One of the funniest horror-comedies ever made. It’s on the shortlist of films I’d most like to see in a crowded theater at midnight. Cult favorite character-actor Dick Miller gets a rare leading role here as Walter Paisley, a lowly beatnik coffee shop busboy who unexpectedly wows the beret-wearing bohemians with his realistic sculptures. The big problem: His sculptures are actually murdered people covered in clay. Dick Miller’s performance as a total doofus is great, but the funniest guy in the movie is Julian Burton as a satirical beatnik blowhard who recites nonsensical poetry, constantly pontificates, wears a ridiculous fake beard, and goes to art showings in a tuxedo and sandals.
One of director Roger Corman’s legendary low-budget quickies, he shot this in five days for $50,000. I count three sets total. The coffee shop looks like the exact same hangout spot used in every juvenile delinquent flick at the time. Corman and writer Charles B. Griffith would shortly collaborate again for the equally great (and even more low-budget and quickly made) Little Shop of Horrors.
Decades later, other directors, such as Joe Dante and Jim Wynorski, would pay tribute to A Bucket of Blood by casting Dick Miller in their own films as characters named “Walter Paisley”.