Sleepy Hollow

There's nothing like a good gothic horror to brighten up your day! Tim Burton's gore fest will make you undecided as to whether to hide behind your seat, or wonder at the fairy-tale epic creation before you. This is not a horror film in the sense of gore for gore's sake. It is a beautifully crafted masterpiece 'inspired' by the book "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" by Irving Washington. It is reminiscent of the classical style of Hammer films with just the right proportions of chilling tension, macbre atmosphere and yes, blood that seems to squirt quite effectively.

1799 America is on the verge of a new century and science is on the brink of new discoveries that question established beliefs. Inchabod Crane (Depp) is a young inventive New York policeman with a keen interest in developing the new sciences of forensics. Found to be too progressive for the New York justice system, Crane is assigned to investigate a spate of unexplained murders in the small Dutch settlement of Sleepy Hollow. The inhabitants are convinced that the murders are being committed by the headless Horseman, (Walken) the subject of a deep-rooted legend amongst the locals. According to the legend the headless horseman is what remains of a Hessian mercenary with a penchant for blood-lust brought by the British to America to fight the French and who sharpened his teeth to fine points to add to the ferocious nature of his appearance. Sceptical at first, it takes quite a few gory moments to convince the pragmatic Crane that not everything can be rationally explained.

Despite being a celebration of classic horror, this film is ironically light-hearted. The ending is predictable, but what makes this a good film is the way that Burton has taken the classic and reinvented it with the use of graphic technology. Every detail has been carefully thought out from the dreamy lighting to the haunting mist covered landscape with old twisted trees. This film will be like reliving your worst childhood nightmare.

Siobhan Balfour