sculptures. He completes his greatest masterpiece by smearing himself in wet clay and then hangs by a noose from a rafter in his apartment.
Actor Dick Miller played the character Walter Paisley in at least five films. His cult status was further solidified when James Cameron cast him as a gun store clerk in The Terminator. His character of Walter Paisley is seen as a janitor in the 1988 horror classic – Chopping Mall. He played a flower shop patron in Little Shop of Horrors who eats flowers sprinkled with salt. Happy Viewing!!
Both the newspaper advertisement and review are from the February 13, 1960 edition of the Wilson, North Carolina, Daily Times. The still from the film features Miller and includes co-star Barboura Morris.
Review by Steve D. Stones If you're a fan of director Roger Corman, you can't
help but recognize the plot similarities of his 1960 film – Little Shop of Horrors to his 1959 film – A Bucket of Blood. Both films are great fun and make
an entertaining double feature.
Actor Dick Miller, who played the struggling coffee
house waiter and sculptor in A Bucket of Blood, plays a floral shop patron who
eats flowers by sprinkling salt on them. Myrtle Vail, who played Miller's
annoying landlady in A Bucket of Blood, is also cast in this film, only this
time she is Seymour Krelboin's hypochondriac mother.
Pay close attention for an
appearance by very young Jack Nicholson as Wilbur Force.
Seymour Krelboin, played by Corman regular Jonathan
Haze, works as an incompetent floral shop clerk owned by Yiddish owner Gravis
Mushnik (Mel Welles). Mushnik blames Krelboin for his slow business, even
though it is located in a run down part of town known as skid row. He threatens
to fire Krelboin for the slow business. Krelboin pleads for his job by telling
Mushnik that he has invented a unique plant by crossing a butterworth plant and
a Venus fly trap. He believes this new plant will attract new customers to the
flower shop.
Krelboin brings the plant to the shop and names it
after Mushnik's daughter – Audrey (Jackie Joseph). Mushnik and Audrey are pleased with the
plant and Krelboin is able to keep his job. Audrey is greatly flattered that
Krelboin would name the plant after her, so she gives him a kiss and the two
become very close and eventually engaged. The plant begins to look unhealthy,
so Mushnik once again threatens to fire Krelboin if he cannot nurse the plant
back to life.
That evening Krelboin pricks his finger and
accidentally flicks blood on the Audrey Jr. plant. The blood brings the plant
back to life. The plant even talks to Krelboin by saying “feeed me!” and “I'm
hungry!” Krelboin eventually pricks all his fingers to provide blood for the
plant. This makes for a funny scene when Mushnik asks about the cuts on all ten
fingers and Krelboin tells him it is from ten bee stings.
Krelboin feeds the plant body parts of a town drunk,
a prostitute he accidentally kills, and his murdered dentist – Dr. Forbes. The
plant grows bigger and bigger with each feeding. This begins to greatly concern
Mushnik, who witnesses Krelboin feeding body parts to the plant one evening
when he returned to the shop. The growing plant catches the attention of the
Society of Silent Flower Observers of Southern California and two giddy teenage
girls who want to purchase a thousand dollars worth of flowers from the shop
for a high school parade float.
When the chairwoman of The Society of Silent Flower
Observers of Southern California arrives one evening to give an award to
Krelboin for this plant, some of the buds open up on the plant to reveal the heads
of victims fed to the plant. Krelboin then flees the shop. Two police
detectives named Fink and Smith chase after Krelboin through a tire factory and
toilet accessories warehouse.
Like the ending of A Bucket of Blood, Krelboin
returns to the scene of the crime and offers himself as a sacrifice to the
Audrey plant by killing himself inside the plant. Walter Paisley (Dick Miller)
in A Bucket of Blood also returns to his scene of the crime and hangs himself
in his apartment where he made sculptures molded from his murdered victims.
Both Paisley and Krelboin in both films are shy,
quiet, constantly hounded by their boss, and later paid great attention to by
the opposite sex for creating something unique. Both characters are also
investigated by police detectives and chased through warehouses at the end of
the film.
It's interesting to note that director Corman
completed this film in only two days, which was a record for him at the time.
He quickly utilized sets from another film that were soon to be torn down.
Budget estimates for the film range from $22,000 to $100,000 according to Danny
Peary's book – Cult Movies (Gramercy Books – Random House 1981). The film was
later remade in 1986 as a big budget musical starring comedian Steve Martin in
the role of a dentist named Orin Scrivello. This 1986 version also has a strong
cult following of fans. Happy viewing!
Director Roger Corman has a reputation for creating quickie
exploitation themed films made on a shoe-string budget and filmed in a matter
of a few days. His film – A Bucket of Blood is no exception. Bucket of Blood is
often referred to as the precursor to another Corman masterpiece – Little Shop
of Horrors. Both films star Dick Miller.
A lonely coffee house waiter named Walter Paisley, played by
Miller, can’t seem to fit in at The Yellow Door – a swanky beatnik hangout that
displays local art, music and poetry. One day he accidentally stabs the land
lady’s cat while trying to cut a hole in his apartment wall. He discovers a way
to grab attention at The Yellow Door by molding clay around the corpse of the
cat to create realistic sculptures. His next victim is an undercover narcotics
cop who follows Paisley to his apartment to bust him for heroin. Patrons of The Yellow Door praise Paisley for
his artistic genius and hail him as a great sculptor.
One sassy patron however is not convinced of Paisley’s
talents. Paisley follows her home to ask for a nude posing session to sculpt
her figure. Paisley murders the
beautiful woman, then his next clay masterpiece and first nude is set in
motion. Beatniks at the coffee house arrange for an exhibition of Paisley’s
sculptures and invite art critics and collectors.
At the exhibit, a patron discovers the flesh of the murdered
woman showing through the molded clay. The patrons realize that Paisley’s work
is a fraud and chase after him for the murders of the victims used in his
sculptures. He completes his greatest masterpiece by smearing himself in wet
clay and then hangs by a noose from a rafter in his apartment.
Actor Dick Miller played the character Walter Paisley in at
least five films. His cult status was further solidified when James Cameron
cast him as a gun store clerk in The Terminator. His character of Walter
Paisley is seen as a janitor in the 1988 horror classic – Chopping Mall. He
played a flower shop patron in Little Shop of Horrors who eats flowers
sprinkled with salt. Happy Viewing!!
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