Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (2007) Review
If Sleepy Hollow was a test flight to see if Mr. Burton could fly a rocket ship to the moon in terms of bringing classic Hammer horror back then Sweeney Todd was him legitimately shooting for the moon. It’s not that he missed so much as he almost died once he hit the surface. To put it plainly this might be one of the few, (if not one and only) horror musicals that is worth taking seriously for the post-torture porn generation. It’s certainly gotten to the point people have as far as analyzed the music enough to detect segments of classic pieces in it (specifically the “Dies Irae” as it is called). For these reasons alone is why this was not only Mr. Burton’s last good horror film but probably his last good film alone (given what he did to Dark Shadows). The simple aesthetic reminded me of what I would have to call Sin City turning into Watchmen. This in terms of serving as much an expensive period piece that brings a different look on even London than we’re used to as a story that one can tell destroyed Mr. Burton’s comfort zone to the point he’s most likely still recovering to this day. It’s really good, it just (still) leaves you wondering if Mr. Burton will ever be able to make something at least this elaborately again.