Podcasts
Mrs. Lovett Will Do Anything to Please ‘Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street’ [The Lady Killers Podcast]
“We could have a life we two, maybe not like you remember. Maybe not like I imagined. But we could get by.”
How far would you go to impress a man? Women all over the world have spent ages asking themselves this defeatist question, but few go so far as Mrs. Lovett (Helena Bonham Carter). The London widow of Tim Burton’s Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street puts everything on the line to satisfy a brooding man, only to wind up a victim of her own devilish scheme.
Upon returning to bleak and dreary London circa 1846, barber Benjamin Barker (Johnny Depp) revisits the ruins of his shattered life. Once a happy husband and father, he was wrongfully imprisoned by a corrupt judge who ultimately wanted to steal his wife. Now calling himself Sweeney Todd, the angry man embarks on a mission of revenge, hellbent on punishing the people who put him in prison. And all the while, Mrs. Lovett whispers in his ear. With her own pie shop empty, the entrepreneurial widow devises an ingenious way to dispose of Mr T’s victims: by baking them into her savory pies. Though this puts her shop back on the road to success, Mrs. Lovett’s ultimate goal is to woo Sweeney Todd and convince him to forget about his long-lost wife.
In the latest episode of Bloody FM’s The Lady Killers podcast, co-hosts Jenn Adams, Sammie Roffman, and Rachel Reeves are joined by special guest Julia Marchese to unpack the themes of this disturbing film. What does Mrs. Lovett see in Sweeney Todd that would make her throw her life away? Does Anthony (Jamie Campbell Bower) represent a brighter future, or will he simply continue an oppressive cycle? Why is everyone obsessed with Johanna (Jayne Wisener), and which is our favorite of Stephen Sondheim’s songs? They’ll answer these questions and more while continuing Musical Month with this gorgeous film.
Stream below and subscribe now via Apple Podcasts and Spotify for future episodes that drop every Thursday.
Podcasts
Shakespearean Education in the Vincent Price-Starring ‘Theater of Blood’ [Horror Queers Podcast]
Butch knows best…
After concluding May with discussions of the disaster “slasher” The Poseidon Adventure (listen) and Michael Biehn’s demon twink in the messy-but-watchable The Fan (listen), we’re heading back to the ’70s to discuss our very first Vincent Price film in Douglas Hickox‘s horror comedy Theater of Blood (1973).
In Theater of Blood, Vincent Price stars as Edward Lionheart, a disgraced Shakespearean actor who begins targeting the critics who shamed him. The gimmick? He’s taking inspiration from the death scenes in William Shakespeare’s plays! Aiding him is his daughter Edwina (Diana Rigg), who acts as the honeypot for her father’s macabre scheme.
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Episode 388: Theater of Blood (1973)
Brush up on your Shakespeare and protect those poodles because we’re covering our very first Vincent Price film in Douglas Hickox’s horror comedy Theater of Blood (1973), a personal favorite of both Price and Diana Rigg.
Join us as we go all in on this somewhat episodic (but also educational!) proto-slasher, wondering if we’re supposed to know that’s Diana Rigg in hippie drag, and cackling at some of these murder set pieces.
Plus, “Handsy Dickman,” narcissistic gravestones, antisemitic stage makeup, and the ultimate debate: is it theatER or theatRE?
C/W: Attempted suicide, off-screen dog murder.
Cross out Theater of Blood!
Coming Up Next: We’re celebrating the premiere of AMC’s The Vampire Lestat with a look at the much-maligned 2002 adaptation Queen of the Damned!
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