I love this film.

Rating: 9/10 (5 October 2006)

Sleepy Hollow starts in the year 1799 in the small community of Sleepy Hollow itself where fear is in the air, Peter Van Garrett (Martin Landau, uncredited) feels it & he has every right too as he & his son Dirk (Robert Sella) become the latest victims of a local legend the Headless Horseman (Christopher Walken) who likes to chop people's heads off... Cut to New York City where Constable Ichabod Crane (Johnny Depp) has been given the task of travelling to Sleepy Hollow & discovering the identity of the killer, determined to prove that the killer is flesh & blood & not a ghost Crane sets about his task. Once there he is invited to stay with Baltus Van Tassel (Michael Gambon) who fills him in, the community is steeped in superstition & fear as the locals are convinced that the Headless Horseman has come back from the grave to claim victims. As heads continue to roll Ichabod investigates the case which leads him to a sinister plot involving greed, mistrust, murder, dark secrets & revenge...
This American German co-production was directed by Tim Burton & is quite simply one of my favourite horror films from the past few years. The script by Andrew Kevin Walker is based on the novel 'The Legend of Sleepy Hollow' by Washington Irving, which I have not read so I cannot compare them, is fantastic. Everything about it works brilliantly, I love the mystery elements that develop, the character's are great especially Ichabod, there's plenty of horror & a bit of romance, it moves along like a rocket, there's some good action scenes & I just found it a pleasure to watch. Everything is balanced really well, it's obviously a fantasy film but things never get too silly. Put quite simply Sleepy Hollow is a most excellent dark Gothic fairytale horror film, it's as simple & straight forward as that. I really can't think of anything negative to say, I liked that much.
Director Burton does a brilliant job as one would expect, the attention to detail is flawless, the period costumes, sets, background details & locations all combine to create a fabulous atmosphere. Sleepy Hollow feels like the kind of film Hammer would have made if they had the money. The special effects are top-notch, from the Headless Horseman himself to the various gory decapitations of which there is a plentiful supply & they must be some of the best, most realistic & gory decapitations ever put on screen, good work. There is plenty of visual flair & style plus there are lots of references to other films including a really cool homage to the original Frankenstein (1931).
With a supposed budget of about $65,000,000 Sleep Hollow looks it, it's brilliantly made from the special effects to the action scenes to the overall production values. It was mostly shot in England using a strong British cast who all put in a decent shift. There's Miranda Richardson, Michael Gambon, Richard Griffiths, Iain McDairmid, Michael Gough & Christopher Lee. I thought Depp was great & endearing as Ichabod.
Sleepy Hollow, in my opinion, is a brilliant film & to be honest I can't quite put my finger on any one specific reason. I guess that everything works so well, the mystery, the horror, the immaculate period production design, the way it's shot, the character's & the cast who bring them to life, the gore, the action & even Danny Elfman's overblown score isn't as annoying as it usually is. This is an absolute must see so what are you waiting for?