A gruesome story, not for the faint of heart, but Depp is a joy to watch.

Rating: Null/10 (4 May 2008)

Johnny Depp is Sweeney Todd, the demon barber of Fleet Street. But he didn't start out that way. In fact he was a young, naive man with a pretty wife and a very young daughter. But something happened to destroy his whole world in Olde London, and that is the catalyst for the story told here.
Helena Bonham Carter is Mrs. Lovett who owns the bake shop below Sweeney's barber shop. Things are tough, good meat is hard to get and expensive for her meat pies, so we find her struggling. It turns out that she and Sweeney are made for each other.
Good old, versatile Alan Rickman is Judge Turpin, who doesn't always have the best interests of the law in mind. His trusty sidekick is Timothy Spall as Beadle.
It is hard to say what audience this movie is for. My wife had no interest in seeing it, but I enjoyed it for the performances and the production values. There is lots of blood and gore, but much of it in a whimsical manner.
It is fairly well known that most of the actors, including Depp and Bonhan Carter, had never sung before in any official capacity (singing in the shower doesn't count!). The DVD has a very interesting 25 minute extra which in part discusses the process. I found Depp to have an outstanding stage singing style, but listening to Bonham Carter was not so pleasant.
SPOILERS: The dishonest judge admired the young wife and had Sweeney arrested and put out to sea to die. The movie opens with him coming back to London after perhaps 15 to 18 years, with revenge on his mind. His plan was simple, to get the judge into his barber chair and slit his throat. But things didn't work out that way, the evil judge had Sweeney's now almost grown daughter held captive in his home. But Sweeney really turned demonic when someone recognized him and tried to blackmail him. That forced a killing that sparked a new enterprise. He would slit throats so that Mrs Lovett would have an ample supply of fresh meat for her pies. And they were a big hit with customers. But eventually both Sweney and Mrs Lovett met their own deaths.