Great Coming of Age Movie for Christina Ricci

Rating: 7/10 (26 November 1999)

SLEEPY Hollow is bloody, very exciting and sometimes scary retelling of Washington Irving's classic short story THE LEGEND OF SLEEPY HOLLOW. People are dieing in the small village of Sleepy Hollow, and New York City Detective Icabod Crane (Johnny Depp) is directed by a city judge (Christopher Lee) to investigate. All the victims have died in the same manner; their heads have been severed by one blow of a broadsword. Legend has it the wielder of that sword is "The Headless Horseman," a "walking undead" (well, riding, anyway) apparition of a dead Hessian (Christopher Walken, satisfyingly goulish) Visiting the village, Depp begins to uncover the sinister secrets of the village, as well as his own deeply-hidden past. He falls in love with the daughter of the richest man in the village (Christina Ricci) and finds himself the target of her jealous suitor (Casper Von Dien). As Depp delves closer to the truth, he must not only face the horseman, but his own fears
and cynicism. This is a great coming of age movie for Christina Ricci. Her character is definitely a woman, not just a sexpot, like most of her recent outings. Miranda Richardson plays her stepmother, and I've loved her since she played the evil queen Maub in MERLIN. The best performances are Ricci, Johnny Depp and (surprisingly) Casper Von Dien. The story is way too convoluted. I never did completely put all of it together. And the culprit is surpisingly easy to spot. Still, the film is exciting and has great atmosphere. The cinematography is perfect, cold, brittle, gloomy where it needs to be. Ricci looks like a Bottacelli Venus with her lush figure, creamy skin and surprisingly natural-looking blonde hair. Worth a look, despite the gore.