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. ~ Cavett Binion, All Movie Guide