About a 5 minute read

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The haunting season is upon us, and I like to experience October for all its scary goodness. That means immersion in as much tension, paranormality, and jump scaring that cinema can offer. Ultimately, I’ll never be able to consume as much of it as I want — and once October ends, I’m over it — so I need to be selective with where I invest my attention. I should also preface that I’m not a horror connoisseur. I probably watch more mainstream horror and campy flicks from the 70s and 80s. On top of that, I probably disliked anything horror-related until I forced myself to watch 2003’s Texas Chainsaw Massacre multiple times. I can’t explain why that movie turned the key and unlocked the door for that genre other than maybe having a little teenage crush on Jessica Biel. Did I watch movies bordering the horror genre prior to Texas Chainsaw, yes, but I typically didn’t go back to them and usually avoided them. Lo, I’ve since matured and grown an appreciation for the genre. Horror movies, or perhaps more broadly those containing supernatural elements, are often more engaging than the mainstream releases. They are able to be more creative and take significant license with what the audience will accept. Characters can be more memorable, and the visuals are limited only by imagination. That freedom in the horror genre leads me to my first October selection, Sleepy Hollow.

Sleepy Hollow, released in 1999, is directed by Tim Burton and boasts a ridiculous cast of Johnny Depp, Christina Ricci, Michael Gambon, and Christopher Walken, on top of well-recognized supporting actors Casper Van Dien (Starship Troopers), Jeffrey Jones (Ferris Bueller’s Day Off), Richard Griffiths (Harry Potter series), Ian McDiarmid (Palpatine, obviously), and Michael Gough (Alfred from Batman). Christopher Lee even has a cameo. When it comes to crafting an immersive world with bombastic, memorable characters, Tim Burton has to be one of the all-time greats. I’m not a major Tim Burton fan; I like some of his stuff and can’t get into the rest. Regardless of how I feel about any particular entry in Burton’s catalog, I feel he’s incredibly good at pulling a viewer into bubbles of parallel realities that have no equal in imagery and character, and in Sleepy Hollow, Burton created an eerily isolated New England village that’s home to unique inhabitants. It’s this immersion that gives Sleepy Hollow its personality and creates a movie experience that sticks with you.

For the characters, Depp’s Ichabod Crane feels like his typical role. I’ve tired of the cooky schtick he seemed to adopt for all his characters, but it fits here. Plus, I love the way he says “decapitated”. I randomly say, “He was decapitated” as one of my go-to movie quotes. There aren’t many appropriate opportunities for that particular line to be used in daily conversation, but with the right audience, dropping it out of the blue is not uncommon. Burton and Depp have collaborated on so many projects it takes a moment to think of a Burton film where Depp wasn’t gliding across the screen wearing a face of puckered confusion. They are the Scorsese and DiCaprio of the silly macabre. While not everything they do suits my fancy, I appreciate that when Burton aims to achieve a certain feel and rhythm for his main character, he knows which actor will get the job done. But what allows Depp to stand apart as the lead and the world of Sleepy Hollow to become fully realized? It’s the ancillary characters and their ability to deliver maximum impact from minimal screen time.

I could probably add a blurb about each character, but to keep you interested, I’m only going to discuss two. First, we have to talk about the Headless Horseman, whose noggin-less appearance is delightfully spine-chilling. The way it moves with purpose, agility, and power quickly makes it clear why the townsfolk are terrified and introduces a creeping feeling of despair that they will never be rid of this nightmare. When the Horseman has his head, we’re treated to a wild-haired Christopher Walken, whose crazed eyes and sharply filed teeth create an unnerving visage. I went cold at the Horseman’s presence when I first watched the movie as a teenager, and that effect is still present, though now it’s more from excitement than burgeoning terror. While the Headless Horseman has always been interpreted with a certain look – no head, clad in black, carries a jack-o-lantern as a head substitute – the version crafted for Sleepy Hollow is deliciously unsettling and violent.

Next on the list of “other” characters is Christina Ricci’s Katrina. While technically the female lead, or at least the marquee actress for this film, Katrina is not a groundbreaking role, but Ricci is probably the only actress who perfectly fits this mysterious, supernatural world without having to try.  How lucky is the millennial generation to have experienced 90s Ricci? She was the ultimate quasi-goth girl to play the haunted, brooding roles of some of the most iconic family fright-fests of the decade (The Addams Family and Casper) and elevated that aura for a more mature role in Sleepy Hollow playing Crane’s love interest. I don’t know that the dynamic with Depp works, but Ricci’s sunken-eyed innocence perfectly fits Burton’s aesthetic.

And Sleepy Hollow is all about the aesthetic. Pardon my repetition – Burton is a master world builder able to transport viewers inside a sensory cocoon that sits on the fringes of reality. You think you understand how the world operates, because things look and behave as expected. But then the weird and strange take over and force you to recalibrate your perception, and that is what gives the movie experience thrilling possibilities – you are whisked away from reality and isolated from anything that could interrupt the ride. As I watched in a darkened house under a cloudy sky, I felt the cold barrenness of the village. I sensed what lurks and creaks in the shadows. Years later, and after so many views, Sleepy Hollow captures the senses and provides a thrill. The movie has quite modest scares, but the washed-out palette and bleakness of the situation weigh upon the watcher as they wait to discover the next victim and decipher how to end the Horseman’s rampage.

Sleepy Hollow is an enjoyable trip back in time that places the viewer in the midst of a supernatural legend. The setting gloriously establishes the mood of the film and creates the perfect playground for the Horseman, Ichabod Crane, and all the other characters to play their games. It’s the perfect movie to get in the Halloween mood.