A Bucket Of Blood / The Little Shop Of Horrors Collectors Edition Blu Ray Review (Gemini Entertainment)

A Bucket of Blood is a 1959 horror comedy produced and directed by Roger Corman (Frankenstein Unbound, The Little Shop of Horrors, Bloody Mama, Target: Harry, The St. Valentine’s Day Massacre, The Wild Angels, and The Trip). It was written by Charles B. Griffith (Attack of the Crab Monsters, The Undead, Death Race 2000, Eat My Dust, Creature from the Haunted Sea, The Wild Angels, Little Shop of Horrors, The Swinging Barmaids, and Not of this Earth). The sets were previously used on The Diary of a High School Bride and it was re-used for Corman’s next project The Little Shop of Horrors. This was only shot in 5 days on a $50,000 budget. It was remade into a television film in 1995. It was executive produced by Samuel Z. Arkoff (The Amityville Horror, The Island of Dr. Moreau, Futureworld, Squirm, Madhouse, Sugar Hill, Planet of the Vampires, Tales of Terror, The Raven, and The Pit and the Pendulum). Walter Paisley (played by: Dick Miller from the Gremlins franchise, The Terminator, Piranha, The Burbs, and Tales from the Crypt: Demon Knight) is a busboy at the hep-cat hangout the Yellow Door Café. He dreams of artistic greatness and he wants to do something special in life. He gets inspired by the talented scribes and artists who surround him, Walter is introduced to the world of sculpture quite literally by accident. From debut piece “Dead Cat”, Walter is hailed a genius by the art snob scene. He has raised murder to the level of high art. When the tortured artist turns his creativity towards the human form, he’s sure to make their blood run cold!!!! A Bucket of Blood is a hilarious and creative horror comedy from the legendary Roger Corman. It has slasher tendencies, it shows someone that’s desperate for fame and appreciation that’s willing to do whatever it takes. It has a nice script and it’s a very short film so it moves by really fast without any boring moments. Character actor Dick Miller gets one of his rare leading roles here as the ambitious Walter Paisley. He ended up using that same name in 10 other movies during his long career. He’s in top form in A Bucket of Blood, he’s the guy no one really notices at first. He’s surrounded by so much talent where he works and he wants to join in. He always feels out of place in this. He has no particular skills at the time but he accidentally finds it with a dead cat. As his popularity grows, his blood thirst gets even worse. He can’t control himself and it leads to a dangerous spree. Carla, Maxwell, and Leonard are not exactly great people. They are the ones that Walter desperately wants to impress with his new work but it ends up backfiring on them. The snobby crew of Barboura Morris (The Wasp Woman), Antony Carbone (Vigilante Force), and Julian Burton (Dragnet 1967) manages to even make the killer Walter more likeable with their stuck up presence in this. It’s a very small cast but all of the main performers knock it out of the park with their questionable roles. The rest of the supporting cast includes Ed Nelson (Police Academy 3: Back in Training), John Brinkley (Hot Rod Rumble), John Herman Shaner (The Little Shop of Horrors), Judy Bamber (Up in Smoke), Myrtle Vail (The Little Shop of Horrors), Bert Convy (The Cannonball Run), Jhean Burton (Why Must I Die?), Bruno VeSota (Attack of the Giant Leeches), and Lynn Storey (The Little Shop of Horrors). This late 50’s horror spoof had the perfect balance of humor and terror. It’s pure satire but it does have some nasty moments in it. This definitely has some Mystery of the Wax Museum influence to it. I loved the competitive atmosphere here, everyone is trying to outdo each other with their skills. A Bucket of Blood is very impressive considering the micro budget and the fact it was made in under a week. It’s still better than a good amount with so much more put into it. Everyone worked hard to put together the best possible feature despite their limitations. This is what pure talent can achieve with very little. It’s always entertaining, morbidly fun, and it still has quality replay value to it after all these years. It’s public domain so it’s easily available on Tubi, Fawesome, Plex, Pluto TV, Prime, and other streaming services. This version is remastered so I can’t speak what’s actually on these apps but it probably doesn’t look as good as this restored presentation. RECOMMENDED!!!! The Little Shop of Horrors is a 1960 horror comedy produced, co-written, and directed by Roger Corman (The Terror, Swamp Women, Tower of London, Tales of Terror, X: The Man with the X-Ray Eyes, Day the World Ended, Machine-Gun Kelly, The Wasp Woman, House of Usher, The Intruder, and The Premature Burial). It was co-written by Charles B. Griffith (Dr. Heckyl and Mr. Hype, Gunslinger, She Beast, Atlas, Forbidden Island, and It Conquered the World). It was shot in 2 days with an estimated budget of $27,000. Little Shop of Horrors got a big remake in 1986. A classic tale of boy-meets-girl and plant-eats-people. Seymour’s exotic plant Audrey Junior (voiced by: writer Charles B. Griffith from Eating Raoul, Smokey Bites the Dust, Hollywood Boulevard, and Death Race 2000) has an insatiable appetite only for blood and flesh. As the ruthless plant grows larger and larger with each feeding, so do Seymour’s affections for shop girl Audrey Fulquard (played by: Jackie Joseph from Gremlins franchise, Small Soldiers, Police Academy franchise, and Get Crazy). The madness culminates with Seymour Krelborn (played by: Jonathan Haze from Vice Squad, Not of This Earth, It Conquered the World, The Terror, and Blood Bath) and his bloodthirsty plant in a feeding frenzy of epic proportions that becomes way out of control!!!! The Little Shop of Horrors is so much fun. It’s another quickly made and quality no budget production from the iconic Roger Corman. Apparently, it was originally going to be a sequel to A Bucket of Blood when it was first being developed but it turned into something completely different obviously. The story, concept, and script is super creative especially for it’s time. So I’m honestly not surprised at all that this project became a huge movie when the reboot was released in 1986. I’m not a big fan of musicals but I love that updated version of this. I do appreciate the original is a straight up film, it works much better that way. It’s full of weird and wacky people that really stand out here. Character actor Dick Miller (The Howling, Night of the Creeps, Chopping Mall, and After Hours) shows up as Ferson Fouch. He’s a strange man that’s obsessed with eating plants for some reason. The iconic Jack Nicholson (The Shining, Chinatown, The Departed, Easy Rider, and Batman) steals the show as the masochistic dental patient Wilbur Force during his amazing cameo in this. John Herman Shaner (The Two Jakes, Reds, The Man from U.N.C.L.E., and The Garbage Pail Kids Movie) is also a total blast as the sadistic dentist Dr. Phoebus Farb. I wish all of these smaller characters had more than a quick role in this. Jonathan Haze is solid as the clumsy and nerdy Seymour Krelborn. He feels kinda lost until he meets the plant and the beautiful Audrey. It kinda brings him out of his shell, he becomes more comfortable with everything when those relationships develop. Jackie Joseph is great as the curious Audrey Fulquard. She just makes every single scene that she’s in so much better with her innocent presence that gives hope for the doomed Seymour. She’s very cute, she is the positive outcome from all these bizarre scenarios. The supporting cast includes Mel Welles (Smokey Bites the Dust), Myrtle Vail (A Bucket of Blood), Karyn Kupcinet (Hawaiian Eye), Toby Michaels (The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet), Leola Wendorff (Alfred Hitchcock Presents), Lynn Storey (A Bucket of Blood), Wally Campo (Tales of Terror), Jack Warford (Dr. Heckyl and Mr. Hype), and Meri Welles (The Pink Panther). A Bucket of Blood is extremely short but that actually works in it’s favor. It has a fast pace and flow to it. This is a little more silly compared to the previous A Bucket of Blood but it has its horror elements to it. The special fx are pretty damn bad but I think it really adds to it’s low budget charm since it’s mainly about the darker humor. The original is unfiltered and it doesn’t back away from anything unlike it’s many adaptations later on. The Little Shop of Horrors embraces it’s cheapness and cheesy nature for it’s own entertainment. It just fits for it’s over the top atmosphere. It knows exactly what type of material it’s trying to be and it never hides its from the audience. It’s a cult classic that outlives so many bigger films in the last 65 years which is beyond impressive when you think about that. It’s fun as hell and it just works in every possible way somehow, RECOMMENDED!!!! Let’s discuss these high definition presentations and special features from Gemini Entertainment! These 1080p (1.78:1) / (1.66:1) unrated transfers are both from newer 2K restorations from the best possible sources available. Let’s be honest, neither one of these public domain lower budget features will ever be reference quality on home video but I have seen so many different versions over the years for both that looked really rough so these HD upgrades blows them all away. It’s the best that I’ve seen either one of these so far on anything so that alone makes this worth adding to the collection. They both have English: Dolby Digital 2.0 tracks on the disc. The audio is decent but it’s not going to test your home set up or anything. It’s still a big improvement over past releases that hissed with poor quality so it’s definitely better than before. All of the dialogue is very clean, the laughs are elevated, and the music has a nice boost to it. There’s a few extras for “A Bucket of Blood”. It has the outdated and raw “Mail Order VHS”. It’s cool that they included this but it looks rough. It just makes you appreciate the updated restored version even more to be honest. It has an almost 2 minute “Still Gallery”. It has “Liner Notes” for the film. There’s some additional bonus material for “The Little Shop of Horrors”. It has the “EP Mode VHS Version”. Just like the previous one, this full length version just makes you happy that there’s a HD transfer available here because this doesn’t look great when it comes to quality. It has the little over a minute “Still Gallery”. It has “Liner Notes” for the movie. The coolest special feature on this home video release is the almost 54 minute “Roger Corman Trailer Reel” that’s loaded with all kinds of past productions from the legend. I personally love these trailer compilation films. You never know what you are going to see with something like this plus it ends up helping you discover more cinema that you might have not known about before this. Yes, this double feature is all on a single disc. It’s a professionally made on demand BD-R. It’s available everywhere right now including MovieZyng.com, CHECK IT OUT!!!!