disgusting and without merit:do not see this mess.

Rating: 1/10 (24 August 2008)

If a movie is based on a true story, I give leniency to the content of course as long as the rating is accurate, but this one of course being fictional is just ridiculously over the top gruesome.
I realize, as some have noted, that the blood is SO Hollywood , that it does descend into a a 'D rated movie effects budget' scenario, but still not even the brilliant acting of Depp and his cohort can pull off such a disgusting display of violence.
I enjoyed the first half hour or so of the movie or so, as while it was clear the character was disturbed for reasons of sad injustice done to him, it does in no way defend the gratuitous use of violence and blood when its clear more impact ( and done in a way to allow it to retain a PG rating , and get more of a poignant point across ) from a musical point of view could have been achieved, along with the movies amazing use of mood.
I really wanted to give a rating of at least 2, but even given a outstanding amount of acting in this film, I feel it was wasted 100% on nothing more than appealing to people who either want to scare their girlfriends, themselves or just sick people in general.
Alfred Hitchcock did amazing things with the birds, and while it did yes contain some shocking scenes, it was at least within the realm of possibilities, while this film makes a point to avoid rationality and just go purely for the shock value to try to appeal as noted before, to a certain audience; shame on burton and depp.
It's definitely not worth buying, but if you don't mind renting it and wasting $8~ ( for a movie thats only worth the first half hour or so ) that is fine as its a decent movie right up until the gratuitous slashing starts.