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Bit 1
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Ichabod Crane is a man with problems. He's a member of the New York constabulary, trying to reform the service
through compassion and science, much to the disapproval of his superiors. They've dispatched him to a little
village called Sleepy Hollow, to investigate a series of horrific murders. Four victims, all with their heads
missing. The townsfolk don't trust him, as he keeps fainting at the crime scenes. He's plagued by visions of his
dead mother. And now, a terrifying, black-clad, headless horseman is chasing him through the forest.
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Bit 2
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Sleepy Hollow is the latest film from horror-comedy auteur and gothic poster-child Tim Burton. And every
standard Burton trademark is here in spades. The threatening, bass-heavy score by Danny Elfman. The regular
supporting cast (Landau, Walken, Gough, Depp). The breathtaking production design. The constant interweaving of
horror and humour.
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Bit 3
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But in this film, all these elements weave together seamlessly with a narrative drive that is relentless and utterly
focussed. It's a bewildering mixture of masterful restraint and lunatic excess. Every line of dialogue slides
smoothly from the sublime to the ridiculous. For every naturalistic town setting there is a creepy gnarled tree.
The restrained blue-gray-black palette (cliché in the hands of any other director) is brutally disturbed by gushes of
crimson.
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Bit 4
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As relentless as the narrative is, the film is really held together by the performances. Johnny Depp as Ichabod is
a twitchy collection of neurosis, courage and cowardice. The upstanding gentlemen of the village are as fine a bunch
of grotesques as one could ask for in a horror movie. The scene where we are introduced to them is an exquisite study in
barely suppressed hostility and tension. Sure, it's not much, given some of the the more outré moments to come, but
it adds tremendous texture to the air of doom and menace that pervades the film. Ray Park, the stunt performer who
made such an impression as Darth Maul in The Phantom Menace, here plays the Headless Horseman. It's amazing the
amount of menace and purpose that can be conveyed by someone with no head. Particularly when they're wielding a huge
hell-sword in one hand and an axe in the other.
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Bit 5
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One of the themes of this film is the collision between the world of science and reason with that of magic and
superstition. Ichabold is the man of science, whose reason is put to the test by the inexplicable. But he is no
Agent Scully, denying the evidence of his own eyes. He confronts the impossible and, using the tools of reason,
adapts to its mysterious logic.
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Sleepy Hollow is simply a gothic masterpiece. It’s a welcome return to form by Tim Burton. Five out of five bats.
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Details
Sleepy Hollow, by Paramount Pictures 1999.
Director: Tim Burton.
Writers: Kevin Yagher & Andrew Kevin Walker, from the book by Washington Irving.
Cinematographer: Emmanuel Lubezki.
Music: Danny Elfman.
Production Design: Rick Heinrichs.
Costume Design: Colleen Atwood.
Cast: Johnny Depp, Christina Ricci, Miranda Richardson, Michael Gambon, Casper Van Dien, Jeffrey Jones,
Christopher Lee, Richard Griffiths, Ian McDiarmid, Michael Gough.
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Bit 8
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Citation reference for this article
MLA style:
Nick Caldwell. "Keeping Your Head When Everybody Else Is Losing Theirs: 'Sleepy Hollow'." M/C Reviews 29 Dec. 1999.
[your date of access] <http://www.uq.edu.au/mc/reviews/screen/sleepy.html>.
Chicago style:
Nick Caldwell, "Keeping Your Head When Everybody Else Is Losing Theirs: 'Sleepy Hollow'," M/C Reviews 29 Dec. 1999,
<http://www.uq.edu.au/mc/reviews/screen/sleepy.html> ([your date of access]).
APA style:
Nick Caldwell. (1999) Keeping your head ehen everybody else is losing theirs: 'Sleepy Hollow'. M/C Reviews 29 Dec. 1999.
<http://www.uq.edu.au/mc/reviews/screen/sleepy.html> ([your date of access]).
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![[image]](http://www2.sleepyhollowmovie.com/images/multimedia/mmedia_photo.jpg)