Spooky fun!

Rating: Null/10 (19 November 1999)

This is a gothic fest in the grand style of James Whale's FRANKENSTEIN and BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN, even with a windmill added for good measure.
Depp is highly entertaining as a cross between the craven main character and Sherlock Holmes. We get lots of wonderful achetypal atmosphere: dark, gloomy forests with mysterious, claw-like trees, a perpetual mist that hangs in the woods like the scarf of a ghost, etc. Danny Elfman's symphonic soundtrack of course just adds to the goosebumps.
The old folktale that Washington Irving retold as his "Legend of Sleepy Hollow" gets a new, intricate plot with a few surprise cameos. And if you look carefully at the suspicious town leaders, you might even recognize the Emperor Palpatine. Now, you know that means that he's one of the bad guys.
The FX are well done, and yet at the same time, they don't overwhelm the story as they did in the silly remake of THE HAUNTING and the PHANTOM MENACE. Go see this film and have some good spooky fun!