A Bucket of Blood (DVD)

Dick Miller is Walter Paisley, a nerdy waiter and busboy at a Bohemian cafe teeming with beatniks and colorful hustlers. Paisley is jealous of the swinging social lives of the creative types who hang out at the cafe and wishes he could be a part of their crowd. A twist of fate answers his wish after he accidentally kills his landlady's cat, covers it in clay, and is heralded as a visionary genius. Paisley's work of art (titled "Dead Cat") is such an artistic triumph that he's inundated with requests for more pieces. When a snoopy undercover cop tries to pin a drug-possession charge on Paisley, the cop finds himself on the wrong end of a cast-iron skillet and Paisley discovers a new way to manufacture his art. Bucket of Blood, a wildly comedic horror film, is one of the most interesting and original films of Corman's career and deserves to be regarded as a rediscovered gem. This black-comedy pre-figures another of screenwriter Charles Griffith/Roger Corman collaborations, the much acclaimed The Little Shop of Horrors.

• horror