Sleepy Hollow (film)

Sleepy Hollow (1999) is a historical horror film directed by Tim Burton interpreting the legend of the Headless Horseman and based (very) loosely around the Washington Irving story The Legend of Sleepy Hollow.

Primary filming was carried out at Leavesden Film Studios.

This film was scored by Danny Elfman.

Plot

In 1799, young policeman Ichabod Crane (Johnny Depp) is sent from New York City to the fledgling settlement of Sleepy Hollow to investigate a series of ghoulish murders.

On his arrival, the town council informs him that the three victims were killed in open ground, and the heads had disappeared, taken by a headless ghost that is supposedly responsible. Ichabod is unconvinced of this, but learns more about the ghostly horseman: it is the ghost of a Hessian, sent by the British during the Revolutionary War; he was decapitated with his own sword. When Ichabod sees the ghost kill one of the town council members, his skepticism evaporates, he soon discovers that the horseman's ghost has an unholy connection to Baltus Van Tassel, a wealthy farmer, and whose daughter (Christina Ricci) Ichabod is falling in love with.

As the film goes on it is revealed that the horseman is being controlled. Icabod is convinced it is Katrina's work, and he is also convinced that she is trying to curse him. However, it is later revealed that the supposedly murdered step mother of Katrina actually stole the horseman's head and is using it to control him. The step mother summons the horseman to get her revenge upon the landlords who kicked her family out, and she later summons him again to gain an inheritence.

Icabod rescues Katrina and returns the head to the horseman. After regaining his head, the head is restored from its rotten state. The horseman then takes the step mother to hell. Icabod and Katrina return to New York and live supposedly happily ever after, in a more advanced New York.

Cast

Johnny Depp as Ichabod Crane

*Johnny Depp - Constable Ichabod Crane
*Christina Ricci - Katrina Anne Van Tassel
*Miranda Richardson - Lady Mary Van Tassel
*Sir Michael Gambon - Baltus Van Tassel
*Christopher Walken - The Headless Horseman
*Richard Griffiths - Magistrate Philipse
*Casper Van Dien - Abraham "Brom Bones" Van Brunt
*Marc Pickering - Young Masbath
*Jeffrey Jones - Reverend Steenwyck
*Christopher Lee - Burgomaster
*Ian McDiarmid - Dr. Thomas Lancaster
*Michael Gough - Notary James Hardenbrook
*Lisa Marie - Ichabod's Mother
*Claire Skinner - Midwife Elizabeth 'Beth' Killian

Trivia

* The film was shot almost entirely using a blue camera filter. Therefore, for blood to appear red, the mixture used was actually bright orange.
* Christopher Walken, who plays the Headless Horseman, played a schoolteacher in The Dead Zone (1983), in the beginning of which he tells his class to read The Legend of Sleepy Hollow.

Christopher Walken as The Headless Horseman

* Three of the actors, Christopher Lee (Burgomaster), Ian McDiarmid (Lancaster) and Ray Park (horseman stunt double), all portray villains in the Star Wars saga as Darth Tyranus, Darth Sidious and Darth Maul, respectively.
* Johnny Depp faints five times in this movie, while Christina Ricci faints twice.
Sleepy Hollow tied with Bringing Out the Dead as the last film released in America on laserdisc.
*Richard Griffiths, Sir Michael Gambon, and Miranda Richardson are all in the "Harry Potter" series of films. Griffiths plays Uncle Vernon, Gambon plays Albus Dumbledore, and Richardson plays Rita Skeeter.

External links

*Online Trailer

*Keith Short - Film Sculptor Sculpted the Tree of the Dead for this film