History Film / SleepyHollow1999

* CassandraTruth: {{Inverted}} and PlayedForLaughs. Ichabod spends the rest of the movie's first act as the ''only'' person in Sleepy Hollow who doesn't believe that the Headless Horseman exists despite the townspeople's repeated warnings and attempts to convince him to take the matter much more seriously. Then he gets to meet the entity itself and witnesses its head-chopping action firsthand. Ichabod then spends the next scene cowering in bed, delirious as all hell and somehow convinced that nobody in town believes that he saw the Horseman... even though Baltus is right there, gently trying to remind Ichabod that they all in fact ''do'' and were the ones who kept telling him in the first place.

* CassandraTruth: Amusingly {{subverted}} after Ichabod encounters the very real horseman for the first time. The townspeople already knew he existed and reiterate to Ichabod that the entire reason he's here is to deal with the horseman.

* AluminumChristmasTrees: You might think that Katrina having a book of spells and practicing [[spoiler:white magic]] might be a fanciful historical liberty taken by the filmmakers, especially given the Christian prohibition against witches, however, folk charms and healing, often done within a Protestant Christian context, were not unheard of in rural communities.

* AnAxeToGrind:
** The Hessian[=/=]Horseman uses an axe as a secondary weapon.
** [[spoiler:Lady Van Tassel]] uses an axe to kill [[spoiler:her sister and her maid.]]

* SpiritualSuccessor:
** The movie is something of an updated Hammer Horror production- It shares Hammer's penchant for making drastic adaptation changes, involving much more sensuality and violence, and even has two Hammer alumni in Christopher Lee and Michael Gough.
** Produced by Creator/FrancisFordCoppola, ''Sleepy Hollow'' is, in a sense, a follow-up to Coppola's other two DarkerAndEdgier 90's horror adaptations- ''Film/BramStokersDracula'' (which Coppola directed) and ''Film/MaryShelleysFrankenstein'' (which he produced).

* EverythingsBetterWithSpinning:
** The Horseman has a habit of spinning his weapons during battles. [[CreatorThumbprint To be expected]], given [[Creator/RayPark his actor]].
** It's mentioned on the DVD that Creator/TimBurton specifically asked the special effects guys to make the heads of the victims of the Headless Horseman pop off and spin a few times after being beheaded. Cue demonstration of said special effects.
** Ichabod's mother levitates and spins in the woods in one of his childhood flashbacks.

* AnAxeToGrind: The Hessian[=/=]Horseman uses an axe as a secondary weapon.

* CoolSword: The Horseman has a [[https://www.yourprops.com/movieprops/original/yp5640a2f16bf0d4.16729376/Sleepy-Hollow-Headless-Horseman-s-sword-1.jpg totally sick]] black one with a snake's-head pommel.

* InNameOnly: In Irving's story, Ichabod Crane was a schoolteacher who fully believed in ghosts, and the Headless Horseman never went on a killing spree.

* IOweYouMyLife: [[spoiler:Presumably the reason why the Horseman doesn't go for Katrina.]]

* BloodyHilarious: Creator/TimBurton actually tried to find as many excuses as possible to have Ichabod sprayed in the face with blood. [[spoiler:Later becomes an example of NotFunnyAnymore, when the trope is applied in Ichabod's backstory... as he's a young child ''and'' the one bleeding all over him is his recently murdered mother.]]

--> [[spoiler: '''Lady Van Tassel:''' Dear stepdaughter, you look as if you seen a ghost]].

* SlasherFilm: An unusual example. It's not only a gothic horror movie adaptation of a well-known American folk tale but it's also a PeriodPiece set in small-town New York after [[UsefulNotes/AmericanRevolution the Revolutionary War]].

* NonMaliciousMonster: [[spoiler:The Horseman. He only kills when Lady Van Tassel orders him to. All he wants is to have his head back and finally rest in peace.]]
* NoNameGiven: Lady Van Tassel's first name is never revealed. According to the family tree visible in the movie, her name is "Mary Preston." [[spoiler:However, since she later reveals that her family name was Archer, it's possible that she went under a completely different pseudonym when she became a caregiver and later wife to Baltus.]]
* NonActionBigBad: [[spoiler:Lady Van Tassel]], who rules Sleepy Hollow secretly behind the scenes through [[spoiler:the Headless Horseman]]. {{Justified|Trope}} as they had to remain anonymous. They do get their hands dirty by [[spoiler: murdering Sarah the servant girl and the crone in the western woods by hand, and shooting Ichabod in the climax]] but it still pales in comparison.

* ImpossiblyLowNeckline: Ichabod's mother in the flashbacks, played by Burton's then-wife Lisa Marie Smith. Combined with OfCorsetsSexy, you may find yourself thinking more on the chances of a nip slip than the somber mood of the scene. [[http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-d9Dto0vGI9w/UHBTRfKVdYI/AAAAAAAAAzo/WodSFkLSHPY/s1600/sh14.jpg See here]].

* FakingTheDead: [[spoiler:Lady Van Tassel]] fakes having died of decapitation by the Horseman, by [[spoiler:killing an unfortunate maid and substituting the headless body of that girl for that of her own corpse]].

** Katrina becomes a white witch powerful enough to cast spells that [[spoiler: protect those she loves. She's also able to control two panicked horses to outrun the Horseman when he's after her]].
* AdaptationExpansion: This movie gives the original short story more characterization and a more involved plot. [[spoiler:Brom, originally Ichabod's love rival in the story (who is also implied to be dressing up as the Headless Horseman), becomes Crane's ally (albeit temporarily) and perishes in single combat against the Horseman.]]
* AdaptationalHeroism:

* AdaptationInspiration: As one would expect of a collaboration between Creator/TimBurton and Creator/JohnnyDepp, this is quite the quirky tale.

* FairyTaleMotifs: [[spoiler: The plot is orchestrated by a WickedStepmother who herself ended up in CinderellaCircumstances.]]