Salutations, traveler of The Internets! Welcome to William's Bloody Hell, so named after our founder, Sir Bloody William.
He is seen in the likeness above in a rare, 19th century woodcut. This
image was rumoured to have been
commissioned after a bout of unpleasantness
in the White Chapel district of London. Do enjoy your stay and peruse our many, varied offerings, much of which cannot be found elsewhere!
Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street
by William the Bloody
It's the mid-1800s in London and Benjamin Barker is returning to his home town after being sent away for 15 years on a trumped up charge he didn't even commit. All those years ago you see, Ben had a beautiful wife and a baby daughter, but a lecherous judge had eyes for his beauteous wife and would have her for his own by any means necessary. Ben is rescued and brought home by a nice young sailor named Anthony, but Ben lies about himself and tells him his name is Sweeney Todd and if Anthony should ever wish to visit, he would be setting up a barber shop on Fleet Street. Ben has aged and hopes no one will recognize him under his new guise as Sweeney, and meets with the widow who has a meat pie shop below his old salon. She tells him of the fate of his lovely wife at the hands of the judge (after he has his way with her, she poisons herself) and that his daughter Johanna is the judge's ward. Sweeney is driven mad with rage, and the widow agrees to rent the room upstairs to him, knowing who he really is and what his plans for vengeance are. After a rival barber recognizes him and threatens blackmail, Sweeney murders him, and while he and the widow Lovett try to decide the best way to dispose of the remains, she has a brainstorm. Her business has been down, and meat is rather costly, when one can even come by it, so why not.... Yes, Mrs. Lovett's World Famous Meat Pies are a new hit, just don't ask her about the secret ingredient! But even all of this daily bloodletting cannot sate Sweeney's thirst for revenge on the wicked judge who wronged him, but how to get him into Sweeney's barber chair of death?
The Good: This was the first time I had ever seen any rendition of Sweeney Todd, and I went into it knowing only the bare basics about it: blah, blah barber, blah blah evil judge, blah blah revenge, murder and meat pies in a musical. I didn't know any of the songs, or specifics involved. That being said, I was pleasantly surprised by how dark, yet somehow funny this film turned out to be. Yes, I knew it was about killing people and serving them to the public in pies, and yet it was even darker than I imagined, but in a good way. Now, I would like to say that this was the absolute perfect Broadway musical for Tim Burton to adapt and direct for the big screen. The last couple of Burton films I saw were more than a little disappointing, but this was Burton back where he belongs with the overly macabre yet a little fun. Everything is over the top and accentuated, but for a grim musical, it really fits. The cast was great and they all did their singing well. I was kind of wary about Depp, but he pulled it off nicely. Oh, and Alan Rickman as the evil judge... SINGING. You cannot miss that. Depp and Rickman do this great duet which I just loved. One of my favourite parts in the movie is Mrs. Lovett's song about her fantasy where she and Sweeney have a romantic future together. Depp's acting in that sequence is utterly HILARIOUS.
The Bad: I was shocked at the on-screen violence/blood in this movie at first. When that initial throat slicing took place, I wasn't really expecting it to be as in-your-face as it was, but once I realized that this film was "going there", the others weren't so bad and I was used to it. I didn't know any of the songs going into this, and I was a little disappointed that there weren't really any stand out numbers. I mean, the songs weren't bad by any means, it's just I wasn't really singing any to myself on the way home or anything. I suppose one or two more viewings and I might have a few down, but with a musical you should really want at least one song to stick.
In the end, this movie pretty much had me right at the opening strains of score during the company logos, with its loud and luscious pipe organs. It kept me amused and entertained throughout with its dark themes, blood, and pretty music. I just wish some of the songs were a tad more catchy.
A-
