An enormously fun horror movie, perhaps the best remembered film from Tod Slaughter, a lip smacking star of stage and screen who was renowned for playing leads in villainous melodramas. This goes for a little over an hour, so it fairly spanks along; the famous story is packed in quite well and Slaughter is great in the lead role as a the villainous barber. There are some bland juveniles but you do need them to highlight the unscrupulousness around them and they’re not as irritating as the little kid (it’s a shame he doesn’t get his throat cut).
Slaughter’s performance ages well – of course it’s hammy but it’s ham with integrity. And who wants to see a realistic performance of Sweeney Todd? The trick barber’s chair always makes me laugh. There’s an attack on an African village, a young woman who dresses as a boy, and a flat climax. The best sections of this are the middle bit.
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