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72%
Overall Rating
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Ranked #479
...out of 20,736 movies
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The curse of The Headless Horseman is the legacy of the small town of Sleepy Hollow. Spearheaded by the eager Constable Ichabod Crane and his new world ways into the quagmire of secrets and murder, secrets once laid to rest, best forgotten and now reawakened, and he too, holding a dark secret of a past once gone.
--IMDb
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Review by Chad
Added: June 2, 2004
We've all heard the story of The Headless Horseman that terrorized the little town of Sleepy Hollow, but never quite like this telling of it. Ichabod Crane is a detective who disagrees with the methods of torture currently used as punishment in his hometown of New York, and is quite open about his thoughts about needing to get with the times with the local judge. The judge decides to put ol' Ichabod and his methods to the test, and sends him to the town of Sleepy Hollow to investigate a series of murders that are going on there. Upon arrival, Ichabod is informed of the legend of The Headless Horseman, and that this is the person who is doing the murdering. Apparently, the Horseman was one of a group of German soldiers sent to America by England to keep tabs on everybody, but this particular guy was quite cruel and murdered a bunch of people. Some local soldiers killed him off and decapitated him with his own sword, and now, twenty years later, his ghost is getting revenge on the town that killed him. Ichabod will have none of this, as he is a man of reason and logic, so he sets out to prove that the murderer is a living human, not some ghost back from the grave. As he investigates the happenings, he starts to find that the legend may be quite true......
Another good film from Tim Burton, though it doesn't quite hold up to his other offerings. That genius use of color in scenes that has become a staple in Burton's films is here as well, and done up to perfection; however, parts of the storyline just dragged, and some parts were quite confusing. For example, some of the scenes where Ichabod would figure out where to go next in order to solve the mystery were quite out there and illogical; there's no way he could have narrowed things down the way he did, and the way they tried to explain it just made it even worse. Had some of those gaping holes in the storyline been filled in a bit better, things would have worked out a lot better. On the plus side of things, the storyline was heavily altered from the original novel, and this actually turned out to be a good thing. The ending was completely rewritten into something much more entertaining, and many key points to the story were also changed up; so if you've read the original story that this is based on, you'll still find quite a lot of surprises throughout the film.
There was a shocking amount of gore in here for a Tim Burton film. I obviously knew there was going to be some, what with the whole decapitation of the victims story, but the amount shown was quite surprising. The blood wasn't something to rival "Dead Alive" or anything, but it was still used freely throughout the movie. However, I think that the blood used in some of the scenes was a bit too bright on the red side, so it looked a bit lame and almost comical; but the decapitations and the bodies themselves came out looking very good.
Overall, I'd say this is worth a rental if you enjoyed the original story, or just like some toned-down Hollywood ghost films. 7/10.
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#2:
smilesallround
- added September 8, 2004 at 11:03pm
this is my all time favourite Johnny Depp movie
he's such a ood actor and this is deffenetly shown
in this film!
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#3:
Stary_Night_sky
- added September 25, 2004 at 10:23pm
Good movie..but it's not something you would want
to watch over and over. Rent it. Johnny Depp is
amazing (as always), so the acting isn't really in
question. The story line isn't too fabulous
though.
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#4:
Symx
- added February 4, 2005 at 7:07pm
I recommend owning this movie. It does a great job
of telling the story of sleepy hollow, and was
much better than I expected. I loved the gore in
here, especially when he was chopping the tree and
blood was spewing out everywhere.
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#5:
blasphemous girl
- added April 16, 2005 at 12:00am
Johnny Depp.. gorgeous as always. this movie tells
the story of sleepy hollow very well. i don't own
this movie.. but wish i did.
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#6:
Ginose
- added September 9, 2005 at 5:49pm
Preety good... it's not really scary though... and
I really don't have a true atachment to it... but
oh well... people like what they like. (And
apparently that's Johnny Depp, LOL)
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#7:
Dametria
- added April 24, 2007 at 11:08am
Nothing really scary to this movie but the imagery
is STUNNING! I bought it just to watch the pretty
pictures lol
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#8:
Crispy
- added October 28, 2007 at 12:50am
They should do Red Riding Hood in this style.
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#9:
Ginose
- added October 28, 2007 at 12:59am
Agreed. They should also make the actress to play
Red Riding Hood 19 years-old, nubile and scantally
clad... and then get Titno Brass to direct
it...
...if they had made it a few
years back, I would have gone with Walerian
Borowczyk... but we work with what we have.
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#10:
Crispy
- added October 28, 2007 at 1:04am
I didn't say turn it into an acid trip of a porn
flick. I mean, that'd be awesome and I'd pick it
up real quick and in a hurry, but what say that's
a second, unrelated project.
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#11:
Ginose
- added October 28, 2007 at 1:13am
...well you didn't specify either...
And,
face it, that's arthouse movie of the decade,
right there.
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#12:
Tristan
- added October 28, 2007 at 1:14am
They did do Little Red Riding Hood like this. It's
called The Company of Wolves, and it's on here.
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#13:
Crispy
- added October 28, 2007 at 1:26am
Sweet! Thanks for the heads up man, that's getting
pushed right up to the front of the queue.
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#14:
MerrysMiko
- added July 30, 2008 at 11:10pm
This film illustrates absolutely everything that I
love about my Holy Trinity of filmmaking. If it's
directed by Tim Burton, stars Johnny Depp, and is
scored by Danny Elfman, I'm guaranteed to love it.
I have yet to see a movie these men have put out
that I do not like. Sleepy Hollow is definitely my
favorite of the bunch, with the wonderful
mood-color scenes, blood like red sealing wax,
beautifully produced beheadings (and bisecting, in
one case), and just a lovely creepy feeling. Also,
this film features Miranda Richardson as the
wickedest stepmother you will EVER see. When put
into a fairy-tale-type role with elaorate hairdos
and flowing gowns, this woman can do no wrong. I
have loved her as Mrs. Van Tassel, Queen Maab
("Merlin"), and even in an obscure
little production of "Snow White" where
she played the evil Queen. And who could fail to
love Christopher freaking Walken as the Headless
Horseman! (I have a banner somewhere or other of
the Horseman shouting in battle with the caption,
"I said MORE COWBELL!") I love love LOVE
this movie and watch it faithfully with several
girlfriends, lots of popcorn, and plenty of spiked
cider every Hallowe'en. 10/10
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#15:
johannesfaust
- added February 27, 2009 at 7:59pm
good movie, Tim Burton knows how to create a dark
atmosphere in a movie...8/10
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#16:
Tristan
- added August 1, 2009 at 1:47am
Just watched this for the first time since the VHS
days. Still a great little film that holds up
well.
8.5/10
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