Johnny Depp proves a cut aboven at premiere of 'Sweeney Todd'

(ASSOSIATED PRESS)

Hollywood's most rock 'n' roll movie star, Johnny Depp, flew into London to wow the crowds at last night's premiere of Tim Burton's latest Gothic creation, Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street.

Depp, 44, stars as the fictional 19th-century serial killer alongside Helena Bonham Carter, who was also in Leicester Square for the premiere last night.

Burton's latest blood-splattered offering, a screen version of Stephen Sondheim's popular musical, is almost entirely sung and is the sixth time the Californian director has worked with Depp. The two have built up a firm friendship over nearly 20 years of making films together, which have included edward Scissorhands, Sleepy Hollow and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory

Part of the reason for their successful partnerships is that they both have a love of the Gothic and the macabre. Critics in the US have compared Sweeney Todd favourably with Sleepy Hollow, Burton's 1999 homage to the American legend of the headless horseman, in which Depp starred as the detective Ichabod Crane.

Depp's role as the merciless Sweeney Todd is the second time the star has acted in a film about serial killers in 19th-century London. In 2001 he was in Albert Hughes's Jack the Ripper horror From Hell

Sweeney Todd has already notched up four Golden Globe nominations and is tipped for Oscar glory.