Bloodthirsty Butchers on AllMovie

Legendary bargain-basement filmmaker Andy Milligan tries yet again (and fails yet again) to pull off a period horror piece, this time applying his trademark touch to the legend of Sweeney Todd. Viewers are thus presented with Victorian England, Milligan style -- replete with thrift shop costumes and New Yorkers trying to pull off British accents. As in the oft-told tale, the infamous Demon Barber of Fleet Street slashes his customers into cutlets, providing a local baker with yummy filling for his popular meat pies. When their scheme is undone by the lady friend of a recent victim, they eventually turn on each other. This could be construed as part of a trilogy, being the last of three films Milligan shot back-to-back using the same late 19th-century English setting (i.e. re-using the same costumes): it follows The Body Beneath and The Rats Are Coming! The Werewolves Are Here! Mostly a showcase for gory special-effects, Bloodthirsty Butchers fails precisely because the effects are anything but special. Those who get a campy kick out of Milligan's awful films (The Ghastly Ones, The Body Beneath) might enjoy this one for the unintentional hilarity of bouncing hands, Styrofoam breasts, and an excessive amount of phony stage-blood, but others are advised to stay away.