Sleepy Hollow (VIDEO SCRIPT)

Today on Film Friday, I take a look at Tim Burton’s american gothic slasher horror, Sleepy Hollow. Let’s begin.

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/Sleepy Hollow is a mystery-horror piece inspired by “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” by Washington Irving, released in 1999 by Paramount Pictures. It stars Johnny Depp as Ichabod Crane, reimagined as a New York constable in the year 1799 who is trying to get the New York Police Department to utilize forensic science in distributing its justice. As a way to test his methods -- and to get him out of the NYPD’s hair -- he’s sent to the upstate village of Sleepy Hollow in order to utilize his methods and capture a killer who has decapitated 3 villagers. But upon his investigation, he’s introduced to the supernatural entity that is the Headless Horseman, and now has to unwrap a mystery of conspiracy and witchcraft in order for the grisly murders to stop.

Readers, I can’t speak for all of us, but I was definitely one of those Millennials who learned about the Legend of Sleepy Hollow in early Elementary School during storytime.

We read the Little Golden version of the story with the version of Ichabod Crane from Disney’s Ichabod and Mr. Toad. As a matter of fact, the Disney version of Legend of Sleepy Hollow that was part of that anthology movie was the very first version of the story I ever saw on film.

Now I was an 11 year old 6th Grader by the time this movie was released. I had a better understanding of what it took to make a movie, and the importance of directors and directing styles after experiencing such a hard shift between Batman Returns and Batman Forever.

With that being said, to say that seeing that the man who directed the two Batman movies I liked was making a movie based on a 10-page story I was told in Elementary School got me excited was a bit of an understatement.

And because my mom didn’t think anything of it -- because she probably experienced the same versions of the story as I did -- we went to see it together. Completely forgetting the fact that it was Rated R.

So when the two of us saw the first white dude get decapitated we were all like:

OH. So they KILLIN’ killin’. I see. (slowly eats popcorn)

Now, by that time, this wasn’t my first rodeo regarding reinterpretations and alternate tellings of stories.

Not even four years prior, I experienced Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: The Movie, which told a COMPLETELY different tale of how the Power Rangers received their Ninjetti Zords than the canonized version we got in the show.

/So seeing that the movie took the bumbling, unconventional-looking scaredy-cat goofball that was Ichabod Crane and turned him into a mildly attractive detective from New York City with the closest thing we’ve ever seen a real life human mimic the hairstyle of an anime protagonist because Tim Burton loves to project himself on to characters portrayed by Johnny Depp wasn’t that surprising to me./

If anything, it was the combination of the original story and how elements of the traditional folk tale were weaved in that sold me on how this film was presented to me as a child and still holds up now that I’m an adult.

/The tale of the Headless Horseman is still the talk of the town in Sleepy Hollow. Brom still dresses like the Headless Horseman to scare Ichabod away because he’s an insecure piece-of-shit bully that doesn’t like anyone making eyes at “his girl.” The only bit about the short story that wasn’t utilized was the lore about the horseman not being able to cross the bridge, and even that was still visually depicted in an interesting way./

What also helped is that even though they changed elements about his character to better reflect the story they were trying to tell, Johnny Depp’s version of Ichabod Crane was very much still what I pictured Ichabod Crane to be.

Considering that I didn’t really retain his performance of Edward Scissorhands when I first saw it as a child, this was the first Tim Burton project with him in it that initially stuck. And thus, it was the first time I experienced his abilities of being a character actor.

/His mannerisms were quirky and awkward, just like I initially pictured Crane to be. He was bumbling and clumsy at times, just like I initially pictured Crane to be. Despite his deep want to solve the crime in order to properly prove a form of scientific method when seeking justice in the judicial system, he’s a coward, even at the end of the movie. Despite him not being a Sleepy Hollow native like in the original folk tale, Johnny Depp’s Ichabod Crane is still Ichabod Crane/

And let me tell you. As a child, those elements of familiarity -- especially carrying over the character quirks of Ichabod -- helped me better digest the original story happening around it, and was one of the first bit of media outside of Power Rangers that taught me how to take something that currently exists and formulate a completely fresh narrative with its elements.

/In the case of the original legend of Sleepy Hollow, it was transformed into a late 18th century american gothic slasher horror mystery written by Andrew Kevin Walker; the man behind the script of David Fincher’s Seven, future script doctor for Fight Club, and the 2010 reboot of the 1941 version of Lon Chaney Jr.’s Wolfman starring Benecio Del Toro/

/And then of course you have the performances of Dumbledore II, Lydia’s Dad, Alfred, Emperor Palpatine, Vernon Dursely.../

Oh. And outside of the Christopher Walken parts, the Headless Horseman was played by Darth Maul.

Like, Star Wars The Phantom Menace Darth Maul.

Like, Toad from the first X-Men movie Darth Maul.

THAT Darth Maul.

Man, no wonder I like this movie so much.

Speaking of which, I...kinda love the supernatural mystery angle in this story?

Like, I always loved it; even as a kid. The idea that someone has control over the Headless Horseman and is using him to kill off everyone that would lay claim to the fortune of the richest family in Sleepy Hollow is actually on some Scooby Doo and the Witch's Ghost-ass shit, real talk.

Actually, I think it’s accurate to say that this movie was my introduction to the concept of human beings having the capability of controlling ghosts, demons and spirits to do their bidding.

/And then you have everything that plays into it once that aspect of the story is revealed. From Depp’s Crane finding out that the Horseman is being controlled once he’s accepted the fact that he’s real, him going over the clues to see who would be responsible, and even the cheesiness of Lady Van Tassel’s monologue once it’s revealed she’s the one behind it all. It was like watching a gory take on an episode of Angela Lansbury’s Murder She Wrote with your grandma; everything was peak murder mystery in all of the fun and entertaining ways the tropes should be presented./

/Add the overall aesthetic that usually comes with Tim Burton’s more darker projects, and you can already see the appeal./

Speaking of which, the aesthetic of Sleepy Hollow that was created by Burton just...works for the story it's telling.

Like I stated before, it's very American gothic. The country is only 23 years old at this point, so the mix of Georgian era fashion mixed in with whatever individualism it came up with at the time gave the movie a certain feel.

/Because of it, the contrast between Ichabod Crane’s individual style and Sleepy Hollow’s British homages was palpable once he arrived on the scene./

It’s like playing Resident Evil 4 or -- in my case -- watching someone play Resident Evil 4 for the first time; Ichabod Crane with his dark, yet high society fashion from the big city, is to Leon Kennedy, as the muted Sleepy Hollow in upstate New York is the rural Spanish village trapped in time. But y’know...instead of Las Plagas, you have witches and headless horsemen from Germany.

Then again, people did start losing their heads to Las Plagas once the parasite was too far gone. Hmmm

Anyway, there’s also the use and color of blood, which actually fits into Burton’s gothic aesthetic

One of the contrasts with Sleepy Hollow are the muted tones when it comes to the colors.

It gets to the point where the only contrast in bright and vibrant colors in this regard is the blood, which was actually bright orange in real life in order for it to get the vibrant red that’s not only in this movie, but in his adaptation of Sweeney Todd as well.

The reason why is because Tim Burton actually grew up with a wide array of horror, as you can imagine. Edward Scissorhands and even Frankenweenie proved that he loved the black-and-white classics considering those films both starred Vincent Price and had characters inspired by Vincent Price within them respectively.

He also loved the turn-of-the-decade horror movies just as much; films from the late 50’s and early 60s. Films like Christopher Lee’s take of Dracula, where the blood is always the brightest bit of color in the scene to draw your eyes to it; to show you that it’s somewhere it’s not supposed to be in order to raise the stakes. Pun not intended.

/Like Sweeney Todd after it, Sleepy Hollow is a marriage of those two aspects of horror represented in visual media. The muted almost monochromatic tones of the atmosphere, buildings, clothes and overall aesthetic of the movie matching that of what he loves from the golden years of horror, and the bright blood of the late 50s and early 60’s to draw your eye to something ominous, dangerous, frightening and visceral. It’s one of the few things I’ve come to appreciate about his take on horror now that I have an eye mature enough to appreciate it./

But I’m not not going to just sit here and act like I didn’t have ANY problems with this movie. Especially now that I can look at it with said matured eyes.

/Though one thing I think is safe to say that both my current self and my 11 year old self can agree on, is that whatever romantic chemistry the movie tried to tell us was happening between Ichabod and Katrina did NOT exist./

/The kiss she gave him during the game he interrupted in their first meet and the brief talk they had upon discussing her favorite literature, was pretty much all the time they had to see if they were digging each other before the two were ready to lock lips when Ichabod and Masbath were looking for the Horseman’s resting place. That wasn’t enough time. Maybe if more happened between those moments, I could believe that there was something between them, but literally nothing else happened. Not even the moment they shared when Ichabod showed her his image toy was enough to justify it./

From then on out, every other type of interaction between Ichabod and Katrina before she caught on that he was accusing her father of controlling the Horseman, felt more like him confiding in a friend than two people who were falling for each other.

Every attempt to make it seem like they were becoming an item either felt too forced for it to be believable, or ended in a way that felt like they mutually understood their relationship would be forever in the Friend Zone.

Like THIS cheesy-ass shit.

/(Because you bewitched me) Okay, bruh.../

Maybe if friendship was the route they went with their relationship from the get-go, I could see it working out a bit better than what the narrative eventually went with it.

But you know how Straights are; always shoving their hetero-romantic relationships down our throats...

Also, now that I’ve seen this movie with the eyes of a 30+ year old man that both appreciates and practices the art of storytelling, there are elements of Ichabod’s arc and development I wish were a bit more fleshed out.

First of all, I felt that his initial want for scientific and factual understanding to be achieved with his development arc was too rushed to feel like he actually achieved it.

/Don’t get me wrong; his flashbacks regarding his mother and his father’s overzealousness explaining his desire for science, fact and reasoning in his detecting methods as an adult were both well handled and visually stunning for what they were able to do in the late 90’s. I just wish there was a better way of incorporating that into the main story as a clear obstacle in his development he has to accomplish./

Like, yes; the point of him encountering the Headless Horseman is to show him that not everything can be scientifically explained, that there are things and elements out there that exist in our world beyond the point of fact and reasoning.

But when you are developing a character, you are pretty much putting them on an obstacle course. The finish line is the goal the character wants to accomplish, and the obstacles represent the hurdles they have to overcome in one way or another in order to reach it.

The entity that is the horseman? A great obstacle for him.

Depicting that someone of flesh and blood was controlling the Horseman and thus proving his point that someone alive is behind the murders? An easy-breezy hurdle that gets him closer to the finish line after having to basically climb the Tim Burton equivalent of the Aggro Crag that was the acceptance of the Headless Horseman.

/Him successfully solving the mystery the second time around after coming to the wrong conclusion the first? The very last wall he has to climb over before reaching the finish line. The obstacle course that is Ichabod Crane’s development in this movie is not only damn near perfect, but he actually makes it to the finish line./

But if the purpose of the course is to have him utilize his skills in forensic science and deductive reasoning to prove that it's the way of the future while at the same time have him realize that there are just some things in this world that can’t be explained through the understanding of mankind, then it kind of falls short.

/Yes, he crosses the finish line. He’s able to use his abilities of forensics and deductive reasoning to explain the human motives behind the supernatural killings. But now that he has what he wants considering everything he had to overcome to get it, how does he feel about it? How has the obstacle course changed him? What understanding has he come to regarding the mix that allows him to continue on with his daily life upon the turn of the century like we see upon his return to New York with Katrina and Masbath? He was clearly sent there for a reason. What did he even present to the judicial system when he returned?/

The reason why Ichabod’s arc never felt complete was because it simply wasn’t. We saw him overcome everything and use his skills to solve the mystery, but the glimpses we have regarding how it changed him over the course of it were minimal.

And while we KNOW the resolution of his journey is a positive one, we never see how that was achieved.

When it comes to stories like this, sticking the landing is just as important as performing the maneuvers. And while points were definitely awarded for the maneuvers, the lack of a solid landing takes away from the overall presentation.

/A way of possibly correcting this I think would be that once it was revealed Katrina practiced witchcraft, there could be another element about his mother -- who in his childhood flashbacks was clearly depicted of practicing it, and was even MURDERED for it -- that’s revealed in the narrative; either relating to the overall story, or revealing something new about Crane that he can use to “stick the landing” of his development arc by the time he properly deducts Lady Van Ness as the culprit./

Not only would it give more worth to the flashback scenes when he finally reveals to Katrina why he’s so gung-ho for forensic science and deductive reasoning, but also makes us care more for both Ichabod and Katrina as characters.

/Especially Katrina, considering her mother ALSO dabbled in it and would open up a door for us to explore a bit more of that info. Because outside of that fact and her making a potion and some protection sigils, there’s no other reasoning the movie gives us as to why her practicing witchcraft is important to the movie./

Though, even with these critiques, I still think that Sleepy Hollow is a pretty decent horror mystery that surprisingly still holds up with a lot of its practical and digital effects

Yes, even the ones meant for comedic effect.

/Not only is it a Halloween favorite of mine, but out of all the Tim Burton/Johnny Depp collabs that exist in this universe -- and lord knows enough of them exist -- this film is definitely number 1 of my top 3. A list that...only contains 3./

Right now, you can stream Sleepy Hollow with a Netflix subscription.

But if you want to buy a copy for yourself and help financially support the channel, I’ll have an affiliate link for you to pick up a copy in the description down below.

So with that being said Readers, your homework assignment for the day: Write in the comment section below what YOU thought of Sleepy Hollow if you’ve seen it.

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