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“Goodbye, Ichabod the Crane. I curse the day you came to Sleepy Hollow.” – Christina Ricci Sleepy Hollow (1999)
Choosing the featured Halloween movie is a big decision every year (the burden falls on literally no one but me). I once realized that I still hadn’t written a post specifically for Tim Burton Sleepy HollowThere was no other competition. I grew up loving the story of Sleepy Hollow from watching Disney’s The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad (1949). I still read Washington Irving’s original story, The Legend of Sleepy Hollow (first published in 1820) every year for Halloween. When I found out there was a horror adaptation of Sleepy Hollow directed by Tim Burton, I dropped what I was doing at the time and watched it. Directed by the legendary Tim Burton, this adaptation of Irving’s tale takes a darker tone with themes of skepticism, folklore, witchcraft and dark magic.
The film begins with the sequence of the will being transported in a horse-drawn carriage. Both the driver and the passenger are beheaded by a mysterious figure’s sword. The story then cuts to New York (circa 1799). Ichabod Crane (Johnny Depp) is a police officer in New York who insists on more modern and humane methods in the fight against crime. The courts, exhausted by his inconsistency, assign him to investigate a recent series of brutal murders in a small farming community in the state: Sleepy Hollow.
Ichabod arrives in Sleepy Hollow during a Halloween party in town. After making his way through a crowd of celebrating townspeople, Ichabod meets Katrina Van Tassel (Christina Ritchie). After meeting Katrina’s father and respected farmer, Baltus Van Tassel (Michael Gambon), Ichabod learns the unusual history of Sleepy Hollow. A spirit known as the Headless Horseman is believed to be responsible for the recent murders. Horseman was a bloodthirsty mercenary who was killed by soldiers in Sleepy Hollow during the Revolutionary War twenty years ago. With acts of beheading plaguing Sleepy Hollow, the townspeople are convinced that he has returned in some unnatural way to continue his rampage.
Soon after his arrival, Ichabod gets his first kill. Others will soon follow. With each attempt to explain the murders, Ichabod encounters more and more inexplicable details in his investigation. The more he tries to learn from the people of Sleepy Hollow, the more he discovers that they all carry secrets of their own. Ichabod’s stay in Sleepy Hollow takes him further and further away from the logic and reason he used in the town. At the root of his investigation lies his growing feelings for Katrina Van Tassel. Katrina is the most mysterious local, which makes Ichabod doubt whether anyone can be trusted in Sleepy Hollow. In order to solve the murders, solve the mystery and defeat the villain, Ichabod must adapt to the nightmarish environment and face his traumatic past.
I just love this movie. Ichabod and Mr. Toad Will always be my favorite adaptation of Irving’s story, but Burton’s Sleepy Hollow It’s a very close second. When I watched it for the first time as a teenager, I felt like I had found something I had always known. Its artistry, atmosphere, dark beauty and inspired take on my favorite story Sleepy Hollow One of my favorite horror movies.
Happy Halloween! Watch out for the horsemen.
until next time,
Jordan
