A Different Take on the Film

Rating: 8/10 (4 December 1999)

I might reveal more than you want to know about this movie.. so beware of reading it:: Everyone seems to be commenting on the scare quality, the beautiful cinematography, and the deviation from the original story, whenever this movie is disucssed. I think there might be more to this movie than that. Think of it this way, if you were a geeky kid, like Tim Burton, you would relate to Ichabod Crane. But Crane loses in the original story to the "jock", and it is hinted that the horsemen is most likely not a real ghost. But obviously Burton enjoyed the story, so he took it, and made his own version where Crane over comes his squeamish fears and saves the day against a real ghost. If you want me to give some proof, think of the little boy watching the candle show. The Horesemen only ever killed those he was ordered to kill, or made a strong attempt to stop him(like the jock). But he goes after the little boy who was watching "moving pictures" made by a candle-powered toy. That little boy is the link to Tim Burton, and the reason he did Sleepy Hollow. He did it all for himself. Oh yes, and did anyone notice the sly joke at the audience: Depp calls the year 1799 the last year of the millenium on two ocassions, when really that applies only to the 1999 audience.