- Title: Sleepy Hollow (1999)
- IMDb: link
Tim Burton’s stylish 1999 adaptation of “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow,” turns Ichabod Crane (Johnny Depp) from schoolteacher to constable sent to Sleepy Hollow by superiors tired of him spouting nonsense about using evidence, science, and logic to solve crimes. The small hamlet in upstate New York has had a series of recent murders, all decapitated by a figure on horseback who the locals believe to be the ghost of a Hessian mercenary in search of a head.
Tim Burton certainly puts his own spin on things. Crane’s new profession allows for all kinds off odd inventions and ghoulish humor when performing his experiments and autopsies. As for the Horseman, he remains quite iconic (even if we only get the throwing of a flaming jack-o’-lantern only from the fake Horseman out to frighten Crane).
At first dismissing the stories as local superstition, Crane gets the fight of his life witnessing the Horseman in action cutting down the local magistrate (Richard Griffiths) and making off with his head. With the help of an orphaned teen (Marc Pickering), Katrina (Christina Ricci), the daughter of his host (Michael Gambon), and a crone (Miranda Richardson) deep within the woods, Crane seeks out the Horseman’s grave where he discovers the skull has been stolen by someone using it to control the monster’s attacks.
The cast also includes Casper Van Dien as local bully Brom Van Brunt, Lisa Marie as Crane’s mother (seen in flashbacks explaining Ichabod’s lack of faith in anything but reason), and Ian McDiarmid. Jeffrey Jones, and Michael Gough as other locals.
Disney’s animated The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad remains my favorite adaptation of Washington Irving‘s work (although I also enjoyed Fox’s supernatural drama starring Tom Mison and Nicole Beharie). To stretch the story into a feature film, Burton and screenwriters Kevin Yagher and Andrew Kevin Walker are forced to add quite a bit to the story. Some of this, such as exploring the idea of Katrina as a witch, work quite well, others, like the slew of flashbacks to Crane’s mother, are more hit-and-miss.
The new 4K steelbook includes both 4K and Blu-ray region-free versions of the film, commentary from Burton, and a pair of featurettes on the legend and the film.
