“Goodbye, Ichabod Crane. I curse the day you came to Sleepy Hollow” – Christina Ricci, Sleepy Hollow (1999)
Choosing the featured Halloween movie is a big decision every year (a burden put on me by literally no one else but myself). Once I realized I still had not written a post specifically for Tim Burton’s Sleepy Hollow, there was no other competition. I grew up loving the story of Sleepy Hollow from watching Disney’s The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad (1949). I still read Washington Irving’s original story, “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” (first published in 1820) every year for Halloween. When I learned a horror adaptation of “Sleepy Hollow” directed by Tim Burton existed, I dropped whatever I was doing at the moment and watched it. Directed by the legendary Tim Burton, this adaptation of Irving’s tale takes on a darker tone with themes of skepticism, folklore, witchcraft, and dark magic.
The movie begins with a sequence of a will being transported by horse-drawn carriage. Both the driver and the passenger are beheaded by the sword of a mysterious figure. The story then cuts to New York City (circa 1799). Ichabod Crane (Johnny Depp) is a constable in New York who insists on more modern and humane methods to address crime. The courts, exhausted by his lack of conformity, assign him to investigate a recent series of brutal murders in a small farming community upstate: Sleepy Hollow.
Ichabod arrives in Sleepy Hollow during a town Halloween party. After making his way through the crowd of celebrating townsfolk, Ichabod meets Katrina Van Tassel (Christina Ricci). Upon meeting Katrina’s father and a respected farmer, Baltus Van Tassel (Michael Gambon), Ichabod learns of Sleepy Hollow’s unusual history. A spirit known as The Headless Horseman is believed to be the perpetrator of the recent murders. The Horseman was a bloodthirsty mercenary who was killed by soldiers in Sleepy Hollow during the Revolutionary War twenty years prior. With the acts of beheading that have begun to plague Sleepy Hollow, the townspeople are convinced he has returned in some unnatural way to continue his rampage.
Shortly after his arrival, Ichabod encounters his first murder. Others soon follow. With every attempt to explain the slayings, Ichabod encounters increasingly unexplainable details in his investigation. The more he tries to learn from the people of Sleepy Hollow, the more he discovers everyone carries their own secrets. Ichabod’s stay in Sleepy Hollow takes him further and further from the logic and reason he applied in the city. An undercurrent to his investigation lies in his growing feelings toward Katrina Van Tassel. Katrina is the most mysterious local of all, leading Ichabod to doubt if anyone in Sleepy Hollow can be trusted. To end the slayings, solve the mystery, and take down the villain pulling the strings, Ichabod must adapt to his nightmarish surroundings and face his traumatic past.
I just love this movie. Ichabod and Mr. Toad will always be my favorite adaptation of Irving’s story, but Burton’s Sleepy Hollow is a very close second. When I watched it for the first time as a teenager, it felt like I had found something I had always known. Its artistry, atmosphere, dark beauty, and inspired take on one my favorite stories makes Sleepy Hollow one of my all-time favorite horror films.
Happy Halloween! Watch out for horsemen.
Until next time,
Jordan
