Engaging Black Comedy

Rating: 8/10 (19 January 2012)

Few other than Tim Burton could have realised such grand, brooding, black comedy as 'Sleepy Hollow'. It's filmed on a sumptuous scale and positively oozes Gothic terror.
This movie could be said to have 'made' Johnny Depp, who gives an excellent turn as the would-be Sherlock Holmes, a police detective dedicated to the logical evaluation of crime, only to be dispatched to the hamlet of Sleepy Hollow, where everything BUT logical crime prevails. There's a hint of 'Edward Scissorhands' in some of the style and characterisation, but Burton makes this movie unique in its own right. Filming is highly evocative. There's tremendous depth of focus in some takes, when the whole world seems to be minutely observed. At other times, night and mist are used to excellent effect. Under the phantom horseman's dire spell, the village is drained of colour, there's a damp, eerie sunless gloom even to the daylight. Architecture is imaginative, set-pieces highly detailed and well chosen. Close observation is rewarded, as indeed is repeat viewing; the makers having slipped all manner of sly details that may go unnoticed first time around.
I would have liked a slightly clearer development of the plot; there were moments when it seemed a bit haphazard. And the otherwise excellent theme and incidental music was occasionally too strident for my ears. But these are small enough whinges. The cast do a decent job with an adequate script. There are plenty of familiar faces, with Chris Walken as the phantom and Micheal Gambon as a conspirator.
This is how Hammer should have made their vampire, werewolf & Frankenstein movies, Though neither the imagination, creativity or budgets were available in those days.
Engaging, unique and well worth a watch, though lacking that essential WOW factor.