Rating summary

Movie		1.5
Video		2.5
Audio		2.5
Extras		0.5
Overall		1.5

Bloodthirsty Butchers Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman October 5, 2021

Note: This film is available as part of The Dungeon of Andy Milligan.

Lovers of what might be charitably termed Grade Z Cinema have had a number of outstanding releases by a variety of labels over the past few years. Arrow has offered fans surprisingly deluxe-ified (that's a word, I insist) editions of The Herschell Gordon Lewis Feast and Weird Wisconsin: The Bill Rebane Collection, among others, while Severin Films has gotten into exploring this decidedly odd nook and/or cranny with releases like Al Adamson: The Masterpiece Collection. Severin's back with more, um, "masterpieces" with this inventively packaged homage to the late Andy Milligan, a kinda sorta auteur whose professional life had more than its fair share of hurdles, and whose personal life unfortunately ended up not being much better. The 14 films (with one bonus film in HD, Toga Party) aggregated in this set are exploitation outings at their "finest" (?), which means those with more patrician tastes are probably well advised to steer completely clear of this release. Those with grittier sensibilities will find some at times oddly entertaining movies and Severin's usual supply of appealing supplements.

Oh, sure, sure, you're a film trivia fan and don't need reminding that 1936's Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street wasn't even the first cinematic treatment of the venerable tale, let alone Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street in Concert and/or Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street. That said, you'd have to be a special kind of film trivia fan to know that Andy Milligan took a swing at attending to the tale of Sweeney Todd, in this 1970 outing that is shorn (sorry) of singing and dancing, and, frankly, much attention paid to period ambience.

What's fascinating about this ultra low budget piece is that it hews surprisingly closely to the story told in better known adaptations, at least in its broad strokes. Therefore, you get the unseemly partnership between Sweeney Todd (John Miranda) and Mrs. Lovett (Jane Hilary), though there's a "third wheel" of a sort in this version named Tobias Ragg (Berwick Kaler yet again). Meat pies are again on the menu, including some potentially stomach churning moments, but the film probably wallows in a bit too much sleaze to ever register very much in the actual horror department.

Bloodthirsty Butchers Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Bloodthirsty Butchers is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Severin Films with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.33:1. Severin's booklet included with this release has the following information on the transfer:

Bloodthirsty Butchers (aka The Demons) has been scanned and restored in 2K from its uncensored 16mm camera reversal, which relfects Andy Milligan's original director's cut, which was X-rated for violence. Optical credits bearing Milligan's shooting title The Demons were never created, so the title sequences have been source drom a 35mm blow-up internegative of Bloodthirsty Butchers. Audio was assembled from two sources: the 35mm optical soundtrack (which had been edited to conform to an MPAA 'R' rating), and the uncesored 16mm mag stripe.

While the above verbiage is remarkably similar to the verbiage afforded the transfer of Torture Dungeon, this presentation doesn't have quite the same vividness in the palette, and parts of this presentation looked a bit blanched to me. Still, there's quite a bit of energy left in the presentation, with detail levels on things like costumes often quite appealing. While there's some age related wear and tear, as with all of the presentations in this set, there are relatively few huge mars like can be seen in some of the other transfers. This is another transfer in this set that has an agreeably organic looking grain field.

Bloodthirsty Butchers Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Bloodthirsty Butchers may not offer a singing and dancing Sweeney and Lovett, which, considering the rest of this film may be a good thing, but the DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 Mono track delivers the limited sonic ambitions of the film generally decently enough. There are some dips in amplitude at times that can make at least phonemes if not entire sentences a bit hard to make out, but on the whole dialogue is rendered clearly. Optional English subtitles are available.

Bloodthirsty Butchers Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Trailer (HD; 2:15)

Bloodthirsty Butchers Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Fans of the legendary Stephen Sondheim musical may get a kick out of watching this, despite this version's more than evident low budget limitations. Video and audio each have occasional hurdles to overcome, for those who are considering making a purchase.