Write a commentThe name Fay's Drugs is probably not how most people would expect a movie review would begin.
For those who are not familiar, Fay's was essentially the precursor to stores like Walgreens or Kinney Drugs. The location in question still exists but as a Planet Fitness. I guess the building is destined to keep people in good health.
Anyway, I recall one day in an autumn a long time ago, my father and I went to Fay's. As this was likely nearly 35 years ago, I don't recall the purpose for the visit. As we were checking out, the register had a small display for a VHS. Even when I was that young, cover art for movies was somewhat of an obsession. This particular cover had a lanky man on a horse with what looked to be some sort of demon behind him, holding a flaming pumpkin.
My father noticed this, picking up the VHS. He chuckled to himself. "You know what this is," he asked.
Looking back on this question, it was kind of ridiculous for him to ask considering he was primarily responsible for what I watched so you'd think he'd know whether or not I knew what the movie was.
I shook my head.
"Oh. You're in for a treat," he laughed.
He slid the VHS to the cashier. The cashier bagged our items and we went home. We didn't watch it just yet. The reaction my father had to this VHS was a curious one. One that I took note of, even as a child. My father loved to share things he loved with me. Rare was the occasion that something he loved would was something I could actually see at my age.
The anticipation was horrible. What was this movie? Why was my father so excited about it? Why did he laugh like he was getting away with something?
Days, maybe even weeks, later, we finally watched it. "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" appeared on the screen. What followed was an exhilarating and terrifying experience. Despite the fact that this film was animated, it was made well before most people cared about traumatizing children. The most baffling thing about the short film was that it was fun and airy until the final sequence where our protagonist (SPOILER) is presumably killed.
I use "presumably" here because it's treated like a disappearance. Ichabod Crane has a flaming pumpkin thrown at him, he screams and the only thing left of him is a shattered pumpkin and his hat. AND THIS IS SOMETHING THAT WAS MEANT FOR CHILDREN.
The laugh my father kept having was because he was getting away with something. He wanted to lull me into a false sense of security with the fact that it was animated and then give me the one-two punch of it actually being scary with actual danger. Later in life, he did this with other films as well as television shows like "The Twilight Zone" and "The Outer Limits". He figured that if it was in black and white or animated, it was appropriate to show his child. And then he was surprised when I grew up with anxiety.
I don't think this was something sadistic so much as mischievous. He liked telling me scary stories or watching "Unsolved Mysteries" with me. It wasn't always about the quality of the thing we were watching as much as it was about the time we spent together. We'd watch things, he'd gauge my reaction and see if I was ready for something a bit more intense.
"The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" became a holiday tradition. As I was obsessive even as a child, I wanted to watch it all the time. My father wanted me to hold off and watch it only in October. All year I would look forward to watching it and, when it came time to watch it, we made an event out of it. Popped popcorn, poured apple cider and enjoyed every second of it.
Because I was limited as to how many times I could watch it, my parents bought me Washington Irving's original story. I had several adaptations of it, including one where Glenn Close narrated it on a cassette tape. I vividly recall listening to it at the kitchen table and getting so freaked out that I had to turn it off and leave it for the night.
As the years passed, I sought out other adaptations but none of them really captured the same magic as the Disney animated version. It was a high bar to clear for me.
Then, it happened.
Back before the internet was as ubiquitous as it currently is, most movie trailers were only able to be viewed in theaters. But, there was a show on E! that compiled trailers for upcoming films in a half hour block. Believe it or not, there were commercials for the show that was just a series of commercials for movies.
One week, they prominently featured a trailer for Tim Burton's "Sleepy Hollow". My 16 year old brain couldn't take it. Things seemed to be changed from the original story, but the look and feel of this trailer was like a glass of cool water after walking through a desert. For over a decade, I had been waiting for a proper adaptation of my favorite story. At the time, Tim Burton was one of my favorite directors and he was directing it.
I found a VHS and I taped the episode of the trailer show. Almost every day leading up to the release, I watched the trailer at least twice. As I write this, I have the trailer playing in the background and just the sounds are bringing me back to 1999.
You have to realize, or maybe you remember, 1999 was one of the best years for film that I've experienced in my lifetime. While I was always interested in horror, that year specifically was a watershed moment for me. That year alone saw "The Haunting", "The Blair Witch Project" and "The Sixth Sense" all within the same few weeks. It was an embarrassment of riches.
And "Sleepy Hollow" was still on the way.
In subsequent episodes of the trailer show as well as other trips to the cinema, I realized there was going to be a problem. My father was an enormous James Bond fan. Back at the time, TBS would show James Bond movies during the holidays. We would always make sure to watch what we could when they aired. This was before we owned them all on VHS and before being able to record things as we do now. When something aired, you had to be in front of the TV to watch it.
That year, the latest James Bond film "The World Is Not Enough" was releasing. My father and I were both anticipating this film as well. When I checked the date it was releasing, my heart dropped.
11/19/99.
Same day as "Sleepy Hollow".
I informed my father, wind taken out of my sails entirely. "You're not going to believe this. The new James Bond movie and "Sleepy Hollow" are coming out on the same day."
Confused, he said, "So?"
I said, "So...that means we can only see one Friday and I guess we'll have to see the other Saturday. I just...ugh. Of course, right?"
He thought for maybe half a second. "Why don't we see both?"
That had never occured to me. Two movies on the same day? Was he nuts? This doesn't happen and Mom is certainly not going to allow it.
I said, "What...I don't. Both of them?"
He nodded. "Yeah, why not?"
So, that's what we did. "The World Is Not Enough" first and then "Sleepy Hollow" after. When we bought the tickets, the employee was excited for us. It was an amazing evening. The logic behind us seeing those movies in that order is that we were saving the horror movie for later in the night. Sound logic on my father's part.
Burton's "Sleepy Hollow" strays from Irving's source material. Instead of Ichabod being an awkward, lanky schoolmaster, he's a constable that looks like late 90s Johnny Depp. In fairness, Depp wanted to don a prosthetic nose so he would look more like the classic character, but it was decided that he shouldn't. Similar to the original story, The Headless Horseman is terrorizing a small town, but, this time, it's in the form of a series of murders. Ichabod is sent to Sleepy Hollow to investigate and we're off to the races.
The film is a visual delight. From the costumes, to the Academy Award winning production design, to the cinematography by Emmanuel Lubezki, there is always something on screen that draws your eye. If you were to put this film on in the background at a Halloween party, I'm sure you'd have more than a couple of your patrons sitting down to watch it.
While Depp is physically different from Irving's Crane, his performance is spot-on. Crane was always described as somewhat arrogant but also somewhat of a coward. For me, this is one of Depp's greatest performances. He's having fun in the role while also getting us to empathize with him. Crane is not a perfect man, but that imperfection is what makes him so relatable. He is a coward forced to be a hero. He has a strong moral compass which propels him through the more tense situations. After all, can someone truly be considered a coward when they do something despite being scared to death?
Danny Elfman's musical score has essentially become the soundtrack to every October for me since the release of the film. It is dark, brooding, thrilling and beautiful all at once. Elfman is firing on all cylinders for the duration of the film and it's continually baffling to me that this was not nominated for an Oscar. The man has created some of the most recognizable scores of the last 40 years but has yet to win an Academy Award.
For fans of the animated "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow", you'll be pleased to know that Burton has thrown in a few Easter eggs from the short into his film. Much of the film has a lightness to it that Burton has lost since. At 105 minutes, the movie is a breeze. It's funny, thrilling and scary in equal measure. This is Burton at his very best. While he has done some other films since that have been good, I feel that he hasn't ever matched the heights of "Sleepy Hollow".
If I had a gripe (or two) about the film and took off my rose-tinted glasses for a moment, it would be Christina Ricci and the sort of slasher movie plot. With Ricci, she's beautiful for sure, but much of her dialogue is delivered with a strange flatness. I can't help but be reminded of high school theater when some of the actors were really swinging for the fences with certain accents. Had Ricci been paired with a different actor, maybe one that wasn't as talented as Depp, the disparity wouldn't be as evident. She's a fine actress and I don't mean to harp on her exactly, but if there was a weak point in the acting, it would be her.
In regards to the plot, there are some spoilers.
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In the original story, The Headless Horseman was essentially a force of nature. He just kinda came out anytime someone was in the area, terrorized and/or killed them and was gone by the morning. This film has him killing people left and right. At the beginning of the film, it is admittedly pretty cool. They turn him into a slasher. Where the film kinda trips up is when they have to explain why The Headless Horseman kills.
What we end up finding out is the stepmother of Ricci's character has stolen The Headless Horseman's skull and is basically playing keep away with it until he does her bidding. There's some information about how Ricci's character's father evicted her stepmother's mother and they grew up in poverty so she wanted to exact some kind of revenge. It's all kinda convoluted and probably not entirely necessary for the film. It doesn't bog the film down, not in the slightest. It just seems like a kind of rudimentary plot for such a classic story.
**********************SPOILERS END************************
All in all, "Sleepy Hollow" is one of the best horror films ever made. It has everything you'd want in a horror film and it doesn't waste any screen time getting through the plot. If you've seen it, you know what I mean. If you haven't, do yourself a favor and find it.
I'll always remember it as the film when I was introduced to the concept of a double feature. When my tiny brain was opened up to all the possibilities that a full evening at the movies could bring.
I've spent a lot of my life chasing that night. For many years, I've always asked "Why?" in certain situations. If my father taught me anything, it's that sometimes "Why not?" is the more appropriate question.
For those of you who know Burton, many of you may know that one of his favorite directors is Mario Bava. One of Bava's most famous films is called "Kill, Baby...Kill!". If you seek this film out, you'll see many similarities between this and "Sleepy Hollow".
Sleepy Hollow (1999)
Directed by Tim Burton
Cast: Johnny Depp, Christina Ricci, Miranda Richardson, Michael Gambon, Casper Van Dien, Jeffrey Jones, Richard Griffiths, Ian McDiarmid, Michael Gough, Christopher Walken, Marc Pickering, Lisa Marie, Christopher Lee, Martin Landau
Runtime: 105 minutes
MPAA Rating: Rated R for graphic horror violence and gore, and for a scene of sexuality.
Rating (out of ****): ****
"Sleepy Hollow" is available on 4K Blu-Ray and on streaming via Paramount+ (with a subscription) and most other streaming platforms to buy in digital form.
