Libramedi Intense, gripping, stylish and poignant

WillSushyMedia This movie was so-so. It had it's moments, but wasn't the greatest.

Lidia Draper Great example of an old-fashioned, pure-at-heart escapist event movie that doesn't pretend to be anything that it's not and has boat loads of fun being its own ludicrous self.

Scarlet The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

Hollywoodshack ..this film. I was often a fan of Dick Miller and his ensemble of characters in American International films, many who also were in Wasp Woman, War of the Satellites, and Little Shop of Horrors. But this was a gross disappointment. Corman tries a tepid effort to build sympathy for Miller as the main character, a waiter in a beatnik coffee shop who feels teased and rejected by the "in crowd" giving him some bizarre motive to plaster over a cat he stabbed by mistake, leaving the knife in! Why wouldn't everyone get suspicious about his sculpture with a knife sticking out of it? He kills a detective (Burt Convy) and plasters him over. Where is the missing persons bureau and a citywide search to find out what happened to him? And using a pizza pan..lethal force for sure. It's no wonder most of Convy's career remained on Match Game and Hollywood Squares quiz shows. What an embarrassment to anyone's resume.

SimonJack Dick Miller isn't exactly threatening as Walter Paisley in "A Bucket of Blood." And that is the only aspect of this film that makes it somewhat tolerable. Miller was a good actor for the types of characters he played over a long Hollywood career. Here, he underplays his role to perfection. The rest of the roles are so-so at best. The plot is OK but the screenplay isn't very good. And the direction is weak. The set and technical values of the film give it the appearance and feel of what the film was at the time. It was a "B" film then, and remains a poor one today. It takes superb talent to make a good movie that combines comedy, crime and horror. "A Bucket of Blood" missed the talent on all levels, except for Dick Miller in his role as Walter.

utgard14 Cult favorite Dick Miller has his finest hour here as beatnik murderer Walter Paisley. Directed by Roger Corman with a script by Charles Griffith, it's a brilliant little dark comedy. Walter Paisley is a simple-minded busboy at a café frequented by beatniks who desperately wants to be an artist. Despite his seeming lack of talent, he soon finds acclaim as a sculptor. The problem is his sculptures are actually just dead bodies encased in plaster. The cast includes Ed Nelson, Bert Convy, Anthony Carbone, and beautiful Barboura Morris. Julian Burton's turn as a pompous beat poet is terrific. But the movie belongs to Dick Miller, who's such a treat to watch. Given that it's Corman, the whole thing was shot on the quick and cheap, which shows in the production (look at that obviously stuffed cat they used for the kitty death scene). A lot of the laughs come from the many jabs at the pretentious art-house types. It's a timeless bit of satire since, while the trends and styles may have changed, these types are still around today. This one is often spoken of as the warm-up before Corman and Griffith's classic Little Shop of Horrors (also featuring Dick Miller). But I think it's just as funny as that film, if maybe not as creative.

Nick Retzlaff his movie made by Roger Corman in 1959 starts off with a guy doing poetry in an old coffee shop. The main character is a busboy named Walter, played by Dick Miller. Also there's an undercover cop that hangs out out at the coffee shop, as a way to scope out criminals.Walter tries to do sculptures at but doesn't quite know what to do. Until he tries to get a cat out of his wall but ends up killing it. He decides to sculpt over the cat and tries to put it in the coffee shop. The people seem to like the sculpture even though it doesn't seem to stink. Also the cat would be heavy even with clay on it. Everyone at the coffee shop seems to like it but the undercover cop is suspicious about it.This woman at the coffee shop gives Walter a little tube of something and he takes it with him. A guy then follows him to his home and tells him he's an undercover cop. Also that he's under arrest for position of heroine since that's what was in the tube. Walter ends up killing him since he doesn't want to go so he kills him.The owner of the coffee shop finds out Walter's first sculpture was fake when it falls. He tries to call the cops but the buyer gives him a lot of money for it. Walter then shows the owner and this girl he likes his new sculpture. Which is the cop guy just sculpted over and the girl suggests a collection of his sculptures. Walter then is happy when he gets money for his sculptures and that he's an artist, even though he murdered someone.Walter then kills a woman at his home after a fight they had at the coffee shop then sculpts over her as well. All the coffee shop people like him and like more sculptures. So he ends up killing a random guy for another sculpture.Walter then one night asks the girl she likes to marry him but she refuses. He then asks to sculpt her after his collection exhibit show and she find out they're fake and people. After Walter chases the girl the people at the art show find out the sculptures are people as well. The undercover cop and some of the coffee shop people chase Walter and try to find him.At the end he hears the voices of the people he murders and at his home he still hears them. So he ends up hanging himself as his greatest work and to stop. This movie seems pretty good for a Roger Corman movie and it's mostly a black comedy.