Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street is based on the stage musical by Stephen Sondheim and Hugh Wheeler. The Stage musical as well as the film is based on the urban legend of Sweeney Todd. I never knew much about the whole Sweeney Todd story other than hearing bits and pieces about the musical throughout the years. To be honest it never interested me because I though it was just another musical similar to Phantom of the Opera. (Which I have seen on Broadway.) But I’ve never been a big fan of musicals, however with the horror element and Tim Burton’s imagination involved, I had to check this film out to see what all the fuss was about.
Sweeney Todd is about a barber named Benjamin Barker (Johnny Depp) whom after being wrongfully accused of doing nothing wrong by the ruthless judge Judge Turpin (Alan Rickman) is sentenced to spend ten years in jail, all because Judge Turpin has a crush for Barker’s wife. Now ten years later Barker returns to back to London, although he is not seeking revenge under the new name of Sweeney Todd. He learns that his wife has passed on but that his daughter remains in the care of Judge Turpin, except that she is living a sheltered life under his roof. Barker returns to his old flat above Nellie Lovett’s (Helena Bonham Carter) pie shop on Fleet Street. After finding out the fate of his wife and daughter, Todd decides to open up his barber shop once more, except this time when you come in for a shave you pay with your life.
The script for Sweeney Todd is excellent and is probably one of the best musical adoptions of a horror tale I’ve seen since Rocky Horror Picture Show. Not only does the mixture of song and dialogue help the flow of the story, but it also gets the point of the movie across. it does get a bit annoying with all the singing going on at times, but overall it’s a very tight script and it works well on many levels.
The movie’s acting is it’s strong point. With a cast like Johnny Depp, Alan Rickman, Helen Bonham Carter, and Sacha Baron Cohen its no wonder the movie came out as good as it did. Depp is great as Sweeney Todd and really gives a performance that at times makes you feel both sympathy and hate toward the character. Alan Rickman as always plays a great villain as Judge Tupin and Helen Bonham Carter give a great performance as well. The acting in this film is grade A from the films stars to it’s supporting cast.
The production value is very good, especially the set design and the costume design. It also had great art direction which won the film an academy award in the art direction category. The CGI effects were pretty decent in this film as well, my only beef is that when Sweeney Todd slit the throats of his victims the blood used looked very fake and it took away from the overall scare factor. Still the bodies and all the gore and blood used in this film did look pretty good, and as with all Tim Burton’s films it had an overall great scene of spookiness to the atmosphere.
Overall, Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street is a great horror musical, It’s won many awards including best picture for a musical or comedy at this years Golden Globes and has received awards and nominations at other Hollywood award events. Jhonny Depp as always is great as well as the cast in this film. Tim Burton as always brings us yet another visually great movie that well worth buying or renting on DVD. It’s a must for all fans of horror.
The two disc special edition DVD includes has a lot of features on it including all the behind the scenes footage of the film from it’s conception to it’s rehearsals footage and music recording. The second disc has quite a few documentaries about the history of Sweeney Todd, and the musical, as well as many other features such as promotions for the film and more…
– Horror Bob
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- Interview with Director Stevan Mena (Malevolence) - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Screenwriter Jeffery Reddick (Day of the Dead 2007) - January 22, 2015
- Teleconference interview with Mick Garris (Masters of Horror) - January 22, 2015
- A Day at the Morgue with Corri English (Unrest) - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Writer/Director Nacho Cerda (The Abandoned, Aftermath) - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Actress Thora Birch (Dark Corners, The Hole, American Beauty) - January 22, 2015
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