A young manservant is driven mad by his obsession with the repulsive diseased eye of an old man who cares for him. He kills his master and hides the remains under the floorboards. When the police investigate the old man's disappearance, the imagined beating of the victim's heart haunts the murderer's thoughts so much that his words and actions arouse the suspicions of the police.
Cast
Norman Dryden as The Boy
John Kelt as The Old Man
Yolande Terrell as The Girl
Production
Produced by Clifton-Hurst Productions (with Harry Clifton as the listed producer[2]), it was filmed at the Blattner Studios in Elstree, and released in the USA under the title Bucket of Blood. The film was considered so gruesome that it was withdrawn from some cinemas in the UK.[3] The cast was mostly amateur (John Kelt had appeared in several silent films) and the dialogue is so sparse that Hurst recalled when interviewed:[4]
At the big Elstree studios nearby they said "There's a fellow over at Blattner's studio who's making practically a silent picture."