Common Sense Note
Parents need to know that this feature-film version of Stephen Sondheim's Tony-winning 1979 Broadway show isn't as family friendly as most musicals (and star Johnny Depp definitely isn't in Pirates of the Caribbean mode). In fact, there's enough blood in this dark story to rival a slasher flick. There are dozens of throat slittings, cannibalism (via pies made out of human meat), and -- it can't be said often enough -- pints and pints of blood spattered everywhere. And if that's not enough, a woman is raped, a girl is wrongfully committed to an institution, and a young boy drinks gin, helps dupe people, and murders someone.
Sexual
Content
Sweeney and Mrs. Lovett hug and, in a dream sequence, kiss.
Violence
Sweeney slits many, many customers' throats with his razors. Blood is frequently shown gushing out like a geyser and often covers Sweeney. A woman is sexually assaulted at a masquerade ball; someone is burned alive in an oven; a young man is beaten with a walking stick. Human meat and bones are ground into beef for savory pies. A group of girls in an asylum assault their keeper. The judge sentences a boy to hang.
Language
Songs and dialogue contain some curse words, including "s--t" and "f--k."
Social
Behavior
Sweeney decides the world is full of amoral vermin; when he can't enact revenge on the specific people who ruined his life, he kills all of his customers, whose bodies are then used to make Mrs. Lovett's meat pies.
Consumerism
Not applicable
Drugs / Tobacco /
Alcohol
A young boy drinks a lot of gin, as do Sweeney and Mrs. Lovett.
