Sleepy Hollow (1999)

"Is he dead?"

"That's the problem. He was dead to begin with."

In 1799 New York City, Ichabod Crane (Depp) is a police constable trying to convince his peers to embrace new investigation techniques.  He is sent to the small town of Sleepy Hollow to investigate a series of murders.  The four victims were all decapitated and the heads were never found.

Ichabod is welcomed into the home of the wealthy Baltus Van Tassel (Gambon) and charmed by Baltus' daughter Katrina (Ricci).  The people of Sleepy Hollow claim the murderer is the legendary Headless Horseman.  The Horseman was a Hessian mercenary that liked to decapitate his victims.  He was finally killed a few miles outside of town years before, and is back from the dead to plague the town.  Ichabod is skeptical and believes the real culprit is flesh and blood.  The leaders of the town are not convinced and the death toll continues to rise.  Can Ichabod uncover the truth and save the town?


"The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" is a short story by Washington Irving that was published in 1820.  Irving's story takes place in 1790 and focuses on a superstitious teacher named Ichabod Crane.  The story is immensely popular and has been used in various TV shows and films.  My earliest memory of the story is from Disney's The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad, which offers an animated version of the story (paired with a retelling of "The Wind in the Willows").  Most recently it was turned into a TV show Sleepy Hollow for FOX in 2013.

The story is perfectly suited for director Tim Burton.  The screenplay, written by Andrew Kevin Walker and Tom Stoppard, uses Irving's legend as a starting point but isn't constricted by the original.  The characters are the same, along with some of the action... but as a whole, it is a new story.  The body count is high, along with the amount of blood.

From the opening moments, it is clearly a Burton film.  The cinematography, costumes, scenery, etc all work together to achieve his stylized vision.  They used a blue filter to control the colors on screen, which makes the blood prominent (according to IMDB.com, the blood was bright orange so that it would appear the correct color in the screen).  He envisioned the film as a homage to the classic horror films by Hammer Film Productions, Roger Corman, and Mario Bava.

The film is filled with Burton regulars.  Danny Elftman did the music.  Most of the cast appeared in other Burton films.  This was his third collaboration with Johnny Depp (after Edward Scissorhands and Ed Wood), who was his first choice for the role.  Together they breathe new life into the character of Ichabod.  The cameos are excellent, along with the reveal of the Horseman (who is brilliant).  Burton convinced Michael Gough (who also appeared in Hammer films) to come out of retirement for this film.

I didn't love the film the first time I saw it, but I think it gets better with time.  Each time I see new things that I didn't notice before, and I enjoy it a little more.

Sleepy Hollow (1999) 105 minutes
Rating: R for graphic horror violence and gore, and for a scene of sexuality
Director: Tim Burton
Starring: Johnny Depp as Ichabod Crane
Christina Ricci as Katrina Van Tassel
Marc Pickering as Young Masbath
Miranda Richardson as Lady Mary Van Tassel
Michael Gambon as Baltus Van Tassel
Casper Van Dien as Brom Van Brunt
Jeffrey Jones as Reverend Steenwyck
Richard Griffiths as Magistrate Samuel Philipse
Ian McDiarmid as Dr. Thomas Lancaster
Michael Gough as Notary James Hardenbrook