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The pickin’s are a tad slim when it comes to horror, science-fiction, and fantasy titles released on home video this week, but quality more then compensates for quantity - and a little variety doesn’t hurt, either. There’s a musical-comedy-horror film, a computer-generated anime sci-fi adventure, some talking-singing chipmunks, an ersatz superhero movie based on an old [...]

Most viewers no doubt realize that the recent Oscar-winning film, SWEENEY TODD: THE DEMON BARBER OF FLEET STREET, is based on a stage musical by Stephen Sondheim, but they might be surprised to learn that the Sweeney Todd story predates the musical by over a century. It has been adapted to stage and screen many times, [...]

SWEENEY TODD: THE DEMON BARBER OF FLEET STREET made a faster-than-deserved exist from U.S. theatres, but the film is doing well in overseas markets.
Horror musical “Sweeney Todd” slaughtered the competition in its U.K. and Gallic openings, and the Coen brothers’ violent thriller “No Country for Old Men” also did solid Euro trade powered by its French [...]

Due to the grace of God and the writers’ strike, the Golden Globe awards show was canceled this year, but that did not stop the Hollywood Foreign Press from handing out their little statues (which Jay Leon calls “Golden Globules”). Personally, I cannot take seriously an organization that awards the Best Motion Picture Drama Designation [...]

HorrorMovies.ca has a brief interview snippet with director Tim Burton discussing SWEENEY TODD, specifically whether a bloody horror musical is likely to be a box office hit:
Well you know it’s always a risk. I remember when I first saw the show in London back when I was still a student. I didn’t know anything about [...]

In response to the SWEENEY TODD trailer, Lewis Lazar of the Chicago Sun-Times works himself up into a state of righteous indignation over the alleged “bait-and-switch” strategy of the marketing campaign:
From what we know about the movie from its marketing strategy to date and from a small body of critics and VIPs who have seen [...]

I recently watched John Brahm’s Hangover Square,  a film I have long wanted to see, mostly due to hearing it’s superb score and piano concerto by Bernard Herrmann.  Thanks to the beautiful new Fox DVD set of three John Brahm films, which also includes The Lodger (with music by Hugo Friedhofer) and The Undying Monster (with music [...]

Variety reports that the National Board of Review has named Tim Burton ”Best Director” for his film adaptation of the gothic musical SWEENEY TODD: THE DEMON BARBER OF FLEET STREET. The NBR, comprised of film educators and other industry professionals not part of the studio system, puts out its annual Top Ten list each December. While the Western NO COUNTRY [...]

Got a sneak peak at SWEENEY TODD on Tuesday, and it is absolutely fantastic – one of the best things Tim Burton has ever directed! The film was not finished (the closingcredits were missing, and the sound mix will be tweaked over the next five weeks), but barring ratings problems, this appears to be the final cut [...]

At the Venice Film Festival, where he received a Golden Lion for lifetime achievement, director Tim Burton unveiled an eight-minute sneak of SWEENEY TODD. Variety’s Nick Vivarelli liked what he saw:
The clips, in sharp desaturated color, consisted largely of a key scene in the Stephen Sondheim musical in which Todd, played by Johnny Depp, is handed [...]

Variety reports that DreamWorks and Paramount have re-thought their distribution strategy for SWEENEY TODD, the film version of the hit musical. The original plan was to roll the film out slowly starting with a platform release on December 21 in order to qualify for the Academy Awards, the widen the release on January 11. The [...]

Where would we be without all the gore-hound websites shrieking louder than Marion Crane taking a shower at the Bates Motel every time they think a few less drops of precious blood may be shed in order to secure a PG-13 rating? Well, we would be without confused editorializing like this:
Apparently, Tim Burton went blood-simple [...]