Reviewed as part of Horror-on-Sea film festival coverage in January 2026. Slice em, kill em, stick em in a pie – it’s Sweeney Todd! We all know the tale, but this retelling of the barber of fleet street is different. Grieving his parent’s death by a corrupt judge, Sweeney Todd allies with Mrs. Lovett, also wronged by the same judge. Terry Bird is outstanding as our title character. Instead of portraying a cold-blooded killer, he’s a vigilante seeking to avenge the wrongs of the past and it’s clear his conscious weighs heavy. Jo Dyson is great as Mrs Lovett, capturing that balance between victim and vengeful master manipulator wonderfully. Director Steven M. Smith captures the tone and essence of 1840’s London with ease and his worldbuilding here is so effective that you’re instantly drawn into this moment in time. There’s lashings of violence here as you’d expect with a Sweeney Todd film, but there’s more than that. There’s heart, grief and real humanity in this reimagining.