The face of horror

Rating: 8/10 (20 January 2000)

Has anyone else noticed, or is it just me ? Horror movies or movies where "things go bump in the dark" are becoming the best comedy movies. Perhaps, this modern phenomenon dates back to Evil Dead but Tim Burton understands the genre perfectly. The movie is crafted as clinically as the Headless Horseman's precision in decapitations and with such aplomb. Thud !
The casting is perfect from the New York flatfoot, Johnny Depp to the cameo role of the Horseman's early victim, Martin Landau. Set in 1799, nice millennial touch, New York and New England are fantastically portrayed. And the woods of Sleepy Hollow are not the kind of place where anyone would want to go for a picnic.
So who or what is the Headless Horseman, who will be the next victim, what is the conspiracy, can the Horseman be stopped ? These are questions put to the audience and it is a great fun finding out the answers of this exciting Gothic mystery.