he Christmas season is one of the peak financial periods for Hollywood. The studios stock the public’s stockings with care, ensuring that there are big budget movies available to gather as much loose Christmas change as possible. Just in time for the holiday season, Paramount Pictures have decided to release a movie about a sadistic barber who murders his clients so that a business associate can bake the corpses into pies and serve them to the public. And as if that concept weren’t subversive enough, the actors sing most of their dialogue. Could there be a more perfect film thanSweeney Todd to share with your family during the holidays? This is the kind of dark, twisted Hollywood blockbuster that could only emerge from the imagination of Tim Burton.

Burton has long been an anomaly in Hollywood. He’s a unique and stylish director who makes films that are incredibly personal, yet commercially successful. At least, he was until he released a series of titles (Planet Of The Apes, Big Fish, Charlie And The Chocolate Factory) that lacked the edge and creative storytelling that defined his early work. It briefly seemed as though he had burned himself out and lost whatever it was that made his voice special. Fortunately, Sweeney Todd has puts any doubts to rest and firmly re-establishes Burton as one of the strangest directors of his generation.

Burton connects perfectly with the material and deftly balances the musical and horrific elements with the skill of a master.

Johnny Depp stars as the title character, who returns to London following decades of false imprisonment. After finding lodging with the owner of the worst pie shop in town, Mrs. Lovett (played by Burton’s wife Helena Bonham Carter), Sweeney begins his quest for revenge against the evil Judge Turpin (the incomparable Alan Rickman) who framed him and stole his wife and daughter. Posing as a barber, Todd begins slitting the throats of all of his customers, working his way up the judge, while Mrs. Lovett disposes of the bodies in her suddenly popular pies. It’s hardly a conventional plot for a musical, but with master composer/lyricist Steven Sondheim (A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To The Forum, Into The Woods) in charge, it works perfectly.

The horror/musical is nothing new— even the original stage production ofSweeney Todd was in the 70s—but the subgenre is normally comedic, with movies such asThe Rocky Horror Picture Show exploiting the contrast between the two elements for laughs. Sweeney Todd is an operatic tragedy told almost exclusively through song. It’s a risky venture and one that seems even less suited to film than the stage. But surprisingly, Burton and co. have succeeded admirably with the project. The actors give fantastic performances despite the fact that almost all their dialogue is sung.

Johnny Depp is at his dark and brooding best in the lead role, managing to garner audience sympathy while still remaining frightening and intimidating throughout. Helena Bonham Carter adopts a funky cockney accent and gives a wonderfully warm and funny performance as Mrs. Lovett. Alan Rickman is perfect as the evil judge, walking his patented fine line between pure evil and Britishness. While Borat himself, Sacha Baron Cohen, steals a few scenes in a hilarious turn as Depp’s competition: a flamboyantly Italian barber. The only weak links in the cast, and indeed the movie itself, are Jayne Wisener and Jamie Campbell Bowler who play Sweeney’s daughter and her love interest respectively. Their characters are meant to be the lone representations of pure good in an otherwise dark world, but sadly come off as irritatingly perfect and uninteresting. Fortunately they aren’t the focus of the movie, so they do little harm overall.

Simply put, Sweeney Todd is a triumph for Tim Burton. The original play is so dark and bizarre that it could have easily could have failed with even a slight tonal shift. Fortunately, Burton connects perfectly with the material and deftly balances the musical and horrific elements with the skill of a master. The movie is remarkably faithful to the play (with the exception of a few deleted songs), yet still retains Burton's distinct directorial stamp. The gothic design, visual playfulness, and eccentric characters are vintage Burton and Sweeney Todd easily ranks amongst the filmmaker’s best work. It’s also one of the best movies of the year. Though not a conventional Christmas film by any means, this is certainly the finest release of the holiday weekend. If nothing else, Sweeney Todd is sure to be the only movie you will ever see with brilliant musical sequences punctuated by graphic throat-slashings.