Sleepy Hollow

"Their heads weren't found severed. Their heads were not found at all." - Reverend Steenwyck

release year: 1999
genre: horror/drama
viewing setting: home Bluray 2/3/22 and theater 1/1/00 and 11/27/99

synopsis: Young constable Ichabod Crane ventures to the small town of Sleepy Hollow to investigate murders supposedly committed by a headless horseman.

impressions: I hadn't seen this in two decades (!) but we decided to give it a go. It's aged well, and was quite entertaining, with a consistently spooky atmosphere. Its sole flaw (and this isn't a major one, plus it's just my opinion) was a bit too much human involvement in the Horseman's motivations and actions. Still, I got what I wanted: scary music playing while spooky scenery flashed by as heads rolled fairly often.

horseman body count: 8 decapitations

acting: Johnny Depp does a pretty good job as the aloof, ever-questioning Ichabod. Christina Ricci is his romantic interest, who's also competent and can take care of herself. Casper Van Dien is a brash, brave punk who sees Ichabod as competition. There are a number of older actors here, some of them great names in horror films of the past: Michael Gough, Ian McDiarmid, Michael Gambon, Martin Landau,and even Christopher Lee! The movie belonged to the headless horseman, though. His fleshy incarnation was played horrifyingly well by Christopher Walken; the headless version with all the horse-riding stunts and swordplay was Ray Park (of Darth Maul fame.)

final word: Good and spooky period horror piece based on a classic tale.

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