Hot Picks

- Ready for My Close Up 2019

- Talk of the Dead 2016

- Script of the Dead 2024

- The Bell Affair 2023

- Easter Bloody Easter 2024

- Velma 2022

- Everwinter Night 2023

- Main Character Energy 2023

- Stupid Games 2024

- Bittertooth 2023

- 4 Minutes of Terror: Night Slasher 2024

- Apart 2024

- The Abandoned 2006

- Becky 2024

- The Evil Fairy Queen 2024

- The Black Guelph 2022

- Followers 2024

- Silence of the Prey 2024

- Battle for the Western Front 2024

- Beware the Boogeyman 2024

- Subject 101 2022

- Driftwood 2023

- The Legend of Lake Hollow 2024

- Black Mass 2023

- Skinwalkers: American Werewolves 2 2023

- The Manifestation 2024

- Spirit Riser 2024

- Garden of Souls 2019

- It's a Wonderful Slice 2024

- Caleb & Sarah 2024

- The Thousand Steps 2020

- The Desiring 2021

- When a Stranger Knocks 2024

- Quint-essentially Irish 2024

- Son of Gacy 2024

- Saltville 2024

- The True Story of the Christ's Return 2024

- Whenever I'm Alone with You 2023

- Jurassic Triangle 2024

- Midnight Peepshow 2022

- Offworld: Alien Planet 2024

- The Swiss Conspiracy 1976

- Sex-Positive 2024

- Here for Blood 2022

- All Over Again 2024

- The Color Yellow 2023

- Des Töchterleins Leid 2024

- I Am a Channel 2024

- The Hermits 2023

- Murdaritaville 2024

- Inheritance 2024

- The Devil's Partner 1960

- Pareidolia 2023

- First Impressions Can Kill 2017

- A Killer Conversation 2014

- Star Crash 1979

- Strangler of the Swamp 1946

Sweeney Todd, The Demon Barber of Fleet Street

USA/UK 2008
produced by
John Logan, Laurie MacDonald, Walter F. Parkes, Richard D. Zanuck, Patrick McCormick (executive) for the Zanuck Company/DreamWorks, Warner Brothers
directed by Tim Burton
starring Johnny Depp, Helena Bonham Carter, Alan Rickman, Timothy Spall, Sacha Baron Cohen, Jamie Campbell Bower, Laura Michelle Kelly, Jayne Wisener, Ed Sanders, Gracie May, Ava May, Gabrielle Freeman, Jody Halse, Aron Paramor, Lee Whitlock, Nick Haverson, Mandy Holliday, Colin Higgins, John Paton, Graham Bohea, Daniel Lusardi, Ian McLarnon, Phill Woodfine, Toby Hefferman, Charlotte Child, Kira Woolman, David McKail, Philip Philmar, Gemma Grey, Sue Maund, Emma Hewitt, Buck Holland, Peter Mountain, Harry Taylor
screenplay by John Logan, based on the musical by Stephen Sondheim & Hugh Wheeler, adaptation by Christopher Bond, music by Stephen Sondheim, special effects by Escape Studios, visual effects by Visual Effects Company, Moving Picture Company (MPC)

Sweeney Todd

review by
Mike Haberfelner

Quick Links

Abbott & Costello

The Addams Family

Alice in Wonderland

Arsène Lupin

Batman

Bigfoot

Black Emanuelle

Bomba the Jungle Boy

Bowery Boys

Bulldog Drummond

Captain America

Charlie Chan

Cinderella

Deerslayer

Dick Tracy

Dr. Mabuse

Dr. Orloff

Doctor Who

Dracula

Edgar Wallace made in Germany

Elizabeth Bathory

Emmanuelle

Fantomas

Flash Gordon

Frankenstein

Frankie & Annette Beach Party movies

Freddy Krueger

Fu Manchu

Fuzzy

Gamera

Godzilla

Hercules

El Hombre Lobo

Incredible Hulk

Jack the Ripper

James Bond

Jekyll and Hyde

Jerry Cotton

Jungle Jim

Justine

Kekko Kamen

King Kong

Laurel and Hardy

Lemmy Caution

Lobo

Lone Wolf and Cub

Lupin III

Maciste

Marx Brothers

Miss Marple

Mr. Moto

Mister Wong

Mothra

The Munsters

Nick Carter

OSS 117

Phantom of the Opera

Philip Marlowe

Philo Vance

Quatermass

Robin Hood

The Saint

Santa Claus

El Santo

Schoolgirl Report

The Shadow

Sherlock Holmes

Spider-Man

Star Trek

Sukeban Deka

Superman

Tarzan

Three Mesquiteers

Three Musketeers

Three Stooges

Three Supermen

Winnetou

Wizard of Oz

Wolf Man

Wonder Woman

Yojimbo

Zatoichi

Zorro

Available on DVD!

To buy, click on link(s) below and help keep this site afloat (commissions earned)

Always make sure of DVD-compatibility!!!


Years ago, barber Sweeney Todd (Johnny Depp) has fled Britain, being accused  of a crime he didn't commit, while Judge Turpin (Alan Rickman), the very man responsible for his escape, took in Todd's naive wife and child, taking full advantage of the situation. Now Todd is back, and sets up a barber shop on top of Mrs Lovett's (Helena Bonham Carter) meatshop, which sells the worst meatpies in town, and Todd plans to have his revenge on Turpin, as well as freeing his daughter Joanna (Jane Wisener), who has become the judge's ward, from his clutches. But after his first attempt to kill the judge fails, Todd goes a bit mad and decides to from now on kill his customers by slitting their throats, and let Mrs Lovett to have the dead bodies to turn them into meatpies - and with human flesh inside, Mrs Lovett's meatpies become a hit after all.

Thing is, Mrs Lovett's little helper Toby (Edd Sanders) - whom she freed from the clutches of Todd's cruel rival barber Pirelli (Sacha Baron Cohen), Todd's first victim - eventually becomes suspicious of Todd's business practices and tries to warn Mrs Lovett, not knowing that she's his accomplice and also madly in love with Todd ...

Meanwhile, Todd has deviced a plan to free Joanna with the help of sailor Anthony (Jamie Campbell Bower), who's madly in love with her, and lure the judge to his barber shop to kill him. Joanna is freed alright, and the judge gets his just desserts, but from now on everything goes downhill: Todd kills a beggar woman (Laura Michelle Kelly) who has become a witness, only to then recognize her as his wife the judge stole all those years ago. When Todd then learns that Mrs Lovett knew about that he also kills her by throwing her into her own incinerator. Todd also almost kills his own Joanna without recognizing her, and in the end, he himself is killed by young Toby, avenging Mrs Lovett's death ...

 


I have to admit, initially I had little hopes for the film, not at least because I am a fan of Tod Slaughter's Sweeney Todd from 1936, think that Johnny Depp looks too young for the role, and don't see much of an potential to turn the source material as it is into a musical. Bearing all that in mind, I was rather pleasently surprised by the movie: The musical aspects of the musical are rather downplayed and there are no dance routines, Depp doesn't try to imitate Slaughter but gives a powerful performance that even outbalances his deficits as a singer, director Tim Burton relies on the gothic and Grand Guignol aspects of the story rather than musical kitsch, and the key actors (including a self-consciously campy performance by Sacha Baron Cohen) are all great. Thing is, they are all no great singers - which might actually help the movie inasmuch as it tones down the schmaltzier musical numbers.

Now I wouldn't say this is a masterpiece, but surprisingly, Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street turns out to be a rather good film.

 

review © by Mike Haberfelner

 

Feeling lucky?
Want to
search
any of my partnershops yourself
for more, better results?
(commissions earned)

The links below
will take you
just there!!!

Find Sweeney Todd, The Demon Barber of Fleet Street
at the amazons ...

USA  amazon.com

Great Britain (a.k.a. the United Kingdom)  amazon.co.uk

Germany (East AND West)  amazon.de

Looking for imports?
Find Sweeney Todd, The Demon Barber of Fleet Street here ...

Thailand  eThaiCD.com
Your shop for all things Thai

Something naughty?
(Must be over 18 to go there!)

x-rated  find Sweeney Todd, The Demon Barber of Fleet Street at adultvideouniverse.com


Thanks for watching !!!

 

 

In times of uncertainty of a possible zombie outbreak, a woman has to decide between two men - only one of them's one of the undead.

 

There's No Such Thing as Zombies
starring
Luana Ribeira, Rudy Barrow and Rami Hilmi
special appearances by
Debra Lamb and Lynn Lowry

 

directed by
Eddie Bammeke

written by
Michael Haberfelner

produced by
Michael Haberfelner, Luana Ribeira and Eddie Bammeke

 

now streaming at

Amazon

Amazon UK

Vimeo

 

 

 

Robots and rats,
demons and potholes,
cuddly toys and
shopping mall Santas,
love and death and everything in between,
Tales to Chill
Your Bones to

is all of that.

 

Tales to Chill
Your Bones to
-
a collection of short stories and mini-plays
ranging from the horrific to the darkly humourous,
from the post-apocalyptic
to the weirdly romantic,
tales that will give you a chill and maybe a chuckle, all thought up by
the twisted mind of
screenwriter and film reviewer
Michael Haberfelner.

 

Tales to Chill
Your Bones to

the new anthology by
Michael Haberfelner

 

Out now from
Amazon!!!