What a bloody business

RE “Wrestling Demons,” by Adam Baer, Dec. 18: “Sweeney Todd” producer Richard D. Zanuck chortles, “There’s a lot of blood, but Sweeney doesn’t cut throats in the traditional way. The blood splatters all over the place. . . . But the whole thing is obviously tongue-in-cheek.” Well, obviously -- as are all the dismissive remarks producers inevitably make ad infinitum when they condone their film’s graphic killing, rape, torture, etc.

Let’s face it, producers feature increasingly graphic blood, murder and brutality to make money. But what does it say about a society that pays to sit in the dark to eat popcorn and view a film of “cinemagrotesquerie style, full of viscous slashes of blood” by a serial killer who slices (tongue-in-cheek?) throats?

John Holmsrom

Hollywood

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FOR a blood-saturated musical “based on a 19th century legend of a serial killer who slices throats” to be called a “Sondheim masterpiece” is sick, perverse, ghoulish and tastelessly subjective, offering no redeeming social value and serving merely to generate profit for its demented producers. Just what this country needs: more slice-and-dice gore for gore’s sake. Next up could be a G-rated romp featuring Jeffrey Dahmer’s favorite recipes, or an insider’s template on how to present your very own Columbine or Virginia Tech massacre.

Ed Golden

Northridge