Jazz is not usually thought of in conjunction with genre films, but it does turn up in the odd (or very odd) sci-fi or horror picture. British tenor star Tubby Hayes appeared as himself and played on the soundtrack for one story in the Amicus horror anthology film Dr. Terror’s House of Horrors, which co-starred the sophisticated gruesome twosome of Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee (in separate story arcs). Moon Zero Two, a rare Hammer Films foray into sci-fi, has not aged well, but at least it boasts a pretty cool Don Ellis score. Add to their ranks some of Roger Corman’s more distinctive camp classics, including Bucket of Blood (trailer here), which screens at Anthology Film Archives during their upcoming Poe and Beyond retrospective of the ultra-low budget auteur's films.Bucket is probably most notorious for facilitating Corman’s immediate follow-up film, The Little Shop of Horrors, than its own on-screen chills. According to disputed legend, after wrapping Bucket, Corman realized his sets were paid-up through for next two days, so why not crank out another picture in that time? Still, Bucket has its own cult following, having even inspired a mid 1990’s remake produced for Showtime.
Both comical horror films also feature a score by jazz cellist Fred Katz. The onetime musical director of the Chico Hamilton Quintet, with whom he is seen in Sweet Smell of Success, the cerebral Katz might seem an unlikely associate for the Corman, the king of grade Z genre fare, but he scored several of director’s pictures. Katz’s Bucket score often swings in a crime jazz mood, while at other times it reflects the goofy whimsy of Charles B Griffith’s beanik spoofing screenplay. Katz’s fellow Hamilton alumnus Paul Horn (before his defection to New Age music) also appears in the opening scene, accompanying an over-top pretentious poetry recital, in the spirit of the jazz-and-poetry performances of the era.
Cult actor Dick Miller plays busboy Walter Paisley (a sad sack character he would revive for future Cor
man productions), slaving away for unappreciative beatniks in a hipster coffee house. By accident, he kills his landlord’s cat, which he conceals by disguising the body as a statue. When his “Dead Cat” is received as a work of genius, he logically starts escalating with humans.Many Corman enthusiasts prefer Bucket to its more famous offspring. The story might be ridiculous, but it has its moments of sly dark comedy. In particular, Julian Barton is spot-on as the pontificating poet Maxwell Brock, looking like an unkempt Theodore Bikel, while Katz and Horn, perhaps the greatest talent attached to the film, lend it a touch of class. Clearly a product of its time and budget, Bucket still has an undeniable charm. AFA’s Corman retro starts on October 28th, just in time for Halloween, with Bucket screening on November 2nd, 5th, and 8th.
