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Sweeney Todd: Demon Barber of Fleet Street | 2007 | R | - 4.10.3

Johnny Depp stars as the eponymous 19th century London barber, who returns to Fleet Street from jail, after being falsely accused and convicted by a lecherous judge (Alan Rickman). Obsessed with avenging himself, he sets up shop and uses his razors to dispatch his patrons, whose bodies his neighbor (Helena Bonham Carter) uses as the main ingredient for her meat pies. Also with Sacha Baron Cohen and Timothy Spall. Directed by Tim Burton. [1:57]

SEX/NUDITY 4 - A young woman appears to have had too much alcohol, a man approaches her and it is implied that he rapes her while many other people stand around watching (we hear her scream as he moves toward her and see the people looking on with delight).
 Women wear low-cut dresses that reveal deep cleavage in many scenes.
 A man kisses a woman. A woman kisses a man on the cheek.
 An older man announces that he plans to marry his young ward. Two men talk about pretty women in a few scenes. A woman tells a man that she has feelings for him and later that she loves him.
 A young man sees a young woman through a window and appears to be smitten. A man looks at a young woman and a song suggests the man lusts after her.

VIOLENCE/GORE 10 - A man stabs a man in the throat several times, blood spurts (we see small slits and blood), the man gasps and his throat is then slit (more blood sprays and spurts).
 A man opens a trunk from where a severely injured man is trying to get out, and then slits his throat slowly (blood spurts and sprays, the man gurgles and collapses back into he trunk).
 A man slits the throats of many men in many scenes, slowly pulling the blade from ear to ear, and blood spurts and sprays; then the chair they are in is tipped backward, a hatch in the floor opens and they fall through to the floor below (we see them strike the floor with their necks bending or their head cracking on the ground and we hear a crunch and more blood spurts).
 A man slashes a woman's throat (we see the slit and blood pours out of the wound) and she falls through a hatch in the floor to the ground below.
 A woman is pushed into a large oven, she screams and thrashes, and we see her engulfed in flames (her hair is burned away and we see her flesh begin to burn).
 A man's throat is slashed, blood pours from the wound, it spills onto the face of a dead woman and pools on the floor.
 A mortally wounded man grabs the skirt of a woman, she screams, "Just die" and he falls back dead.
 A man beats another man on the head repeatedly with a pitcher, and the man falls to the floor and blood pools under him.
 A boy sees a pile of human skeletons (covered with blood) on the floor and human body parts in a grinder (he pulls out a hand and we see teeth). A boy sees a dead body fall through a hatch in the ceiling, and it crashes to the floor striking its head and splattering blood (we hear a crunch). We see a dead woman with a bloody slit in her throat several times. A man covered with blood from a messy murder hears something in a trunk, opens it and finds someone hiding inside; he pulls her out and threatens to cut her throat. A boy eating a meat pie pulls a human finger out of his mouth.
 A young woman appears to have had too much alcohol, a man approaches her and it is implied that he rapes her while many other people stand around watching (we hear her scream as he moves toward her and see the people looking on with delight).
 A young man is thrown onto a street by a man who then strikes him in the head and then twice on the back with a stick (we see the young man with a bloody nose and mouth) and then throws a knapsack that hits him in the head.
 We see a hand sticking out from a large trunk, a boy sits on the trunk, a finger twitches and a man is nervous that the boy will notice there's a man inside the trunk.
 A man is struck hard on the head by police with nightsticks, he stumbles back and is dragged away by two officers as his wife and infant child look on in fear. A young man with a gun threatens a man.
 We see many people locked in dark cells in an asylum and a man who walks into a cell with many women in it is attacked by them (they move toward him in a crowd, he cowers against the wall and screams and the scene ends).
 We see meat being ground and extruded in strands (we hear crunching and slurping and see blood pour on the floor and into the sewer). Thick clouds and rain drops of blood accompany the opening credits (blood seeps and pours and collects), and dark red strings of ground meat are pushed out of a meat grinder, and pies are baked and ooze red liquid.
 A man holds a straight razor to a woman's throat. A man threatens a young woman and another man moves toward her with violent intent (we hear her scream and see her being forced into a carriage).
 A man threatens and blackmails a man. A judge sentences a young boy (he's 8-10 years old) to death by hanging because of repeated offenses. A man yells at a woman to leave in several scenes. A man yells at a young man and a boy in a few scenes.
 We hear that a woman poisoned herself with arsenic. A boy tells a woman that there are demons all around them and that he will protect her. A man and a woman talk about making meat pies by using humans for the meat. A man talks about his straight razors being his friends and that they will help him find his revenge. A woman talks about another woman making pies using cat flesh. A boy talks about having spent time in the workhouse, where the conditions were brutal. A man talks about the cruelty of mankind. A man and a woman talk about men from different stations in life and how they might "taste" if made into a pie.
 A man takes a bite from a pie, spits it out and gags, he looks down and sees a bug crawling out. Bugs run around on a filthy counter top where a woman makes meat pies, in a few scenes. A man has blood on his hands and shirtsleeves in several scenes. Rats skitter around on dark streets where a man walks, and a man and a woman search for a boy in a sewer where rats scamper at their feet.
 A woman opens a trunk and is alarmed to find a dead body (we don't see the body, just her reaction). A man shaves a man's face and neck and makes gestures as if he is going to slit his throat (we hear the blade scraping on his skin but he is not cut). A man seems fearful and says he "feels ghosts all around him."
 People throughout the movie appear dirty and unkempt, and one woman who appears to live on the street has sores around her mouth and on her face.

LANGUAGE 3 - 4 scatological terms, 4 mild obscenities.

SUBSTANCE USE - We see several men sitting in stupor, and there's smoke in the air, in what could be an opium den. A boy drinks alcohol in several scenes and in one scene he drinks enough to pass out on the floor, a man drinks alcohol, people drink ale in a restaurant in a few scenes, and people dance and drink alcohol at a party. A man snorts snuff and sneezes.

DISCUSSION TOPICS - Love, beauty, lechery, false accusations, blackmail, murder, betrayal, sins, desperation, revenge, mischief, heartbreak, forced labor, hard times, survival, shaving.

MESSAGE - Revenge is not always the answer to pain. 19th century London was an awful place.

CAVEATS

Be aware that while we do our best to avoid spoilers it is impossible to disguise all details and some may reveal crucial plot elements.

We've gone through several editorial changes since we started covering films in 1992 and older reviews are not as complete & accurate as recent ones; we plan to revisit and correct older reviews as resources and time permits.

Our ratings and reviews are based on the theatrically-released versions of films; on video there are often Unrated, Special, Director's Cut or Extended versions, (usually accurately labelled but sometimes mislabeled) released that contain additional content, which we did not review.


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