Sweeny Todd was (probably) nothing more than a Victorian era Boogey Man

I scratched another Saturn Award winner for Best Horror Movie off of my list on Wednesday and this time it was the 2007 winner, “Sweeny Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street.”

This film was released in December 2007 and was directed by Tim Burton. The movie starred a number of famous actors, including Johnny Depp, Helena Bonham Carter, Alan Rickman and Sacha Baron Cohen (aka “Borat”).

For those of you who’ve never seen this movie, it’s set in Victorian era London and centers on Sweeny Todd, an expert barber who is falsely imprisoned, so that a corrupt judge can get his hands on his young, beautiful wife. Todd returns to London after 15 years and sets up a barbershop above the bakery of a Mrs. Nellie Lovett. Later, Todd begins to exact his revenge on London by killing his barbershop patrons with a straight razor. Lovett, acting as his accomplice, helps dispose of the bodies by grinding them up and baking what’s left in meat pies.

This film is actually an adaptation of the 1979 musical by Stephen Sondheim and Hugh Wheeler. (I usually don’t like musicals because, to me, films in which the characters break out into song is just way too unrealistic to me.) The movie was a financial success, pulling in gross revenues of $152.5 million against a budget of $50 million.

In addition to a Saturn Award, the movie was also nominated for three Oscars and received four Golden Globe nominations. Depp was also named Best Villain at the 2008 MTV Movie Awards.

The question that always seems to come up about Sweeny Todd concerns whether or not Todd was actually a real person. The short answer is no.

Sweeny Todd is a fictional character, who first appeared in the serialized “penny dreadful” story, “The String of Pearls,” in 1846-1847. Most experts agree that the legend of Sweeny Todd grew out of much older urban legends in England and France. Apparently, there was a common urban legend circulating in rural communities during this time about a big city barber who robbed his customers, slit their throats and disposed of the bodies by having them cooked into meat pies by an accomplice baker in the same neighborhood.

Despite extensive research into the origins of Sweeny Todd, no proof of his actual existence has ever been uncovered, which leads most experts to believe that he’s nothing more than a Victorian era boogey man.

In the end, I enjoyed rewatching “Sweeny Todd,” mostly because I enjoy Tim Burton and Johnny Depp movies. Have any of you seen “Sweeny Todd”? What did you think about it? Let us know in the comments section below.