The Tale of Sweeney Todd

1998 "The Original Serial Killer!"
6.1| 1h32m| en
Details

The fictional tale of the murderous 19th century barber (Ben Kinglsey) who sold his kills to a neighboring butcher (Joanna Lumley) for her renowned meat pies. A young innocent (Selina Boyack) and the dashing inspector (Campbell Scott) who tries to solve the murders are also thrown into the mix.

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Reviews

Bardlerx Strictly average movie
Organnall Too much about the plot just didn't add up, the writing was bad, some of the scenes were cringey and awkward,
Senteur As somebody who had not heard any of this before, it became a curious phenomenon to sit and watch a film and slowly have the realities begin to click into place.
Lucia Ayala It's simply great fun, a winsome film and an occasionally over-the-top luxury fantasy that never flags.
GL84 A series of mysterious disappearances leads an American inspector in England to a charismatic barber and his helper who bake his victims into pies for the locals and try to stop their deadly game before it's too late.A somewhat decent effort of the story, which manages some good stuff here and there to make it interesting at least. The fact that there's several interesting and fairly entertaining mysteries built up that cross pollinate each other gives this one a pretty quick pace, with the mysterious murders leading him down one path, while the fact that he needs information from a previous victim to carry out his task which intersects with the vanished helpers from their shops, and overall this whole segment is quite good. There's even a grand finale that includes the Gothic trope of burning-down-the-location as well, as several of the preparation of the victim scenes get quite bloody, but this one does have some flaws. With several romantic subplots present, it doesn't offer up a lot of time on horror-specific subplots so this one doesn't really get up there in dealing out a body count, and overall this one has more of a period/drama feel rather than an out-and-out horror film so it misses a lot of chances to deliver some gruesome shocks. These lower it enough, but it's still pretty enjoyable.Rated R: Language, Graphic Violence and Brief Nudity.
capkronos Deranged wig-maker/barber/dentist/doctor (whew!) Sweeney Todd (Ben Kingsley) kills rich Londoners and keeps an abused, mute, pale orphan around as a slave. A hideous-looking, rotten-toothed Joanna Lumley (from the "Absolutely Fabulous" TV series) is his lover and partner in crime, who uses the dead bodies in her famous meat pies. A very bland Campbell Scott is the "American gentleman" trying to clear up a debt and instead stumbles onto the operation. It's all a grim, unpleasant, talky new version of the famous tale that could have used some more comedy, but just barely skims by on some good performances, gore and, especially, excellent costumes and sets that accurately capture rich 19th Century London atmosphere (although it was actually filmed in Dublin, Ireland). The original movie version (SWEENEY TODD, THE DEMON BARBER OF FLEET STREET, starring Tod Slaughter) of George Dibdin-Pitt's stage play came out in 1936 and was followed by the popular Stephen Sondheim musical and many inferior Z movie copies from the likes of Herschell Gordon Lewis and Andy Milligan. This one was backed by the Showtime cable network and there's nothing much to gain from watching it.
Royalcourtier I suppose I should not be too harsh, since this is an American TV movie, and neither a quality British product nor a feature film. But Sweeney Todd was ultimately a disappointment.On the plus side, the film was enthusiastic about the cannibalism and murder at the heart of the story. These subjects certainly weren't skirted around. Nor were the central characters made into heroes. There was never any doubt that the villainous Mr Todd and his butcher accomplice would pay for their crimes. There was only a faint echo of the modern idea that a criminal is the product of society, and that Todd's crimes were the product of a negligent military. But this was only hinted at.The major problem was lack of authenticity and a period feel. The Irish street scenes were physically right for early nineteenth century London, but the people were wrong. They were exaggerated characters, caricatures. Everything over over-acted, over directed, over-blown! Basically the director tried too hard to create a period feel.A good effort, but not good enough. A waste of acting talent
BurtonRaimi I bought this movie for 5 bucks at a pawn shop.. I wasted my cash! From the looks of the box I was expecting a little gore..I guess I was expecting a horror movie. Nowhere near it. The goriest thing was a "lady of the night" with rotten teeth...watching Ben Kingsley kiss her made me feel ill. Not to mention that this movie just dragged..I thought it would never end... Can't believe I passed up Plan Night from Outer Space for this!