Dark Legend

Rating: 7/10 (17 December 2013)

Tim Burton directed this violent adaptation of the classic Washington Irving story that stars Johnny Depp as Ichabod Crane, who in this version is not a schoolteacher but a New York constable(and forward thinking scientist) who is sent by his burgomaster(played by Christopher Lee) to investigate a series of brutal decapitation murders that have occurred in the New England town of Sleepy Hollow, where he is much surprised to find the cause to be a phantom headless horseman(played by Christopher Walken) who is being used in a devious plan of revenge and profit. Christina Ricci plays his love interest Katrina Van Tassel, and Miranda Richardson plays her stepmother.
Gothic film has a fine cast and superb set design & art direction, and a clever script, though is marred by too many decapitations, when that should have been left more to the imagination. Otherwise, a nicely-tuned take on the legend, as if it had been made by Hammer Studios!