Review – Sleepy Hollow

Tim Burton makes a serious horror movie out of the famous Washington Irving story about the Headless Horseman. Of course the film-makers do a considerable amount of adaptation in the process, transforming protagonist Ichabod Crane (Johnny Depp) from schoolmaster to big-city constable sent to the muddy backwater of Sleepy Hollow to solve a murder mystery. Oddly enough, the drama in this 20th (almost 21st) century production depends much more heavily on the supernatural than its 19th century source. But for the most part it works quite well. The only two gripes I have are that the film is very hard on the small animals (featuring graphic bird and bat death) and most of the stuff I found the most chilling occurred toward the beginning of the movie. The DVD features some interesting behind-the-scenes stuff, including feature-length commentary by Burton. Worth seeing