Out of the box, interesting, and enjoyable

Rating: 9/10 (3 November 2018)

This week I watched Tim Burton's fantasy-horror-mystery Sleepy Hollow (1999). The logline reads "Ichabod Crane is sent to Sleepy Hollow to investigate the decapitations of three people, with the culprit being the legendary apparition, The Headless Horseman." I found the film when I googled "not too scary movies to watch on Halloween." I can safely say this fit the bill of being creepy enough to be a good Halloween flick, but not so creepy that I didn't enjoy it. I really enjoyed the way that the genres of fantasy, horror, and mystery. I felt that the film was engaging and interesting without being over the top gore or too scary. This combination also gave the film a uniqueness that isn't shared over other horror genre or mystery films and I feel that it worked well for the story. The script is based on the book "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" and it seemed like a good representation of the story and a natural choice for a Tim Burton film. The script could have endured a little further revision to kind of polish it and eliminate any unnecessary dialogue. Most of the actors were enchanting choices for their roles and pulled off wonderful performances, all except for Christina Ricci. Both her acting and her voice were extremely flat in this film and I was left feeling really put off by her as a casting choice in this film. The only sense I could make of her as the choice for this role is her slight visual resemblance to Helena Bonham Carter. Other than that the role felt wasted on her. Naturally, being a Tim Burton film all of the elements of production were there. The audio and dialogue was clear and professional grade. The color correction was beautiful and consistent. The look of the film was just hauntingly gorgeous. All in all, I was glad to have finally seen this film, even if I was a little late to the game. I have to say that I think it may be a new Halloween favorite for me.