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| Genre: | Horror |
| Year: | 1999 |
| Rating: | R |
| Length: | 1 Hour 45 Minutes |
| Cast: | Tim Burton, Johnny Depp, Christina Ricci, Miranda Richardson |
The latest masterwork to spring from the fertile and twisted imagination of Tim Burton turns Washington Irving's quaint tale of Upstate New York peculiarities into a grisly, nightmarish detective story. Johnny Depp (an actor born to wear period garb) is as grave and handsome as a young Buster Keaton in the role of Ichabod Crane, a fastidious New York City constable assigned to investigate a decapitation in the rustic hamlet of Sleepy Hollow. His inquiries are stymied by the natives' superstitious belief in the Headless Horseman, a demonic assassin whose future victims might include fair maiden Christina Ricci (looking especially attractive with long blonde hair and daring d‚colletage). But it's the Horseman himself -- played by Christopher Walken -- who steals the show with his gory escapades, which are captured with startling realism thanks to computer-enhanced imaging. Burton's adaptation plays fast and loose with Irving's story, sliding at times into a cartoonishness that detracts from the film. But his stylized depiction of the gloomy, fog-shrouded village is stunningly beautiful, evoking an atmosphere of the dread that hangs over the scene, palpable as the chilly mist. Ed Hulse
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