Darkly comic rendering done with self-conscious style and a sneer

Rating: 6/10 (10 December 2006)

Realistic decapitations--and what a host of them there are!--generally are not the stuff of dark comedy, but Tim Burton manages a scary chuckle or two at these blood-spattered dirty doings in a Dutch farming village at the turn of the century. And what's afoot? Revenge, a little black magic, and a headless horseman serving as an assassin. The foggy rural atmosphere is amazing, the cast (with the sole exception of a too-modern Christina Ricci) is loose and amiable, but the pall of the grisly killings becomes tiresome after a time. This coupled with the bleak scenario may be prove too much for restless viewers. The screenplay isn't as solid as one may hope (why, for instance, do the residents start shutting their windows when Icabod Crane first comes into town? What are they afraid of--a resolution? And why set an escape sequence in a weathered windmill when the windmill's demise is all that's delivered?). The finale is well-done, although the wherefore and why of the legend may come as a let-down to some (it was probably a daunting task for the writer as well). The picture is certainly an eyeful, and it is a prime example of Tim Burton's intriguing mixture of self-enamored slyness, slick visuals and gleeful bloodlust. **1/2 from ****