Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (2007)
Movie · 2007 · Drama, Horror · 1h 56m · R · English
Curator score: 5.8/10 (900.5K ratings)
Never Forget. Never Forgive.
Overview
The infamous story of Benjamin Barker, a.k.a Sweeney Todd, who sets up a barber shop down in London which is the basis for a sinister partnership with his fellow tenant, Mrs. Lovett. Based on the hit Broadway musical.
Ratings
Curator score: 5.8/10
IMDb: 7.3/10
Letterboxd: 3.53/5
Rotten Tomatoes: 86%
Metacritic: 83
TMDB: 7.2/10
Director
Tim Burton
Production
DreamWorks Pictures, Warner Bros. Pictures, The Zanuck Company, Dombey Street Productions, Parkes+MacDonald Production
Cast
Johnny Depp, Helena Bonham Carter, Alan Rickman, Timothy Spall, Sacha Baron Cohen, Jamie Campbell Bower, Laura Michelle Kelly, Jayne Wisener, Ed Sanders, Gracie May Weldon, Ava May, Jody Halse, Aron Paramor, Lee Whitlock, Nick Haverson, Mandy Holliday, Colin Higgins, John Paton, Graham Bohea, Daniel Lusardi
Curator Review
Verdict
A stylishly macabre musical revenge story with strong production design, memorable songs, and a gleefully grim sense of humor. It works best if you want gothic melodrama and theatrical excess more than realism or emotional subtlety.
Best for
fans of dark musicals
viewers who like gothic horror with camp
Tim Burton enthusiasts
people who enjoy revenge stories
audiences open to stylized violence and black comedy
Skip if
you dislike singing in films
you want grounded historical realism
you prefer warmth or emotional restraint
graphic bloodletting and corpse humor put you off
Overview
Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street is a lavishly miserable pleasure: a revenge tale turned into a blood-soaked operetta, all soot, steel, and funeral-gray London streets. The film leans hard into its theatrical roots, using music not to soften the horror but to sharpen it, making every murder, lie, and obsession feel grandly doomed.
Worth noting
Its strengths are atmosphere and commitment. The production design is beautifully decayed, the pacing is brisk for a stage adaptation, and the tone lands somewhere between tragic and wickedly funny. Johnny Depp and Helena Bonham Carter play the material with a deadpan, feverish intensity that suits the story’s grotesque rhythm.
Bottom line
It is not a film for viewers who want naturalism or vocal polish above all else. But if you enjoy gothic melodrama, revenge narratives, and a director pushing a musical into horror territory, it delivers a distinct and memorable experience.
Top Letterboxd reviews
jalene!!! (3.5★) · 5937 likes
i love a good harry potter reunion film
Patrick (4.5★) · 5392 likes
The biggest plot twist in this film was that kids wig
Vivian (4★) · 4919 likes
popping pussies into pies
David Sims (3★) · 2981 likes
IT WAS-A DA POPE!
anika (1.5★) · 2381 likes
this isnt even fictional british people just be like that