Constable Ichabod Crane (Johnny Depp) of the New York police arrives in the small village of Sleepy Hollow in 1799 to solve a mystery of murders. With all the victims found with their heads missing, everybody in Sleepy Hollow is talking about the ghost of the "headless horseman" who is out in the woods seeking revenge for his murder many years ago. Crane, believing only in logic, refuses to believe the public's theory about the horseman and begins his investigations, only to find his faith shattered when he himself encounters the headless horseman. Hilarity ensues. A magical tale of sense against myth.
Trivia: The scene where Ichabod Crane crosses the covered bridge and hears the frogs underneath croaking "Ichabod" and "Headless Horseman" is a tribute to Disney's 1959 animated version of "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" (featured in The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad (1949)), in which Ichabod Crane, crossing a bridge, hears the frogs croaking the same words. Director Tim Burton, a former Disney animator, has cited the Disney version of the tale as his main inspiration for the look and style of his film. The scene of Ichabod Crane riding the Horseman's horse backwards is also taken from the earlier film. There are 18 decapitations in this film. The Horseman's horse is named Daredevil, the same name of Brom Bones' (Brom Van Brunt's) horse in Irving's original short story; the horse was purchased in Seville, Spain. Star Johnny Depp adopted Goldeneye, the horse that played Gunpowder, Ichabod Crane's horse in the film, when he heard it was going to be put down. Tim Burton and the crew of the movie built the small town Sleepy Hollow complete with rooms, floors, and stairs. The town was dismantled after filming was completed. Historically, Ichabod Crane was a very unattractive man. Johnny Depp wanted to add prosthetics to his face to make himself look ugly, but Tim Burton wanted to base the character on Crane's more unattractive personality traits - his reported squeamishness and eccentricity. (Man, Kim, that was a close one!) Ichabod Crane faints six times in the movie. This film features three sith lords from the Star Wars prequels, Ray Park (Darth Maul), Christopher Lee (Darth Tyranus) and Ian McDiarmid (Darth Sidious). Richard Griffiths, Sir Michael Gambon, and Miranda Richardson have all appeared in the Harry Potter series of films. Griffiths plays Uncle Vernon, Gambon plays Albus Dumbledore, and Richardson plays Rita Skeeter.
(Note: This is a guest review written by my sister Kim. Thank you, Kim.)Let’s all say together (or the girls at least) hmmmmm, Johnny Depp. When Will asked for a guest review on his Halloween/Horror theme, the first movie that popped into my head was Sleepy Hollow. Not just because I like Johnny Depp, but because it’s a pretty good movie to begin with and with Tim Burton on your side directing, you just can’t go wrong.
Ichabod Crane (Johnny Depp) is a constable in 1799 who gets sent out in the booneys where everyone there believes that there’s a headless horsemen ghost searching the countryside for his head which was stolen from his grave. Yet Ichabod believes too much in science instead of superstition and doesn’t believe a word of the hoopla, until of course, he sees the horseman himself. Tim Burton gives us a solid picture of creepy, misty land and strange knarled trees with a headless horseman romping around and a poor sap, Icahbod, trying desperately to dispel the rumors. It’s scary enough to not let the kiddies see the move, but not so scary enough to enjoy the story. I really liked the movie, but then again, I was getting to watch Johnny Depp in a quirky character (imagine that) and so, was quit entertained.
[okay, my turn]
Well, I got to watch this one last night and I concur with Kim. The over all feel and look of the film was amazing, with the mist and the fog and the truly eerie woods. I think they did a good job on the Horseman, They used a blue mask on the stunt man and erased his head. What this did was give the Horseman the correct proportions. He looked like he was missing a head, and not that his shoulders were moved up a foot. It also gave him the ability to fight very convincingly. (okay, now to Kim's favorite subject, Johnny Depp) I thought he was great as the slightly quessy constable, a far cry from the unaware school teacher from Disney. I also liked the story because it kept you guessing on what or who was responsible for the murders, once you thought you had an idea, they would change it.
Posts
