Horror Movie Month: Sweeney Todd

Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street is a 2007 movie (based on the 1979 musical by Stephen Sondheim) directed by Tim Burton and starring Johnny Depp, Helena Bonham Carter, Alan Rickman, Timothy Spall, Sacha Baron Cohen, and Jayne Wisener. In nineteenth century London, barber Sweeney Todd (Johnny Depp) murders his customers, then sends them through a trapdoor into a meat pie shop, where Nellie Lovett (Helena Bonham Carter) bakes them into pies.

I love musicals, and Sweeney Todd is dark and twisted, so it was right up my alley. I liked the songs, and all of the actors gave wonderful performances...and even though Sweeney Todd is a murderer, I thought he was a likeable and sympathetic character. Pee-wee's Big Adventure is still my favorite Tim Burton movie, but Sweeney Todd is a close second.

My rating: 8/10

Horror Movie Month: A Nightmare on Elm Street

A Nightmare on Elm Street is a 1984 movie directed by Wes Craven and starring Robert Englund, Heather Langenkamp, John Saxon, Johnny Depp, Ronee Blakley, Amanda Wyss, and Nick Corri. In Springfield, Ohio, teenagers are stalked in their dreams by Freddy Krueger (Robert Englund), a serial killer who has burns all over his face. His weapon of choice is a glove with razors attached to it, and if he kills someone in their dreams, they die in real life too.

I haven't seen many of the movies in this franchise (just this one, Wes Craven's New Nightmare, and Freddy vs. Jason), but I really liked the first movie in the series. The idea of someone being able to kill you in your dreams is a cool and scary concept, and the deaths were pretty creative (Johnny Depp in particular got an epic death scene in his film debut).

My rating: 8/10

Followed by:

A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy's Revenge
A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors
A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master
A Nightmare on Elm Street 5: The Dream Child
Freddy's Dead: The Final Nightmare
Wes Craven's New Nightmare
Freddy vs. Jason
A Nightmare on Elm Street (2010 remake)