35 Years Later, Tim Burton’s Greatest Love Story Is Officially on Streaming

Published Nov 14, 2026, 1:00 PM EST

35 years ago, Tim Burton delivered one of his quintessential films. After directing Batman and finding box-office success, he had a blank check for his next project. He made one of his most personal stories, one that he’d been dreaming of for years: a Gothic fairy tale and one of the strangest films to enter the mainstream. Edward Scissorhands came out in 1990 and has since become one of Burton’s staple movies. It’s also a timeless love story.

Burton’s most personal story

Image: 20th Century Studios

Despite how much I love it, this movie has a pretty weird concept: Caroline Thompson, the film’s screenwriter and one of Burton’s key collaborators, described Burton’s pitch as “the stupidest idea I’d ever heard of.” It marked their first collaboration, with Burton sharing that the idea of an artificial man with scissors for hands came from one of his high school drawings.

Thompson had written a book about a monster fetus, which Burton was a fan of, feeling like it had similar themes to his own work. And despite the silly premise, Thompson understood Burton’s idea and why it was so effective. “I knew it was brilliant,” she said. “It was just so clean and so stark in its meaning.”

Edward Scissorhands begins with a framing device. An elderly lady tells her granddaughter the story of why it snows on Christmas. We enter the fairy tale itself, set in a Gothic castle atop a hill, where we meet the Inventor (Vincent Price), an aging man who lives alone amidst his creations. His most impressive invention is an artificial young man he names Edward (Johnny Depp). Before he can finish Edward, though, the Inventor dies, leaving Edward with scissors as placeholders for his hands.

Years later, Peg (Dianne Wiest), a kind Avon lady, visits the castle, intent on finding a new customer. She meets Edward, and when she sees his loneliness, she offers him a place to stay. Edward makes a positive impression on his neighbors. Despite his terrifying appearance, he uses his hands for good: keeping their neighbors’ yards perfectly cut and making stunning topiary creations. He moves on to hair, applying this same care to the suburban moms of the area. He also falls in love with Kim (Winona Ryder), Peg’s daughter.

Burton and Thompson have a perfect grasp of tone in Edward Scissorhands, one they’ve returned to in films like The Nightmare Before Christmas and Corpse Bride. It’s a film full of whimsy, with a pastel color palette that allows for its darker, Gothic elements to stand out, whether it’s Edward himself or the revulsion he inspires in the town because he’s not normal.

Edward Scissorhands feels like a film that was fully formed in Burton’s head years before production began. The role of the Inventor was written for Price, a horror icon, known for his work in films like House of Wax and The Fly. The casting of Winona Ryder also works because of her off-screen persona. Kim is a blonde cheerleader, a stark contrast to Ryder’s status as the ‘80s goth queen. That duality is what makes the character work. It makes sense for this version of Kim to be attracted to the sweet Gothic outcast rather than her loud all-American boyfriend Jim (Anthony Michael Hall). Kim ends up being a Winona Ryder character; we just meet her right before she gets there.

Dancing in the snow

Image: 20th Century Studios

Edward and Kim’s relationship is the heart of the film, though they start on opposite ends. Edward is in love with her from the beginning, longingly looking at a photo of her before she’s even introduced. Kim hates that there’s a weird stranger in her house and takes advantage of his innocence and the fact that he seems to like her so much. After Edward takes the blame for a break-in she talked him into, Kim finally sees him. In the film’s most famous scene, Edward carves an ice statue of her for Christmas, with Kim dancing amid the snow shavings. It’s the high point of their relationship but also its end. The town pursues Edward shortly after until they run him back to the castle where he came from.

The film ends with the reveal that the grandmother from the start is Kim. Despite all the years that have passed, it snows every Christmas, making it clear that Edward is still up on the hill, carving the ice. Like the best love stories, the fact that it's incomplete is what makes it memorable. The fairy tale stays perfectly preserved.

Edward Scissorhands is streaming on Disney