![]() Poor Casper van Dien as Brom has even less to do, though, mostly given to glaring at Ichabod and getting bisected during one admittedly great fight scene. It’s this look and feel, where everything is misty and only the color red stands out, that lends the film it’s Autumn patina.Ĭhristina Ricci as Katrina, the daughter of Van Tassel (and stepdaughter of Lady Van Tassel (Mirand Richardson)) does as well as she can with her role, but it’s a thankless job to be the virginal love interest, and even a minor plot line about good witchcraft and its connection to Ichabod’s mother doesn’t give her much to work with. The cinematography by Emmanuel Lubezki (who would go on to lense The Revenant and Birdman) is glorious –elevating the moody, drab, slightly de-saturated palette into something rich and faded at the same time, like the rooms in an abandoned castle. Ichabod is, of course, skeptical, and sets about looking for evidence of what he assumes must be a corporeal killer. The town elders – businessmen Baltus van Tassel (Michael Gambon), notary James Hardenbrook (Michael Gough), magistrate Samuel Philipse (Richard Griffiths) and Revend Steenwyck – all inform the young policeman that the murders have been the work of a deceased Hessian mercenary who rides the woods and fields on his great black horse, looking for his missing severed head. The late century fashions, the rural locations and the overwrought Gothic feel to everything makes the film feel like an updated Hammer film – all it’s missing is Peter Cushing (who would have been fantastic as Reverend Steenwyck, a role that went to Jeffrey Jones, unfortunately). (It’s great to see Christopher Lee in a small role during these early proceedings.) (Your enjoyment of the character may depend on your taste for the same, though this was early enough in Depp’s career that his quirks were less close to self-parody.) In Burton’s tale he’s a police constable sent to Sleepy Hollow to investigate a rash of decapitations, using all these newfangled scientific methods he’s so fond of. Johnny Depp doesn’t fit that lanky, odd-looking Ichabod of the animation, but he’s an enjoyable character nonetheless, with plenty of Depp’s trademark mannerisms and oddness. ![]() All the good parts happen in the last five minutes, if you ask me, but it’s a fun film with great character designs. I distinctly remember the black horse and the flaming pumpkin flying towards the screen at the end. My first introduction to the story of Ichabod Crane and the Headless Horseman was probably the Disney animated film, either on the Wonderful World of Disney or as some Halloween special. I enjoyed the streaming version, however, and that’s probably from the same source, so grain, salt etc. There is a Blu-ray from Paramount, but from what I understand it’s from a sub-par scan with significant picture quality issues. Sleepy Hollow is currently available for streaming on Netflix and can be rented or purchased on most of the online services. ![]() ![]() While it has moments of real horror – the opening under the Tree of the Dead is disturbingly gruesome – it’s mostly filled with that kind of soothing, low-level horror that I dismissed so quickly when I was younger.Īnd as my local streets have been filled with fog and leaves and quiet lately, it seemed the appropriate time to indulge in a little comfort food… Sleepy Hollow is the epitome of that kind of not-quite-kid-friendly time of year, with gloomy forests carpeted in orange leaves, late-19 th century fashions, gothic trappings and – most especially – with its headless monster riding down the unwary and lopping their heads of in a curiously bloodless fashion. (And apparently makes me want to write in purple.) I love horror in all its forms, but Autumn itself has become a welcome, comforting, spooky moment between the end of summer and the long dark. The kind that makes me think of kids in costumes roaming the streets, of pumpkins and skeletons and candy, of witches on brooms and cemeteries the smell of fallen leaves in a mist-filled twilight. The thing is, over the last decade or so I find myself wanting to enjoy Autumn, and October in particular, as a celebration of a certain kind of dark wonder. So I watched it, dismissed it, and moved on. Fear, to him, is something of a comfort food and when I was younger I wanted it to be bitter and sharp and dark. I should have known better, because Tim Burton never does REALLY scary. I wanted something more serious, I think. I remember when it came out with much fanfare (and discussion of Christina Ricci’s blonde locks) I was disappointed. Somehow, Sleepy Hollow has become one of my favorite Autumn movies.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |