I will have vengeance...

A few quick words on the subject of Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street.

We caught this on the preview weekend, and I have to say that my previous reservations were unfounded. Whilst not the biggest fan of musicals, I have to say that Tim Burton's 'Bava with ballads' as he described it is an absolute joy.

I was concerned about the much-maligned "Sing-talking", but I soon got used to it. Aside from a couple of numbers involving the secondary cast that I
felt fell a little flat, the songs are very impressive and serve to lighten what is an extremely dark tale. All these factors are a given for any viewer who has performed even the most scant amount of research before watching the film. I lost count of the number of people who fled for the doors when it became clear that spoken dialogue wasn't going make much of an appearance, and for those unfortunates I have no sympathy. Do your research people...

What was quite interesting was that there seemed to be no walkouts on account of the bloodletting - and make no mistake, this film is bloody. Not since the likes of Switchblade Romance has the red stuff flowed in such abundance in a mainstream multiplex. Once again, any criticism of the levels of gore on display beggars belief - when a film's main plot points include murder (in particularly nasty fashion via a straight razor) and cannibalism, it's safe to say you can expect a certain level of unpleasantness. As a seasoned horror fan, even I was taken aback by the first kill.

Now the film has been left to settle for a few days, the effectiveness of Burton's latest has become apparent. The smog and grit of old London is captured beautifully, so much so that you can almost smell it. Burton's trademark ghoulish humour is also in full effect, particularly in a slaughter montage set to a jaunty melody.

In all a fine addition to Burton's body of work and a return to form.

Now, I think I might go and get me a nice meat pie...