Rich Gothic horror let down by generic action scenes

Rating: 6/10 (22 December 2016)

Tim Burton's latest film takes the classic short story "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" by Washington Irving and gives it a makeover for the modern audience. He also manages to include much of the eccentricity seen in his work, in everything from the fairytale story of EDWARD SCISSORHANDS to his recent cartoon violence in MARS ATTACKS!. While Burton succeeds admirably in creating a brilliant visual portrayal of a Gothic landscape, much touted as a return to the ways of Hammer, the script lets him down as plausibility and story are thrown out of the window in favour of outlandish action sequences, all of which bear more resemblance to LETHAL WEAPON 4 (carriage and horse chases substituted for car chases) than our favourite horror movies of the past.
The film also remains unnecessarily light-hearted and even comic in places, as if to reassure us that Burton may be the master of weirdness, but he's still a little boy with a sense of humour at heart. Unfortunately for us, this mars the film dreadfully, as the horrors of the situation simply cannot be taken seriously when Depp is constantly fainting and minor characters are engaging in skirmishes with the supposedly indestructible ghost. Yes, it does turn (just like at the finale of END OF DAYS) into TERMINATOR 2 again, with the headless horseman substituted for the liquid metal man, i.e. an unstoppable killer who cannot be destroyed by any physical means.
At least the sets are marvellous, and the film furnished with dark, rich colours which really set it apart and makes it look like a painting. The woods are wonderfully spooky, with plenty of dry ice floating about, the houses themselves distorted and grotesque. In another nod to Burton's favourite horror movies, plenty of discussion takes place in open graveyards, full of leaning headstones and recently-dug graves. A lot of work has gone into costumes, making them colourful and pretty, yet realistic, while Crane's odd set of medical instruments brings to mind the twisted gynaecological creations of the brothers in Cronenberg's DEAD RINGERS.
As SLEEPY HOLLOW was filmed in Britain, the cast itself is mainly composed of British actors and actresses, with only three people I can think of off the top of my head American. For the genre fan, the cast is wonderful. Christopher Lee sets things off with a cameo appearance at the beginning, with his booming voice put to good use in a court. It's nice to see that Lee is authoritative and powerful as ever, the years haven't blunted his acting skills, just a shame that he's been caught up in mediocre rubbish for the past two decades. At his side is Alun Armstrong, who made it big in BRAVEHEART and whose distinctive features are familiar to any television/film watcher this side of the Atlantic. Michael Gough, star of countless exploitation cheapies like HORROR HOSPITAL and many more, appears in a scene-stealing role as a harmless old man who solemnly warns of death and destruction for our hero ("their heads... taken by the headless horseman!"). Other familiar faces such as Michael Gambon, Richard Griffiths, and Miranda Richardson flesh out the cast, as well as Ian McDiarmid, more familiar to sci-fi audiences for his role as Emperor Palpatine in RETURN OF THE JEDI. The only out of place actor is Casper Van Dien, who would be more at home shooting or fighting people I feel, his sword fight with the ghost really ruining the impact of the film for me and equating it to some silly adventure flick like THE MASK OF ZORRO.
Johnny Depp is a good actor but his character in this film is an irritating, wimpish one who we just wish would stop fainting and playing the fool all the time. Perhaps this is supposed to be funny, but I didn't think so. Christina Ricci is well suited to this film, as her fragile beauty is made all the more noticeable by something distinctly weird in her features - the ideal actress for Tim Burton. And it would be unfair to miss out Christopher Walken, who looks like a vampire from SALEM'S LOT and chews the scenery with relish.
Unfortunately, once again, somebody somewhere decided that we needed some poor computer animation for our shocks, so a witch does a ridiculous gurn just like the title creature in THE MUMMY, which really detracts from the spirit of the thing. If Burton wanted to stay traditional, why did he include this stupid scene of someone's eyes bursting out of their head like Jim Carrey in THE MASK? CGI is used well at the end for the horseman's face growing back on to his skull, but frankly I'd rather stick with the prosthetics of HELLRAISER instead. At least we can be grateful that Burton doesn't skimp on the beheadings, so there is plenty of splashed, bright red blood and flying bonces at regular intervals. Don't start thinking this film is a gore fest though, because although gore is used, it's done sparingly and not graphic as some people seem to think.
Did SLEEPY HOLLOW send me to sleep? No, not really, because I was too caught up in the visuals to notice the generic action scenes and silly plot twists. By the time a conspiracy had been exposed I was simply tired of the whole thing and wished that they would go back to the old days where the monster was simply there, and there was no reason for it, it just was. The need for minute explanations is a really trying one and it threatens to bring the whole film down in this case. Thankfully it doesn't, though, and SLEEPY HOLLOW is a feast for the eyes with enough references to Bava's BLACK Sunday and plenty of other Gothic horror flicks to keep the fan entertained. It's just a shame that Andrew Kevin Walker (writer of SEVEN) couldn't come up with something a little more mature and a little less stupid.