At first, it seems that the Horseman may actually be a local hotshot, Brom Van Brunt (Casper Van Dien), in costume, but Ichabod soon learns that there are more things in heaven and earth than are dreamt of in his philosophy. Ichabod initially scoffs at the idea of a supernatural being, claiming that science can explain any odd features about the deaths and modern detective methods will lead him to the killer. The men and women of Sleepy Hollow are convinced that they are being haunted by the demonic spirit of a dead Hessian trooper who was slain in the Western Woods - a place into which no sane person will venture.Įnter Ichabod Crane (Johnny Depp), a constable sent by a judge in New York City to solve the murders. Other equally grizzly deaths follow, and, in all cases, the killer takes the victim's head with him. A coach carrying the wealthiest man in the district (Martin Landau, in a cameo for Burton, the man who directed him to an Oscar in Ed Wood) is set upon by a mysterious, headless rider, who, with a slash of his sword, deprives Sleepy Hollow of its most prominent citizen. The year is 1799, and the setting is a misty road near the small upstate New York hamlet of Sleepy Hollow. Sleepy Hollow opens with a creepy sequence of great promise. And, while "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" is too brief to fill out a full-length feature film without significant padding, this version (credited to screenwriter Andrew Kevin Walker) does a great disservice to its source material. Since then, I don't think I have read the story of Ichabod Crane and the Headless Horseman, but the particulars are lodged in my brain, and, while Burton draws upon many of them (especially character names and general situations), he primarily uses Irving's story as a jumping-off point. When I was about eight years old, I became enthralled by Washington Irving's story, "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow." In a one month span (around Halloween), I devoured the tale six or seven times. Regardless of how many eerie, fog-shrouded forest sequences, gruesome decapitations, and gorgeous matte paintings Burton offers us, Sleepy Hollow's look cannot obfuscate its numerous, glaring weaknesses. The film suffers from tepid performances, feebly drawn characters, and a meandering narrative. Unfortunately, those aspects are its lone strengths. Tim Burton's Sleepy Hollow is as stylish and atmospheric as any motion picture to arrive in theaters this year.
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