A Bucket of Blood (1959)
A Bucket of Blood (1959)
„A Bucket of Blood“ is a 1959 comedy horror film directed by Roger Corman from a screenplay by Charles B. Griffith.
Set in the West Coast beatnik culture of the late 1950s at The Yellow Door café. Impressionable busboy Walter Paisley hears poet Maxwell H. Brock with admiration. Paisley is in love with the hostess, Clara, and attempts to create a sculpture of her face. He stops when he hears the landlady’s, Mrs. Swickert cat, Frankie, stuck in the wall. Walter attempts to get Frankie out using a knife, but accidentally kills it. Instead of a proper burial, Walter covers the cat in clay, leaving the knife stuck in it.
The next morning, Walter shows the cat to Carla and his boss Leonard de Santis. Carla convinces Leonard to display it in the café. Walter receives praise from the beatniks. An adoring fan, Naolia, gives him a vial of heroin, and he is followed by an undercover cop, Lou Raby. Thinking Lou is about to shoot him, Walter panics, and hits him with the frying pan he is holding, killing Lou.
Meanwhile, Walter’s boss discovers the secret behind Walter’s Dead Cat piece when he sees fur sticking out of it. The next morning, Walter says he has a new piece, the Murdered Man. Carla critiques it as „hideous and eloquent“ and deserving of a public exhibition. Leonard is aghast, but realizes the potential for wealth.
The next night, Walter is treated like a king, except by a blonde model, Alice. Walter offers to pay her to model. At Walter’s apartment, Alice strips nude and poses. Walter strangles her, and creates a statue of Alice which impresses Brock, and he throws a party in Walter’s honor.
After the party, Walter later stumbles towards his apartment. Still drunk, he beheads a factory worker with his own buzzsaw to create a bust. When he shows the head to Leonard, the boss realizes that he must stop Walter’s murderous rampage and promises Walter a show to offload his latest „sculptures“.
At the exhibit, Carla finds part of the clay on one figure has worn away, revealing Alice’s finger. She flees, Walter chases, and the others at the exhibit learn Walter’s secret and join the chase. Haunted by the voices of Lou and Alice, Walter stops chasing Carla, and runs home. The police, Carla, Leonard, Maxwell, and the others break down Walter’s apartment door only to find that Walter has hanged himself. Looking askance at the hanging, clay-daubed corpse, Maxwell proclaims, „I suppose he would have called it Hanging Man... his greatest work.“
Cast:
- Dick Miller – Walter Paisley
- Barboura Morris – Carla
- Antony Carbone – Leonard de Santis
- Julian Burton – Maxwell H. Brock
- Ed Nelson – Art Lacroix
- John Brinkley – Will
- John Herman Shaner – Oscar
- Judy Bamber – Alice
- Myrtle Vail – Mrs. Swickert
- Bert Convy – Lou Raby
- Jhean Burton – Naolia
- Bruno VeSota – Art Collector
- Lynn Storey – Sylvia
- Tom Daly – Coffee-House patron
- Alex Hassilev – Singer-Guitarist
- George Hoagland – Art Exhibit Patron
- Paul Horn – Beatnik Saxophonist
- Kenner G. Kemp – Art Exhibit Patron
- Perk Lazelle – Art Exhibit Patron
- Sheila Noonan – Yellow Door Patron
- Monty O’Grady – Art Exhibit Patron
- Murray Pollack – Art Exhibit Patron
- Jeffrey Sayre – Art Exhibit Patron
- Henry Travis – Art Critic
„Das Vermächtnis des Professor Bondi“ (A Bucket of Blood) ist eine Horrorkomödie aus dem Jahr 1959 unter der Regie von Roger Corman nach einem Drehbuch von Charles B. Griffith.
Der streberhafte Walter Paisley, ein ungeschickter Kellner in einem Beatnik-Café, der nicht in die coole Szene um ihn herum passt, versucht, seine schöne Kollegin Carla zu umwerben, indem er eine Büste von ihr anfertigt. Als durch seine Ungeschicklichkeit die Katze seiner Vermieterin stirbt, gerät er in Panik und versteckt die Leiche unter einer Schicht aus Gips. Doch als Carla und ihre Freunde von dem Kunstwerk begeistert sind, beschließt Walter, mit demselben künstlerischen Verfahren ein paar größere und aufwändigere Stücke zu schaffen.