Sleepy Hollow is a horror fantasy film directed by Tim Burton, based on The Legend Of Sleepy Hollow by Washington Irving. We follow Ichabod Crane (Johnny Depp), a New York police constable who is sent out to the small village of Sleepy Hollow to investigate a series of murders.
I remember watching this a lot when I was younger, it was my go-to horror film, especially on Halloween, for a long time. However, I recently rewatched it and saw it entirely differently then I did when I was younger and am now left thinking how much of my remembered enjoyment is the fabled rose-tinted glasses.
I still enjoyed some of the horror elements of the film, such as Ichabod’s tragic back story and the flashbacks involving his mother, as well as the headless horseman as a character. I find the fact that said horseman is silent for most of the film makes him more scary and you have to use your imagination. Having Christopher Walken play him when he does have a head is a masterstroke as he fits the role so well, stuffing it with malice and fear.
The acting is all fairly solid, Christina Ricci and Johnny Deep basically play similar characters to what they normally do, so your enjoyment of their performances will come down to how you find them in other roles.
My big complaint with the film that I didn’t previously notice is the tone; in that it is all over the place. Despite claiming not to be, this feels very much like family friendly horror, the darker elements are counter balanced with these oddly comedic moments and the two clash horribly as you would imagine.
Overall, it is still good when it is being scary, but the odd ball humour really ruins it as a whole.
Pros.
The headless horseman
Christopher Walken
The gore and so genuine malice
Cons.
The main performances from Depp and Ricci are just them playing characters that they have played before again and claiming it is new.
The humour really hurts any kind of tension
3/5
Reviewed by Luke
Another Millennial Reviewer 