Sleepy Hollow review

Hello everyone and welcome to my blog. For those who know me you know about my love for horror films so once a month I’m going to review and discuss a scary flick. We’ll look at the classics, some new films, and I want your suggestions on what I should review. I’ll do my best to cover all the different genres within the genre – slashers, ghosts, monsters, etc.

SPOILER ALERT! – These will be reviews so if you haven’t seen the movie you’ll want to watch it first before you read this. Let’s do this.

SLEEPY HOLLOW

Well, It’s October, which is the greatest month of the year. Since it is that glorious month I plan on making a few entries for you fine people – stay tuned for those when we get to Halloween – but to start let’s talk about Sleepy Hollow. Now, if you’re like me when you think of Sleepy Hollow you think of the Disney cartoon.  The Disney version is probably my favorite cartoon of all time and I watch it every Halloween. Yes, I own the DVD. It’s such a great little story and it has it’s spooky moments. Anyway when I found out that a new update of Sleepy Hollow was going to hit theaters I was pumped. It’s without a doubt my favorite American folktale. I’ve probably read it at least two dozen times. This version of the film opened in November of 1999 and I was even more excited when I found out it was directed by Tim Burton. If you had to make a modern day version of the story I think he’s your choice. Beetlejuice is classic, A Nightmare Before Christmas was so original, and his take on Batman is my pick over The Dark Knight films any day.

So besides the cartoon, there never was a great live action adaptation of Washington Irving’s story. We’ll mention the made for TV piece starring Jeff Goldblum but nothing substantial. Finally, Tim Burton to the rescue and overall I think it’s great. It’s very much his movie and it checks almost every box not only for his fans, but for fans of the story. Very gothic and surreal but with plenty of humor. It has a great fairy tale atmosphere and that’s really the key. Set designers created the village of Sleepy Hollow from scratch, and it’s so spooky. It’s so dark. It’s so foreboding. It’s perfect. We fall in love with it when we see it for the first time when Ichabod Crane arrives. As he walks down the dusty street a woman shuts a window as if to say you don’t belong here. The sets are everything in this movie. From the little village itself to the Van Tassel estate at the party, the giant windmill, and who could forget the western woods – which is a haunted place where brave men do not venture. Or at least that’s what the townspeople tell us. Johnny Depp who is Burton’s go to guy, plays the role of Ichabod Crane. A different character though than what we have read in Irving’s novel. In the film Crane is a police constable sent to Sleepy Hollow to investigate the murders of numerous unfortunate individuals who have had their heads cut off. Crane believes in science and believes he will find the killer – none of this Headless Horseman nonsense. Well, until he actually comes face to face with him. Christopher Walken plays the horseman who was a German Hessian soldier decapitated by a cannonball. He plays a great evil character without ever actually speaking a word. I very much enjoyed the backstory of the horseman. The rest of the cast does a great job. Christina Ricci as Katrina Van Tassel, Miranda Richardson is excellent as Lady Mary Van Tassel, plenty of old schoolers like Ian McDiarmid, Michael Gough, and Jeffrey Jones, and a great cameo from Christopher Lee as the Burgomaster.

While this film doesn’t follow Irving’s tale exactly, it does well on it’s own. Hey as long as the Headless Horseman is in the story I’m cool with that. Crane eventually finds out that Lady Van Tassel possess the skull of the horseman and therefore has control over him. She has him commit the murders as revenge for the Van Garrett family, which has ruined her family’s lives. In the end, Crane gets the skull and returns it to horseman who then rides off with Lady Van Tassel into the Tree of the Dead back to hell. I think my only issue with the film is the ending. We see that Crane, Katrina, and Young Masbeth are all happily living in New York City. All is well as the horseman has been vanquished. Boo. In the story, Crane is chased down by the horseman and is never seen again. I guess I’m just not a fan of happy endings in scary movies.

The ending not withstanding, the film is excellent and reviews were mostly positive. It’s one of those movies that you can be sure to find on any movie channel come early October. The fairytale atmosphere and the supernatural reign supreme in this movie. The first time we see the horseman make a kill is pretty exciting and man, do I love the opening credits sequence. Gorgeous shots of the eerie, spooky woods laden with fog as we hear the great score from Danny Elfman. Burton likes to work with people he is familiar with and made that good choice again using Depp and Elfman.  Great effects in the film too, especially when the heads spin after the horseman chops them off.

If you haven’t already, you should absolutely read Washington Irving’s story and you’ve got to watch the Disney cartoon. Now, since I love the story so much, I finally made a visit to Sleepy Hollow years ago. Yes it’s real and it’s in New York. About an hour north of the city. It’s amazing and they are all about the legend there. The street signs are orange and black and the high school’s mascot is the horseman. I went in October of course and it was wonderful. You can visit the Old Dutch Church which is in the story, visit Washington Irving’s grave, and enjoy a ton of great Halloween themed events. Give it a try one day - https://hudsonvalley.org/

So it took way too long for us to get a great adaptation of “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” but it was worth the wait. Spooky, mysterious, and funny. I’ll quickly mention the TV series of the same name that was on FOX years ago. It started off promising but just went way overboard as the seasons went on. The film however is certainly a must see during Halloween time.

Enjoy the trailer - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dDThtjvIp8w