Tonight, I got around to rewatching \u201cSleepy Hollow.\u201d\u00a0 This 1999 movie starred Johnny Depp as Ichabod Crane, a New York City lawman whose scientific methods were too advanced for 1799.\u00a0 He is sent upstate to solve a string of murders that all involve the victims being left headless.\u00a0 Christina Ricci stars as Katrina Van Tassel the daughter of a prosperous businessman whose family is at the center of the ring of murders.\u00a0 And, of course Katrina is Ichabod\u2019s love interest in the movie.<\/p>\n
Spoiler alert; skip down to the last paragraph to avoid spoilers and just read the recommendation<\/strong>.<\/p>\n 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.\u00a0 The Hessian lost his head during a battle with the Americans and his spirit has haunted the neighborhood ever since.\u00a0 In our story, the Hessian (when he has a head) is played by Cristopher Walken.\u00a0 And when he doesn\u2019t have a head, well, who knows?<\/p>\n Being a man of reason, Ichabod disbelieves the stories about the ghost and claims the murders were the result of human efforts.\u00a0 He claims this until he actually sees the Headless Horseman kill a couple of townspeople.\u00a0 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.<\/p>\n 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.\u00a0 And that turns out to be Katrina\u2019s stepmother (naturally).\u00a0 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.<\/p>\n 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.\u00a0 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.\u00a0 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.\u00a0 The special effects around the character of the horseman aren\u2019t quite up to the current state of the art CGI standards.\u00a0 Nevertheless, his scenes are very well choreographed and look splendid. \u00a0The supporting cast do a creditable job of moving the plot forward one severed head at a time.\u00a0 I\u2019m going to recommend this movie to anyone who likes fantasy and the supernatural.\u00a0 Here\u2019s a natural pick for October viewing.<\/p>\n