Visually stunning

Rating: 8/10 (20 November 1999)

Tim Burton has weaved a nightmarish film out of the old Sleepy Hollow tale. Dead trees reaching toward a eternally grey sky. A fog that hangs around the town like a shroud, and a population that keeps their secrets. Into this macarbe atmosphere comes Ichabod Crane, dispatched from New York to find out who is behind the slayings of three towns people. Ichabod thinks the murders to be committed by a human, but he soon learns otherwise when the Horseman comes. The Headless Horseman is a nightmare vision himself. Dressed in dark clothes and riding a horse of the same color, he charges at his victims with lightning speed and with one well placed cut: off comes their heads! Burton keeps the gore to a minimum, but raises the intensity level of the film so that your heart will quicken. Of course, a Tim Burton film isn't complete without a Danny Elfman score and we get a fast, furious and ethereal score to compliment the images on screen. Johnny Depp is perfectly cast as Ichabod, and Christina Ricci is the ray of light in this gloomy little town. Heads do roll in this film. Beware.