MIT Lecture Series Committee

Rated R
116 minutes

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Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (2007)

Stephen Sondheim's award-winning musical thriller comes to the big screen in this adaptation directed by Tim Burton and starring Johnny Depp, Helena Bonham Carter, Sacha Baron Cohen, Timothy Spall, and Alan Rickman. Embittered at having been wrongly imprisoned and determined to seek vengeance against his accusers due to the grim fate that befell his wife and daughter while he was incarcerated, ex-convict Sweeny Todd (Depp) returns to his hometown and opens a modest barber shop. The one thing different about Todd's shop, however, is that no one who walks in for a trim is ever seen again. Subsequently branded "The Demon Barber of Fleet Street" by the frightened community, Todd continues with his murderous exploits with a little assistance from his amorous accomplice Mrs. Lovett (Bonham Carter) - whose popular meat pies are proven to have a most unsavory ingredient. [www.allmovie.com]

Sweeney Todd is a thriller-diller from start to finish: scary, monstrously funny and melodically thrilling. And Depp is simply stupendous.
      -- Peter Travers, Rolling Stone. Read this review.

2007 Academy Award Nominations: Best Actor (Johnny Depp), Best Art Direction (WIN!), Best Costume Design