Tonight, I got around to rewatching “Sleepy Hollow.” This 1999 movie starred Johnny Depp as Ichabod Crane, a New York City lawman whose scientific methods were too advanced for 1799. He is sent upstate to solve a string of murders that all involve the victims being left headless. Christina Ricci stars as Katrina Van Tassel the daughter of a prosperous businessman whose family is at the center of the ring of murders. And, of course Katrina is Ichabod’s love interest in the movie.
Spoiler alert; skip down to the last paragraph to avoid spoilers and just read the recommendation.
What we learn is that, just as in the Washington Irving stories about Sleepy Hollow, the countryside is haunted by the ghost of a Hessian soldier that was killed during the American Revolutionary War. The Hessian lost his head during a battle with the Americans and his spirit has haunted the neighborhood ever since. In our story, the Hessian (when he has a head) is played by Cristopher Walken. And when he doesn’t have a head, well, who knows?
Being a man of reason, Ichabod disbelieves the stories about the ghost and claims the murders were the result of human efforts. He claims this until he actually sees the Headless Horseman kill a couple of townspeople. But once Ichabod recovers from his shock, he determines that he will investigate the ghost and figure out a way to end the string of murders.
And after most of the prominent townspeople are murdered, Ichabod realizes that the horseman is controlled by someone inside the town who understands black magic. And that turns out to be Katrina’s stepmother (naturally). There is a showdown and Ichabod figures out how to turn the horseman against the witch and save Katrina from being decapitated by the head-lopping Hessian.
Sleepy Hollow was a Tim Burton film and so it is no surprise that the look of the film stylishly captures the eerie, misty atmosphere of this dark fairy tale land. The movie is always at least half comedy and Depp is very good as the always squeamish but determinedly, reluctantly brave man of science doing his best to solve the mystery and save his love interest from a gruesome fate. While this tongue in cheek approach does not allow the movie to ever frighten us, it does succeed (in my opinion) in entertaining the audience. The special effects around the character of the horseman aren’t quite up to the current state of the art CGI standards. Nevertheless, his scenes are very well choreographed and look splendid. The supporting cast do a creditable job of moving the plot forward one severed head at a time. I’m going to recommend this movie to anyone who likes fantasy and the supernatural. Here’s a natural pick for October viewing.