Film Review
After the moderately disappointing
Mars Attacks! (1996), Tim
Burton showed a spectacular return to form with this sumptuously
atmospheric adaptation of Washington Irving's famous short story,
The Legend of Sleepy Hollow by
Washington Irving. Burton's love of classic horror films -
tentatively revealed in
Edward Scissorhands (1990) and
Ed
Wood (1994) - is more than evident in the film's strikingly
expressionistic design, which somehow manages to combine the graveyard
creepiness of Universal's 1930s horror films with the lurid elegance of
Hammer's gothic fantasies of the 1960s. The near-monochromatic
palette chosen by Burton lends his film a particularly moody baroque
feel, and makes the frequent bouts of blood letting all the more
effective.
Sleepy Hollow
is as much a sly parody on the modern slasher movie as it is a loving
homage to the great horror films of the past.
Johnny Depp is a magnificent casting choice for the lead role of
Ichabod Crane, a cross-between Peter Cushing's Van Helsing and Basil
Rathbone's Sherlock Holmes, albeit one with the squeamish temperament
of a timid Victorian schoolgirl. Depp's Ichabod is almost as
endearing as his previous Burton creation, Edward Scissorhands - an
unconventional hero who shrieks at the sight of a spider and struggles
to avoid throwing up whenever he glimpses the tiniest drop of
blood. The supporting cast, predominantly made up of
distinguished British character actors, are as admirably well
chosen. Miranda Richardson turns in her most wonderfully unhinged
performance since her Elizabeth I in the television series
Blackadder II and Michael Gambon
positively revels in his ambiguous town elder role. Christina
Ricci turns in the most beguiling performance as Gambon's mysterious
daughter, looking like Bette Davis's evil offspring one minute, a
waiflike fairytale princess the next.
Sleepy Hollow is one of the
more seductively stylish of Tim Burton's blockbusters, and certainly
one of the most satisfying. A pleasing undercurrent of dark
comedy ripples through it like an electric current through a
decomposing corpse, beautifully offsetting the grimmer aspects of the
gory tale that Burton unfolds with his customary showman elan and
warped sense of humour. The action sequences become a little
repetitive towards the end, but the perfectly judged performances from
Depp and his cohorts keep us hooked right up until the heartstopping
grand finale. This is a film that promises one Hell of a ride -
so be careful not to lose your head.
© James Travers 2012
The above content is owned by filmsdefrance.com and must not be copied.
Film Synopsis
New York City, 1799. Ichabod Crane is a young police officer
whose new methods of forensic investigation have brought him into
conflict with his superiors. He finds himself banished to the
nearby small town of Sleepy Hollow to investigate a series of
mysterious killings, in which each of the victims has been
decapitated. At first, Ichabod is dismissive of reports from the
town's elders that the killer is a headless horseman who has risen from
the grave to avenge his brutal execution some years before. To
his rational mind, the murders must be the work of a deranged
psychopath. Icahbod hastily revises his opinions when he sees the
headless horseman for himself. When he discovers a connection
between each of the victims, it suddenly dawns on him that someone must
be controlling the murderous ghoul - but for what end..?
© James Travers
The above content is owned by filmsdefrance.com and must not be copied.