I know, I know, eventually I will watch a real horror movie. In my defense, some pretty horrifying stuff happens in this movie. Burton does his best gore, maybe ever. Even in Sleepy Hollow, what with the beheadings and all, he didn't reach the giddy levels of violence on display in Sweeney Todd.
For those who missed it, this is a musical horror movie in which a barber (Johnny Depp) returns from a false imprisonment to find his wife has been raped and driven to suicide. Meanwhile, her attacker (the same corrupt judge- Alan Rickman- that had our "hero" locked away) is raising his daughter as his ward, in hopes of boffing her as well. The barber takes the name Sweeney Todd to hide his identity and plans to slit the throat of the judge as soon as he can get him on his barber's chair. Pretty straightforward? Not quite. Joanna (Todd's daughter) is planning to run off with a sailor who helped Todd return to London. Todd befriends Mrs. Lovett (Helena Bonham Carter), who is hopelessly devoted to helping her man get his revenge...and maybe make some money on the side. Also, there is the judge's right hand man, a crazy homeless woman, a street urchin and a famous Italian barber who all play big parts in the unfolding craziness.
There are many revelations throughout that keep the story humming along. Lots of information is imparted through song. Most of the songs are so wicked and chock full of black comedy that they don't grate on the nerves of non-musical fans. To be honest, there are a few songs (between the sailor and Joanna) that are just a little too cutesy to stomach but they are few and far between. Burton does a great job on this one (never once letting the audience off the hook in regards to the brutality of Todd's actions). He plays with expectations and creates casual tension in some scenes (as opposed to movies like Munich, which work very hard to create tension) using the forward momentum of the plot and audience knowledge of genre cliches to carry us through.
In short, I enjoyed this far more than I thought I would. I am not the world's biggest musical fan but I was impressed with how well this turned out. Watch this space for more horror movies.
Josh
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