Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street - 4K Blu-ray Review

[Michael Scott]

Sweeny Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street



Movie:
4K Video:
Video:
Audio:
Extras:
Final Score:


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Movie
And the suspense is over! Paramount’s Paramount Scares: Vol 1 is out as of today (or yesterday as I’m writing this near midnight of the 24th and it will probably be posted a few hours into the 25th) and the “mystery title” that they kept secret for all these months turns out to be Blu-ray fan favorite, Sweeney Todd. Now, I’m going to admit something pretty shameful. I’m a horror nerd to the core, and one of the first adopters of the Blu-ray/HD DVD formats back in 2007 (I got a player in December of 2007 if I remember correctly), and even purchased the Blu-ray of Sweeney Todd when it came out in 2008….only to sit on the title for the better part of 15 years, never once putting it in my player and watching it. For some reason other titles just got in the way. Or I wasn’t in the mood for a musical horror flick. Or I didn’t have friends who wanted to watch it with me (horror films are always better with company to get scared with too). Whatever the excuse was, the longer I went without seeing the film, the less and less I reminded myself that I actually needed to watch it. That is until Paramount sent the Paramount Scares boxset for me to review and I was confronted with the embarrassing fact that I STILL hadn’t watched the movie ever.

So, I’m going to go into this with a virgin watch, and remind myself just how on top of his game 2007 Tim Burton was. Calling back his go to actors (which were half the freaking cast of the Harry Potter movies, including his then wife Helena Bonham Carter) to lift the heavy weights, Burton tells the tale of one Benjamin Barker (Johnny Depp), who is coming back to London after spending 15 years in jail for a crime he didn’t commit. Turns out that his wife Lucy (Laura Michelle Kelly) was coveted by corrupt Judge Turpin (Alan Rickman), who framed Benjamin for a crime in order to get his lascivious hands upon poor Lucy. Benjamin comes into London looking for his bride, only to find harsh reality from the words of the local meat pie maker, Mrs. Lovett (who was a friend of Lucy back in the day). It turns out that after Benjamin was carted away, Lucy was assaulted at the hands of Judge Turpin, and summarily offed herself with arsenic due to the trauma. Their young daughter Johanna (Jayne Wisener) is now the ward of the “good Judge”, leaving poor Benjamin filled with nothing but his grief and rage.

Being that he’s nearly unrecognizable from his 15 year younger self, Benjamin renames himself Sweeney Todd, and sets up his barber shop above Mrs. Lovett’s Meat Pie shop (which are notoriously the worst in town) as the two plot revenge against the creepy judge. Sweeney decides that the only true justice is getting the judge into his barber’s chair for a shave, where the vengeful husband could give him a lethally “close” shave, if you know what I mean. But along the way there are countless villains and creeps around the city who are worthy of a nasty fate, and Sweeney soon starts “practicing” his throat cutting techniques on the lords of London, with Mrs. Lovett taking their remains and grinding them up to be used as meat for her meat pies (which suddenly elevates her to making the best tasting meat pies in the city.

There are several sub plots along the way, with a handsome young sailor that Sweeney sailed with into London who develops feelings for poor Johannna, and whom Sweeney and Mrs. Lovett take under their wing in a plan to break Johanna out from the Judge’s grasp (the whole thing feels very much like The Mask of Zorro. With a much older man coming back from prison to wreck vengeance on the official who sent him away and raised his daughter as his own. Only for the younger man to act as his “beard” and do the physical work to get close to said official). Mrs. Lovett takes in a young waif named Toby (Ed Sanders) who sees the darkness in Sweeney, but completely misses the evil in Mrs. Lovett. And of course Mrs. Lovett has her own secret motivations that even Sweeney doesn’t see coming.

I’ve got to say, I loved Sweeney Todd a lot more than I expected. I’m not always a fan of musical horror movies (Repo the Genetic Opera and Phantom of the Opera being exceptions), but this was done spectacularly well. Tim Burton uses his trademark Gothic overtones, mixed with greasy evil characters that you LOVE to despise, and made a compelling film that makes you both love and despise even the protagonists. It’s overly gory to the point of comic book levels, but everything is done with a wink and nod to the camera, while Johnny Depp prances around with dark eye shadow and heavy makeup as he slits throats left and right. My only complaints for the film stems from the fact that the last act leaves a little to be desired, especially the big scene where Mrs. Lovett and Sweeney are having their picnic and it goes into her imagination land. It completely breaks the mood of the film, giving it a much more modern vibe that just doesn’t feel organic. Other than that, the film is well made, and had a nasty bite to it. Alan Rickman absolutely dominates every scene that he’s in as the lascivious judge who has a crush on the daughter of the woman he basically murdered. He’s so repulsive and disgusting just in how he talks, walks and LOOKS at people. Alan was a master of playing intense characters, and here is no different. But Timothy Spall almost matches the man blow for blow as Judge Turpin’s greasy servant Beadle. Both of them are just so repulsive that when their deaths come even the most hardened horror fan will twist up a bit of a smile at their fate.




Rating:

Rated R for graphical bloody violence





4K Video: Video:

The new 2160p encode (most likely coming from a new master judging by some of the differences) absolutely blows the doors off the old 2007 VC-1 encode that was created during the beginning of the format war. The old VC-1 encode was considered a stunner back in the day, but it definitely looks a bit dated just comparing the two discs. The VC-1 encode was bit starved due to the size storage limitations of HD-DVD (which Paramount released on both formats) and the image has a slightly soft and waxy look that I just can’t unsee when directly A/Bing against the 4K UHD disc. The film is overly charcoal ash gray and mutes most of the colors, while allowing some stand out primary colors to pop as contrast (such as Sacha Baron Cohen’s bright blue jacket, or the overly blasted out colors of the masquerade party where Lucy gets assaulted). Skin tones tend to be dependent on the lighting, with some shots looking pale and ghost like (sometimes makeup induced), while bright daylight shots can give a more a more natural look. But with the ash grayscale type of grading it’s really iffy. The HDR looks incredible, with deep natural blacks that never crush or band, while pushing the saturation levels of those contrasting primary colors that pop in and out of the picture. It’s been so long since film was the STANDARD that I had almost forgotten how lovely a modern day 35 mm film could look. The image is wonderfully organize and grainy, but without being overly obtrusive or noticeable. It’s simply very textured and beautifully natural to the eyes. Except for a few issues with skin tones and a few soft shots in the shadows (such as in the basement) this is an IMMACULATE looking transfer.








Audio:

Instead of remixing for Atmos, Paramount has decided to simply port over the still excellent Dolby TrueHD 5.1 track from the 15 year old Blu-ray. Luckily the mix was no slouch back in the day, and it still holds up extremely well. Filled with heavy organ music, rich bass, and a wonderfully encompassing sound stage, the surround mix fills the entire room with the robust musical numbers, while still being quiet and soft enough for the whispered exchanges. I will admit that some of the accents had me hitting the subtitle button here and there, but that is not a fault of the mix, but rather my problem with old school English accents. Personally I would have liked a VERY slight boost to the center channel to compensate for that, otherwise this is a superb sounding mix.












Extras:

• Burton+Depp+Carter=Sweeney Todd
• Sweeney Todd Press Conference, November 2007
• Sweeney Todd Is Alive: The Real History of the Demon Barber
• Musical Mayhem: Sondheim's Sweeney Todd
• Sweeney's London
• The Making of Sweeney Todd, The Demon Barber of Fleet Street
• Grand Guignol: A Theatrical Tradition
• Designs for a Demon Barber
• A Bloody Business
• Moviefone Unscripted with Tim Burton and Johnny Depp
• The Razor's Refrain
• Photo Gallery
• Theatrical Trailer

Final Score: ​

Sweeney Todd was a nice little addition to the Paramount Scares: Vol 1 boxset, and the disc is quite the looker too. Easily on par with the 4K UHD of Sleepy Hollow, and even includes the old 2008 disc instead of making it a single disc release (I can’t understand the rhyme or reason for what films contain the Blu-ray to make a combo pack, and which ones get an Atmos upgrade vs. simply porting across the Blu-ray audio). Being that this is ONLY available in the box set, unlike the other 4 films which have individual releases) our “Buy it On Amazon” link will go directly to the boxset. My recommendation is that it’s a solid film, and offers a great new transfer that easily outclasses the old VC-1 encode of the original Blu-ray. Recommended as a great watch.


Technical Specifications:

Starring: Johnny Depp, Helena Bonham Carter, Alan Rickman, Timothy Spall, Sacha Baron Cohen, Jamie Campbell Bower, Laura Michelle Kelly, Jayne Wisener
Directed by: Tim Burton
Written by: John Logan, Hugh Wheeler, Christopher Bond
Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1 HEVC
Audio: English: Dolby TrueHD 5.1, English DVS 5.1
Subtitles: English SDH
Studio: Paramount Pictures
Rated: R
Runtime: 116 minutes
Blu-Ray Release Date: October 24th, 2023

Recommendation: Great Watch.