# A Bucket of Blood **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 28, 2003, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-bucket-of-blood/204355 "2003-09-28T20:46:05Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2003, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-bucket-of-blood/204355/1 "2003-09-28T20:46:05Z")
Roger Corman’s _A Bucket of Blood_ is one of my all-time favourite low-budget films. I hope Dopers who have seen it will post here, but I’ll clue in everyone else. Walter Paisley is a busboy at a hipster hangout called The Yellow Door. He’s surrounded by artistic types, and wants to be an artist in the worst way. He has a lump of clay in his cheap apartment and he attempts to create a sculpture. It’s ludicrous. “Be a nose!” he shouts as he becomes frustrated at the futility of his efforts. (This is just one of many great lines inthe film!) He’s frustrated by his inability to create what he sees in his mind. His soup is boiling over. The landlady’s cat is yowling. He burns his hand on the pot, and knocks his head on the overhead lamp. He calms down a little bit and realizes the cat is stuck inside the wall. (How’d it get there? Who knows?) He explains to the cat that he is going to get her out, and jams a knife in the wall to cut a hole. “Yeow!!!” Oops. Yep, our poor schlub has impaled the cat (which is quite stiff when he pulls it out of the wall). He hides his mistake by covering it with clay. Hey! Here’s a sculpture that actually looks like a cat! The hipsters down at The Yellow Door suddenly see him as a great artist. But he needs to create _more!_ Mayoleah (or Nayoleah – I don’t recall) is impressed by Walter. It gives her a warm feeling “deep in my pranah!” She gives Walter some heroin, but Walter is too thick to realize what it is. He’s followed home by Burt Convey. Burt confronts him in his apartment and asks Walter who his pusher is. Walter finally realizes that he is in possession of illegal drugs. “I thought ‘horse’ was expensive?.. Wasn’t that nice of Mayoleah to give me that expensive ‘horse’?” Burty Boy pulls out a gun and scares Walter. Walter, convinced he is about to be shot, bashes our future game show host with a frying pan. Time for another sculpture. “What do you call it?” “_Murdered Man_.” And his fame grows… Some of my favourite lines in the film: “Life is an obscure hobo hitching a ride on the omnibus of art.” “You’re just a simple farmboy. The rest of us are sophisticated beatniks.” “Do another cat!” “I don’t have another cat.” “I don’t know, man. I’m too far out.” “Didn’t you see me waving my Zen-stick?” And then there’s the singer in the coffee house. Shortly after killing the cop, Walter walks guiltily through the frame as the guitarist sings, “Go down, you murder, go down!” I would have done the ending better; but hey, low budget. _A Bucket of Blood_ is a truely enjoyable film with great lines, great characters, and some really good shots. NOW YOU WILL WATCH IT! ---
**Author:** ![rjk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ed655f/32.png) [@rjk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rjk)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2003, 1:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-bucket-of-blood/204355/2 "2003-09-29T01:04:12Z")
I haven’t seen that one, but I’m a great admirer of Corman’s work. Sure, it was all schlock, but it was _good_ schlock! You might be interested in his autobiography, [_How I Made a Hundred Movies in Hollywood and Never Lost a Dime_](http://www.powells.com/cgi-bin/biblio?inkey=1-0306808749-4). I, ast least, found it very revealing and a lot of fun. ---
**Author:** ![toque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/9e8a1a/32.png) [@toque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/toque)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2003, 1:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-bucket-of-blood/204355/3 "2003-09-29T01:55:29Z")
I’ve always kind of thought that Roger Corman was more an idiot-savant than a conscious artist. I feel like he only decided Bucket of Blood was _supposed_ to be funny post-facto. An enjoyable movie nonetheless. “He would have called this ‘Hanging Man.’” ---
**Author:** ![International\_Playboy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/48db29/32.png) [@International\_Playboy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/International_Playboy)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2003, 4:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-bucket-of-blood/204355/4 "2003-09-29T04:18:58Z")
Great movie. Though I had seen other Corman movies such as “Eat My Dust” and “Grand Theft Auto,” I became a fan of his after seeing “A Bucket of Blood” on TV. Used to see it occasionally on the independent L.A. stations before infomercials ruined late, late night programming. I think it’s my favorite Corman film. The protagonist, Dick Miller, is one of those actors who’s face you recognize but can never recall his name. Recently picked up “A Bucket of Blood” on DVD as a “Killer Creature Double Feature,” backed with “Giant Gila Monster,” which isn’t a Corman film. I recall reading a biography on Corman in the 80s titled, “Brillance with a Budget.” ---
**Author:** ![Rube\_E.Tewesday](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f0a364/32.png) [@Rube\_E.Tewesday](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rube_E.Tewesday)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2003, 1:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-bucket-of-blood/204355/5 "2003-09-29T13:28:17Z")
You know, you might want to ask the mods to retitle this something like “A bucket of blood – Roger Corman Appreciation”. I came in hoping it was about the movie, but I wasn’t sure. I really think Corman is a genius, although a crazy one. Every movie he directed, however stupid and however low the the budget, has something of interest, and of course it is now famous how many other directors owe their careers to him. Yet, my wife, who really likes movies, had never heard of him before I started talking about him. In these days when Hollywood spends a hundred million dollars to make a movie that Roger could have made better for a hundred thousand, I think he should be praised to the skies. ---
**Author:** ![dantheman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dantheman/32/9421_2.png) [@dantheman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dantheman)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2003, 1:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-bucket-of-blood/204355/6 "2003-09-29T13:38:38Z")
It’s worth noting that the actor who played Walter Paisley, Dick Miller, used his character’s name in many other films that had nothing to do with A Bucket of Blood, simply because he liked the name so much. Pretty cool, huh? Miller was in a ton of Corman movies, too. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2003, 12:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-bucket-of-blood/204355/7 "2003-09-30T00:48:40Z")
> [@](#): > > In these days when Hollywood spends a hundred million dollars to make a movie that Roger could have made better for a hundred thousand, I think he should be praised to the skies. Indeed, man! It’s really amazing how much films cost to make nowadays, and how little exposure the cheap ones get. FWIW, my friend’s first feature, _Cut Up_ was in the can and ready for distrivution for $40,000! (One review said it looked as if it had cost ten times as much.) > [@](#): > > It’s worth noting that the actor who played Walter Paisley, Dick Miller, used his character’s name in many other films that had nothing to do with A Bucket of Blood, simply because he liked the name so much. Pretty cool, huh? I forgot to mention that. Thanks for bringing it up. 🙂