I guess this really is the kind of R-rated horror Tim Burton would make, isn't it?
This film struck me the first time as messy and not really living up to its tone. The second watch made me kind of love that.
The film is half presented as a legitimate gory supernatural slasher movie and a period drama mystery, portraying the Headless Horseman as a real ghost killing people in the town, though the famous encounter from the original story does appear and is depicted as the prank that some readings make it out to be. In the drama regard, the film is fairly successful. The scenes are compellingly-shot, the costumes and sets are great, and the killings are brutal and get to have some gravity and energy. Three standout sequences display legitimate menace as the Horseman kills, and the most memorable shot in the movie depicts the aftermath of a massacre in a haunting, nearly artful frame. The setting in turn-of-the-century old America is fun. This is also a stealth witch movie for Tim Burton, as magic and witchcraft of light and dark flavors are major forces in the story.
The film is also half presented as a goofy comedy, and a lot of the film's intended dramatic aspects also feel poorly-done and silly, giving the film a huge camp factor I failed to realize the first time. Johnny Depp's Ichabod Crane is the faintest plague-boy lily that not even the Victorians could write wimpier, and he has a strange characterization of being a total wuss but also somehow insane in a way that makes him stomach this horrible murder case. He feels misplaced in the film, but to what degree this misplaced quality was intended is unclear. He has zero chemistry with Christina Ricci, the romantic interest of the film, and their acting and the plot don't give their emotions enough time or authenticity for their scenes to work, which is also funny but I think fully accidental there. The true antagonist of the film is also hamming it up and having a blast to an enjoyably silly degree when revealed. The fact that Crane is depicted as a man who lost his faith because of an abusive religious dad is fine, but they also try to say he doesn't believe in magic despite his trauma being that his witch mom, who the film wants us to know is very sexy, was killed by his father...but, like, why would he lose faith in magic and religion if only one traumatized him? There are also a lot of scenes and visuals that feel shot-for-shot copied in later Burton films, making it retroactively feel like a parody of itself.
Sleepy Hollow can't decide whether it's an atmospheric period drama, an over-the-top horror movie, or a campy comedy. The one thing I'm certain it wanted to be was a romance story, and that's one thing it absolutely doesn't get right! This film is goddamn dumb and I don't know to what degree it knew it was. I love it.
Film Horror camp to turn off your brain to.
I guess this really is the kind of R-rated horror Tim Burton would make, isn't it?
This film struck me the first time as messy and not really living up to its tone. The second watch made me kind of love that.
The film is half presented as a legitimate gory supernatural slasher movie and a period drama mystery, portraying the Headless Horseman as a real ghost killing people in the town, though the famous encounter from the original story does appear and is depicted as the prank that some readings make it out to be. In the drama regard, the film is fairly successful. The scenes are compellingly-shot, the costumes and sets are great, and the killings are brutal and get to have some gravity and energy. Three standout sequences display legitimate menace as the Horseman kills, and the most memorable shot in the movie depicts the aftermath of a massacre in a haunting, nearly artful frame. The setting in turn-of-the-century old America is fun. This is also a stealth witch movie for Tim Burton, as magic and witchcraft of light and dark flavors are major forces in the story.
The film is also half presented as a goofy comedy, and a lot of the film's intended dramatic aspects also feel poorly-done and silly, giving the film a huge camp factor I failed to realize the first time. Johnny Depp's Ichabod Crane is the faintest plague-boy lily that not even the Victorians could write wimpier, and he has a strange characterization of being a total wuss but also somehow insane in a way that makes him stomach this horrible murder case. He feels misplaced in the film, but to what degree this misplaced quality was intended is unclear. He has zero chemistry with Christina Ricci, the romantic interest of the film, and their acting and the plot don't give their emotions enough time or authenticity for their scenes to work, which is also funny but I think fully accidental there. The true antagonist of the film is also hamming it up and having a blast to an enjoyably silly degree when revealed. The fact that Crane is depicted as a man who lost his faith because of an abusive religious dad is fine, but they also try to say he doesn't believe in magic despite his trauma being that his witch mom, who the film wants us to know is very sexy, was killed by his father...but, like, why would he lose faith in magic and religion if only one traumatized him? There are also a lot of scenes and visuals that feel shot-for-shot copied in later Burton films, making it retroactively feel like a parody of itself.
Sleepy Hollow can't decide whether it's an atmospheric period drama, an over-the-top horror movie, or a campy comedy. The one thing I'm certain it wanted to be was a romance story, and that's one thing it absolutely doesn't get right! This film is goddamn dumb and I don't know to what degree it knew it was. I love it.