Post by Rob W. Case on Jan 5, 2008 3:58:57 GMT -6
What would run through your mind if someone talked to you about a musical about a barber? No doubt, some of you would be turned off by such an idea. But what if someone talked to you about a musical about a barber, and oh, yes, it’s a bloody horror type movie too. You may probably think, “man, what’s this guy on?”
Sweeney Todd, the Demon Barber of Fleet Street is a film I would identify as being very dark, but one I have to admit is a film I would call a “guilty pleasure.”
Director Tim Burton offers the British Broadway production, in his dark, and gloomy vision about a barber named Benjamin Barker who, after being separated from his wife for 15 years (due to the evil judge Turpin, who had him imprisoned), comes back to Fleet Street under the name Sweeney Todd. With a heavy and darkened heart, Sweeney Todd repeatedly chants to himself, “There’s a hole in the world like a great black pit and it’s filled with people who are filled with sh*t and the vermin of the world inhabit it.” If things couldn’t get any worse for him, he is told that his wife committed suicide, and that his daughter is confined within Judge Turpin’s house. As Todd seeks revenge on Judge Turpin for stealing his life away and “creating” the monster that he is now, he befriends Mrs. Lovett, a woman who sells meat pies. Along the journey, they come across a boy named Toby who ends up working for Mrs. Lovett. With Sweeney’s thirst for revenge getting worse, he begins to kill everyone who goes to his barber shop by slitting their throats and sending their bodies down a trap door he constructed with his barber’s chair and a trap door, which leads to the basement, where Mrs. Lovett cooks them, processes them, and sells them as meat pies.
The storyline is very dark, I know, but the message is interesting. With his growing contempt for human life, Sweeney Todd’s thirst for revenge catches up to him in ways you cannot imagine, which provides an unexpected twist that is sure a surprise if you are not familiar with the play or story anyway.
The music is extraordinary. It prompted me to go out and buy the soundtrack. The music has the integrity of elegant British theatre, yet its visuals have the characteristics of a horror movie from hell. What a combination! Of course my like for this story came in my sophomore year in high school, when I took a course in stage crafts, and my teacher showed us the 1982 Broadway version with Angela Lansbury as Mrs. Lovett and George Hearn as Sweeney. The songs were interesting to me then, and the songs in this new production are even more interesting to me now.
Of course, if you have a weak stomach, you may not want to see this movie. The movie is rated R for graphic violence and gore, and it runs for 120 minutes.
For further information about this film, visit it's official website:
www.sweeneytoddmovie.com/
Sweeney Todd, the Demon Barber of Fleet Street is a film I would identify as being very dark, but one I have to admit is a film I would call a “guilty pleasure.”
Director Tim Burton offers the British Broadway production, in his dark, and gloomy vision about a barber named Benjamin Barker who, after being separated from his wife for 15 years (due to the evil judge Turpin, who had him imprisoned), comes back to Fleet Street under the name Sweeney Todd. With a heavy and darkened heart, Sweeney Todd repeatedly chants to himself, “There’s a hole in the world like a great black pit and it’s filled with people who are filled with sh*t and the vermin of the world inhabit it.” If things couldn’t get any worse for him, he is told that his wife committed suicide, and that his daughter is confined within Judge Turpin’s house. As Todd seeks revenge on Judge Turpin for stealing his life away and “creating” the monster that he is now, he befriends Mrs. Lovett, a woman who sells meat pies. Along the journey, they come across a boy named Toby who ends up working for Mrs. Lovett. With Sweeney’s thirst for revenge getting worse, he begins to kill everyone who goes to his barber shop by slitting their throats and sending their bodies down a trap door he constructed with his barber’s chair and a trap door, which leads to the basement, where Mrs. Lovett cooks them, processes them, and sells them as meat pies.
The storyline is very dark, I know, but the message is interesting. With his growing contempt for human life, Sweeney Todd’s thirst for revenge catches up to him in ways you cannot imagine, which provides an unexpected twist that is sure a surprise if you are not familiar with the play or story anyway.
The music is extraordinary. It prompted me to go out and buy the soundtrack. The music has the integrity of elegant British theatre, yet its visuals have the characteristics of a horror movie from hell. What a combination! Of course my like for this story came in my sophomore year in high school, when I took a course in stage crafts, and my teacher showed us the 1982 Broadway version with Angela Lansbury as Mrs. Lovett and George Hearn as Sweeney. The songs were interesting to me then, and the songs in this new production are even more interesting to me now.
Of course, if you have a weak stomach, you may not want to see this movie. The movie is rated R for graphic violence and gore, and it runs for 120 minutes.
For further information about this film, visit it's official website:
www.sweeneytoddmovie.com/