
A Bucket of Blood: 1995 remake follows the original, with some changes. The story takes place in a more modern setting. Walter works as a busboy at a cappuccino bar frequented by the most pretentious people on earth. From spoken word poetry to naked classical music, everything and anything shows up at this club – and after each performance the patrons sip their coffee and debate whether or not the other really “got what the artist was trying to do.” Its called the Jabberjaw. Several characters are added to the story, including an older rich couple looking for art by new talent.Walter is played more darkly, with a bitterness and rage that becomes apparent from the first moments on screen. Carla is played as a thick-accented Eurotrash type with too much makeup. Maxwell Brock is more insufferable and pretentious. Leonard the owner is more cautious and craven. The stoner types are played by then-unknown Will Ferrell and David Cross. In the scene where the fateful death of the landlady's cat occurs, Walter sees a leftover supply of plaster and a mortar kit within the partition where the cat was trapped prior to his accidentally skewering the animal. He uses that to encase the cat and his later victims. The undercover cop who follows Walter and tries to bully him into a confess to being a drug mule is even more obnoxious than the same character in the original. Alice is made out to be so nasty that she practically begs Walter's wrath. When he convinces her to model for him, there is both full rear and frontal nudity. Also, the implied sexual tension is made more candid as Alice taunts Walter about his virginity. This enrages Walter so much that when he finally springs his trap on her, he doesn't strangle her so much as break her neck. The sculptures he creates are more graphic and less abstract than in the original film. Also absent is the element of magical realism where, once the jig is up, the "ghostly" voices of Walter's victims sting his conscience and drive him to suicide. The remake ends with a "where are they now?" photo sequence that explains that Carla was so traumatized by Walter's death that she became a mute, Maxwell attempted to imitate Walter's "final work of genius" by committing suicide and failed, Leonard burned down his business and collected on the insurance money, and Cuff and Link eventually found success with their work and now live together as roommates. Starring Anthony Michael Hall, Justine Bateman, Shadoe Stevens. Walter Paisley. Released 1995
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