Set in 18th century London, this new film about the most notorious barber who ever practised his trade is a dark and enthralling tale of love, obsession, murder and, ultimately, redemption.
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Sweeney Todd is set in the harsh streets of London in 1765, where life is not for the faint-hearted and only the fittest survive.
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Living in the shadow of Newgate Prison, Sweeney Todd tries to carve out a quiet and simple life as a barber.
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Then one day his life takes on a whole new meaning. A chance encounter with Mrs Lovett, a local pie maker, leaves the shy and unassuming barber besotted.
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Later, at a time of need, Mrs Lovett turns to Sweeney for help. He shows her nothing but kindness and compassion and she begins to see Sweeney in a new light. It seems they are destined to fall in love.
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But as a former child inmate at the infamous Newgate prison, Sweeney suffered terrible wrongs during his incarceration.
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Then, by chance, the sadistic gaoler who made his early life a living hell comes to his shop for a shave. Sweeney is repelled by the presence of his former abuser and takes revenge by slitting his throat with his razor.
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Initially appalled by what he has done, Sweeney waits for the law to catch him out. But apart from an enquiry about the missing gaoler by Bow Street Runner Matthew Payne, life returns to normal.
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After Sweeney's drunken father re-enters his life, Sweeney feels the urge to kill again.
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He seems on the verge of becoming a serial killer but his burgeoning relationship with Mrs Lovett pulls him back from the brink.
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Sweeney hopes that she will bring him the love, solace and salvation he craves.
Harbouring these hopes, Sweeney installs Mrs Lovett in the shop next to his, which she turns into a pie shop.
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One night, she makes a pass at him, and though he tries to respond, he is impotent.
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Shamed and angry, he starts to kill again, but this time it is the lovers that Mrs Lovett takes to her bed.
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Now, murder alone no longer gratifies him – in an even greater act of revenge, he carves up the dead bodies and gives her the meat to serve in her pies.
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When Mrs Lovett falls gravely ill with the pox, Sweeney lovingly nurses his dear friend but confesses his terrible secret to her.
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She is appalled but after she recovers her health, though not her looks, the pair forge a complex and destructive relationship and customers begin to disappear with alarming regularity.
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Can Matthew Payne, the upstanding Bow Street Runner, who owes his life to Sweeney, save the barber from his inner demons?
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But perhaps the only way for Sweeney to stop his terrible acts of revenge is to get caught – and the story reaches its final, dramatic conclusion.
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