Heads will roll...

Rating: 8/10 (29 June 2009)

This film has a macabre atmosphere as one would expect from Tim Burton, it feels more like a dark fairy tale than a horror film... although like many fairy tales it has its gruesome moments which means it isn't suitable for children.
Johnny Depp plays Ichabod Crane a New York City policeman in 1799 who is sent upstate to the village of Sleepy Hollow in order to investigate a recent spate of murders. Each has one thing in common, the victim has been decapitated and their head taken. The locals tell Ichobod that they have been killed by a headless horseman who was killed during the War of Independence. As the death toll increases he grows to believe that the people aren't being killed at random, being a logical detective however he doesn't believe that anything supernatural is involved, not until he sees the horseman with his own eyes. While investigating he is rather smitten Katrina Van Tassel, daughter of the the town's headman, he is also assisted by Young Masbath, a boy orphaned by the horseman.
The film full of good actors, not least Johnny Depp and Christina Ricci in the lead roles, the lesser roles are nearly all played top quality character actors who viewers will recognise from other well known films. The special effects are good, especially the numerous decapitations. I would definitely recommend this to fans of Tim Burton or of fantasy horror in general so long as they are mid-teens or older, it is a bit too gory for younger viewers.