Tim Burton and Horror is a (Super)Natural Combination

Rating: 7/10 (29 May 2009)

Ichabod Crane (Johnny Depp) is sent away from New York City to the small town of Sleepy Hollow, where he can use his unorthodox detective skills without bothering anybody... and maybe solve a murder along the way. What he stumbles on is not just any murder, but an ongoing killing spree of epic proportions.
Anyone who is familiar with Tim Burton's work is going to wonder why he doesn't do more horror films. "Ed Wood", "Edward Scissorhands", "Nightmare Before Christmas", "Sweeney Todd", and others have that dark vibe... even his Batman films were rather dark compared to other incarnations. How can this be his only true horror flick? It is done so well.
And, of course, he wasn't alone... this is the product of skilled people across the board. It was written by Andrew Kevin Walker ("Brainscan", "Seven", "8MM") and produced by Francis Ford Coppola, two horror veterans that are never bad to have around.
The cast? Ricci, Depp, Walken, Lee, Jeff Jones... each one could get a paragraph of praise. I don't know that this is the best work of either Ricci or Depp, but even their less than best work is better and more entertaining than most others in the acting profession today. And together? A dream come true, if you're a Ricci fan -- Depp already knows how to interact with Burton, so that's a given.
The film itself is great in the art department, lighting, cinematography... more or less in every way. It's a very polished, very artsy film. What you may not notice is the use of forced perspective, which I think they hid very well. Most of the outdoor shots were actually shot on set, so if you pay close attention you'll notice that you can never see too far back or too far in the sky... and camera angles were chosen to skew distances. It's a clever tactic and works.
The film's audio commentary with Tim Burton is slightly disappointing, and not nearly as good as the film itself. He talks about the difficulty in finding cardinals, and jokes about Dutch masters, but doesn't offer as much insight as you may expect from a director. Many commentaries have a steady discussion going, but Burton seems comfortable to stay silent often and just watch his own film. If this film ever gets deluxe treatment, hopefully a second commentary is added because Burton -- as soothing as his voice is -- can't do it alone.