A lot of fun if you don't expect too much

Rating: 7/10 (12 July 2000)

The ads promise that "heads will roll"; this is decidedly not metaphorical. Indeed, from start to finish in "Sleepy Hollow" noggins are lopped off with alarming frequency. Tim Burton's sabbatical from directing (since 1996's befuddled "Mars Attacks") is gleefully broken by his take on the "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow", in this instance a murder mystery that is only tangentially related to the Washington Irving classic. Depp is convincing as Ichabod Crane, a foppish constable devoted far more to "cause and consequence" than the paranormal. His reasoning is severely tested when charged with solving a series of mysterious and graphic murders in the eponymous hamlet in upstate New York. Confounding his analysis are clues defying scientific approach and his attraction to the ethereal Katrina (Ricci), leading him to suspect that the vengeance-driven 'Headless Horseman' is all too other-worldly. Not unexpectedly, Burton's reputation for evocative production design and photography is well-evidenced here. Awash in a spectrum of greyish hues resembling a charcoal drawing (save for occasional splashes of crimson), his vision of a spooky village and surrounding wood help serve an only-satisfactory tale of mayhem on the eve of the 19th century. Buoyed by a lively finale and spectacular stunt work by the 'Horseman' (Ray Park, who impressed as Darth Maul in "Phantom Menace"), this edition of Sleepy Hollow is an amusingly creepy diversion.