PUSSBUCKET
A film review by Ken Johnson
Copyright 1992 Ken Johnson
105 min., not yet rated, Horror/Musical, 1991, Black & White Director: Lisa Houle Cast: Terrence Fleming, Eric Hammer, Brian Sullivan, Gina Cammarota, Madeline Virbasius, Walter Prince, Ultra Lavish, Evelyn Rosa, Onyx Coale, Dion, Steve Green, Steven Deal
Two religious maniacs, Judas (played by Terrence Fleming) and Corned Beef (played by Eric Hammer), are visited by two aliens, Madeline Virbasius and Dion. Virbasius, dressed as the Virgin Mary, tells the two to kill people for Jesus and to drain the puss from their heads and bring it back to them. Fleming and Hammer set out to bring "the Virgin Mary" back as much puss back as possible in a bucket (hence the title).
I was lucky enough to see an advance showing of this film from somebody who was involved in its production. PUSSBUCKET is based on the Broadway musical and is done by Blessed Elysium Productions. It is going to be distributed by Film Threat Video, and I don't know when it will be made available. PUSSBUCKET, which is currently not rated, I expect will end up with an R rating. On a scale of zero to five, I give PUSSBUCKET a three (with reservations). PUSSBUCKET contains explicit language, adult situations, and violence (it actually contains one scene of graphic violence with a prosthetic breast, but it is so obviously fake, it don't count it).
PUSSBUCKET is an interesting grade Z film. It is shot in grainy black and white and is obviously an amateur production with a *very* low budget. I think the biggest problems with the film are: it is amateurishly filmed with a lot of jerky motions; a lot of close-ups that end up going too close; and the film is about half an hour too long. Other than that PUSSBUCKET is an interesting film that will reward the patient viewer with some wonderful moments.
Two parts of the film that were particularly good was the television evangelist, Steve Green, with his 1-900-DIAL GOD number, and the news anchor man, Steven Deal. The songs in the film, what few there are, are great. Unfortunately it doesn't look like all the songs from the Broadway show made it into this film (I haven't seen the Broadway show, but I only remember three songs from the film, and I am sure the Broadway musical contained more than that).
Unfortunately for the film, some of the scenes are so badly photographed and the sound is so poor that it is unclear what is going on and that drags the film down. I don't recommend this film for everybody, but only those with an open mind and a taste for the bizarre. I don't know what the release availability of this film is going to be. If it comes to your video store for a cheap enough rate, you might be interested in trying it.
Ken J. blj@mithrandir.cs.unh.edu
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