Sweeney Todd

It’s as though Tim took a quiet moment, sat down, and daydreamed his ideal film. “It will be Gothic”, he decided, “like Dickens’ London. But it will also be make-believe. That way I get to rub my actors’ faces in talcum powder. I like doing that.” He paused. “What else? It will be murderous, definitely murderous … and … yes! It will be a sing-along too”.

Sweeney Todd is everything Burton and his army of fans have ever wished for. The film is a cartoon-like adaptation of Steven Sondheim’s musical about a vengeful barber and his glistening razors. With Johnny Depp, pies made out of humans, a slimily sexual baddie and a budget that knows no limits, what more could a successful screwball director possibly desire?

The story is straightforward, which is thankful, since Burton has never been a master yarn weaver. Following years of unwarranted exile, Sweeney Todd returns to London in search of retribution. Judge Turpin (Alan Rickman) is the man he seeks, a wicked old fiend who banished Todd overseas before brazenly violating his wife. In the mean time, Todd isn’t too worried about slitting just about any old throat that happens to sit in his barber’s chair. Whilst there are a few interludes to keep things ticking over, Burton doesn’t waste too much time getting to the part he wants us to see. Namely Todd’s one-man homicide show.

Depp’s Todd looks like a cross between Charles Manson and Cruella De Ville, although Mrs. Lovett (Helena Bonham Carter), the hardy pie-maker downstairs, ensures that his victims are baked, rather than worn. Mrs Lovett totters around all grime and gorgeousness, turning Todd’s feverish spree into hard cash while playing Nancy to his Bill Sykes. The two make a grotesquely comic – and strangely endearing – pair, and it comes as quite a surprise that not only can both sing, but they can also sing together. Depp in particular equips himself ably; his voice has a gravelly rip that lashes out with perfect timing.

Of course, this is Tim Burton, so don’t expect a merry romp in the Austrian mountains. Todd doesn’t have any favourite things. His philosophy is simply that “everyone deserves to die” and he’s quite happy to help them on their way. Sweeney Todd may be a musical, but not in the traditional sense: it’s hard to imagine your mum hanging up the washing whilst singing “There’s a hole in the world like a great big pit / And it’s filled with people who are filled with shit”.

Tim Burton’s films have not always been bankers, and more than a few execs have found themselves losing money on his ventures into imaginative la-la land. However, there’s sound business sensibility behind Sweeney Todd. Just as with those suspect pies, the film may be made of horror and grotesquery, but most customers will come back hungry for more.

Article originally published in (the now sadly defunct) Death Ray Magazine.