Sleepy Hollow (1999)

Sleepy Hollow is wide awake on Blu-ray

The incredible production values and performances really shine on this Blue-ray edition of Tim Burton's Sleepy Hollow. Tim Burton's rendition on the classic tale is a creepy fall take shrouded in mystery in tune with Halloween. You will not go wrong in buying this edition as it is worthy of many repeated viewings. October 20, 2009

Wonderfully spooky! The Tim Burton way!

This a great time of year to bring out this DVD! I only have standard dvd and not Blu-Ray yet but still looks good. The storytelling is great fun and the 'Dark" spooky skies and atmosphere Burton creates is not to be missed. Danny Elfman's music is a real treat and will scare you to death! The movie runs a little out of steam a little toward the end! That's why not five stars--but still highy recommended! October 18, 2009

Spooky and Magic

Sleepy Hollow is a rare blend of gothic atmosphere, slice-and-dice gore, and black humor, a horror fantasy that works both as horror and as fantasy. Tim Burton fleshes out the legend of the Headless Horseman and creates a starkly striking and frightening world.

With the deft touch that Burton has at his best he builds a world of unparalleled imagination that is completely believable. And in Sleepy Hollow, that world is the stage for a story that's thrilling and with just the right amount of twisty-turny mystery. Costume horror doesn't often surpass its stuffy surroundings to be either genuinely fun or spooky, but Sleepy Hollow does both. October 12, 2009

Fun pastiche of Hammer horror, Poe, Irving and others

I used to love Tim Burton. Being a sf/fantasy/comics freak from childhood on, Burton was one of the few Hollywood filmmakers separate from the Lucas/Spielberg axis who was making stuff that I could always count on seeing with my non-film buff friends who were into the same sort of genre stuff I was. I loved "Edward Scissorhands", "Beetlejuice", and "Ed Wood", and always looked forward to what came next.

But in the past decade or so he's disappointed more often than not. His "Planet of the Apes" remake was complete dreck, and "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory", while not terrible, didn't seem necessary or particularly necessary either. "Sweeney Todd" was a little bit better, but still didn't make me particularly worry about having missed a couple of his more recent works. I caught up to one of those recently though, and I'm happy to say that my fears were not (mostly) justified.

"Sleepy Hollow", first of all, has very little to do with the Washington Irving story which it is "based on" according to the credits. "Inspired by" might be more accurate, and the film takes equal inspiration from the works of Edgar Allan Poe (specifically his prototypical detective character, Dupin) and Hammer horror films from the late 50s and early 60s - going so far as to cast Christopher Lee in a small role at the beginning of the film.

The cast is certainly a big, big part of the fun here, with such wonderful character veterans as Michael Gambon, Miranda Richardson, Ian McDiarmid, Michael Gough, Martin Landau and Christopher Walken all getting juicy (if generally small) turns in this story of a New York police constable, Ichabod Crane (Johnny Depp), with "advanced" ideas being sent (more or less as punishment) to the small Hudson valley town of Sleepy Hollow to deal with a series of gruesome beheadings, in 1799. As the film develops, Ichabod believes there's a perfectly rational explanation for the murders, and it's to the film's credit and Depp's that as he gradually learns that in fact there is a fantastic, mystical presence behind them (Christopher Walken as the silent but deadly Headless Horseman), he continues to probe the secrets, never entirely giving up his rational belief system but also finding the ability to accept some of the religious/magical possibilities behind the horseman - while also coming under the spell of a young woman at the center of the horror (Christina Ricci).

It's all quite beautifully shot, excellently acted with perhaps the exception of Ricci (one of those actors I can never really accept in period roles), who isn't really bad, and it's a wonderful mixture of comedy, scares and thrills, and a bit of the mystic. My only real problem with it comes in the ending, which is too much like a Scooby Doo "aha, I've got you now" episode; most of the film managed to keep me guessing at least a little bit but the finale is all too typical. Oh well; this is certainly one of the most pleasant surprises I've had in a while, and there's even some interesting stuff below the surface - the whole colonial/witch-haunted/Protestant New England of the 17th-18th centuries brushing up against the coming of modern science and the Industrial Revolution and secularism is quite expertly handled, though it never gets in the way of a good old-fashioned story. Really, loads and loads of fun and probably my 2nd-favorite Burton film at the moment after "Ed Wood".

The DVD transfer seems quite excellent; I haven't listened to the commentary yet (I often don't) and the other extras are of middling interest. September 20, 2009

Don't Lose Your Head Over This Entry by Tim Burton!

It's been ten years since this cool Johnny Depp film came to play and it's still as fun and as comedic as they come.

Loosely based on the Washington Irving tale, Tim Burton wanted to make a story that woudl be a horror tale, great texture and capturing some 18th century wildness.

Oddly, this story reminded me of Columbo, kind of like an 18th century Columbo. Similar in a lot of ways with the conspiracy theories, the four Sleepy Hollow conspirators, and the fact that Icabod's scientific know-how falls prey to an actual horror, the headless horseman.

The Danny Elfman score adds to the mystery of the horseman. Rated "R" most likely because of all the heads being lopped off, quite cleanly I might add.

The detective mystery aspect is fascinating since I did not see that ending coming. Christina Ricci plays a naive girl who dabbles in witchcraft and Icabod faints at the sight of spiders and corpses.

Great flick for a Halloween night.

The DVD has some cool extras, such as an interview with the cast and crew and you really get into Burton's head and see what he was all about, plus film trailers and such.

Uncredited appearance by Martin Landau in the beginning of the film, and a short but masterful rendition of a court judge by Christopher Lee.

To add, the photography was the best. The deep, muted colors throughout the film gave it a moody, depressing look. After the evil is banished at the end, all is bright and autumn red colors. Yeah, a bit corny but interesting play of color and light.

Other Burton Films Recommended:

Beetlejuice
Edward Scissorhands [Blu-ray] September 20, 2009

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