Sweeney Todd is one weird ass movie. I’m always for innovation and breaking status quo, so I appreciate director Tim Burton’s efforts. The movie tries new and unique things. Sweeney Todd is a dramatic horror thriller about a demented barber attempting to enact revenge on a corrupt judge in London. And the movie is a musical.

The singing and prancing takes a little time to get comfortable with. Trying to ignore or tune out the singing is pointless; you won’t be able to follow the story. Its akin to watching a movie in a foreign language. It helps that the musical performances are quite good, even Johnny Depp’s singing.

Getting past the novelty aspect of the movie, the story was a nice surprise, with a captivating plot and well developed characters. The movie relies heavily on dreary colors to set the mood, almost with a film noir feel. The presentation of blood in Sweeney Todd is another artistic deviation.

Blood gushes down like a waterfall. The first time I saw the blood gush, I thought it looked fake and unrealistic. After watching several more scenes of gushing, I understood the reasoning for this style of blood gush. Since it doesn’t look realistic, it lessens the jittery and squeamish feel one might get watching horror films.

Score: B+