A Bucket of Blood

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🎙️ EPISODE 300: 01.24.2021 *Review starts @ ~ 35:49 The thing about these movies made in the ancient times is that, well, what the hell are they supposed to be? More to the point: it really calls into question why we modern day people feel films need to be placed in a "genre" to begin with. Like, it's certainly funny. But do we laugh cuz of its outdated melodrama or cuz among its creators' intentions lurks real humor? Two highly trafficked websites have it listed as a "comedy horror" and as a "comedy/horror/thriller." Now, the latter implies that is a horror film with comedic elements, and the former: some strange combo of the three. In reality, even though it's cloaked by some weird sense of irony that we construe as funny today, I think it functions most accurately as a thriller; insomuch as it's "about" a murderer who murders people, who is clearly crazy, and who, ultimately, will or will not be thwarted in some "thrilling" manner. (And then there's that the thing about irony: How do we gauge irony in bygone media? Is that even possible?

And not just in a wayward world we think we know in some way, but a world within that world: the nightmarish mockery of a 50s San Fran artsy fartsy scene. Can anyone tell me if, down deep, this is trying to connect with the beatnik crowd or mock them?)

I watched this during an art thesis class alongside 80 or so other students projected badly on a large white wall. And the sounds was godawful, constantly booming and cracking, as well. Lots of people were laughing at all sorts of different things: Genuine laughs, fake laughs, laughs of indistinguishable authenticity. Some laughed at the failure of the actual presentation, the sub-woofer and blurry projection, while others just tried to ignore it. Most just laughed at, you know, the movie, what with its plastered-over dead kitty (see below), and other delights, intentional or not. (Much like the movie itself, I don’t feel the sub-woofer was ‘trying’ to be funny. So it goes.)

I always find myself with an inescapable need to apologize when I watch a movie made prior to the 1980s. To apologize for being so ignorant and unaware of so so so much awesome and crazy cinema. So I do that now as well. Sorry, old cinema. And while I might be dwelling on why I (or someone else might) like these older pictures so much, the main thing is that I do often like them very much indeed.

*** part of THE BIG EPISODE 300 EXTRAVAGANZA wherein I reviewed 36 movies, mostly live reads of critiques I wrote between 2009-2012. The finished product above is a highly edited version of the truly embarrassing one that was read during the five-hour podcast recording. I guess this is growing up. ***

THE 36 MOVIES REVIEWED DURING EPISODE 300

30 MINUTES OR LESS • ALEX BAG: UNTITLED FALL '95 • AWAY WE GO • BEASTS OF THE SOUTHERN WILD • BEING ELMO • BORAT SUBSEQUENT MOVIEFILM • THE BROTHERS SOLOMON • A BUCKET OF BLOOD •
THE CAMPAIGN • THE CENTER OF THE WORLD • CHRISTMAS ON MARS • THE CHRISTMAS TREE • CRAZY, STUPID, LOVE. • (500) DAYS OF SUMMER • A FIELD IN ENGLAND • FUNNY PEOPLE • GET HIM TO THE GREEK • GIGANTIC (A TALE OF TWO JOHNS) • INCEPTION • JEFF, WHO LIVES AT HOME • LEAVE NO TRACE • MAN ON WIRE • MIDNIGHT IN PARIS • MONEYBALL • MOON • MUTUAL APPRECIATION • POM WONDERFUL PRESENTS: THE GREATEST MOVIE EVER SOLD • RISE OF THE PLANET OF THE APES • SLEEPWALK WITH ME • SOME DRINKING IMPLIED • TIM AND ERIC'S BILLION DOLLAR MOVIE • TRANSIT • TO ROME WITH LOVE • THE WICKER MAN • WINTER'S BONE • YOUTH IN REVOLT

CHRONOLOGICALLY
⫷ EPISODE 300D - (YOU ARE HERE) - EPISODE 300F ⫸

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