Sleepy Hollow

The so-not-a-fairy-tale fairy tale.

Sleepy Hollow is the chilling production from everyone's favourite gothic-psycho-director , Tim Burton, whose works include the stunningly marvelous Edward Scissorhands and the stunningly awful Batman.

Sleepy Hollow is an adaptation of what is, apparently, a famous American fairy tale. Having never heard of anything like it, I find it's 'famous' status somewhat dubious, but nevertheless admire it's gripping story. Being a great fan of fairy stories, my hopes were not high for a children's folk tale rated 15, but was pleasantly surprised. A tip for all new mother's though, possibly don't tell the bloody headless horseman slash madwoman slash evil witch slash blood/gore/fully blood and guts horror for a calming evening in with the kiddies until they're just about old enough for rock n roll and shaving foam.

Sleepy Hollow won no awards whatsoever for it's special effects - the highest praise any stunt/effects team can receive. Unnoticed effects are surely the whole aim? Watching from a critic's point of view I can honestly say some of the effects were so unnoticeable and completely not-there that I was blown away by the nothingness!! A brilliantly chosen cast boasts many famous faces, Michael Gambon, Christopher Lee, Richard Griffiths, Michael Gough, Miranda Richardson, Casper Van Dien and Christina Ricci provide a totally convincing blend of characters and back up the flawless Johnny Depp, whose performance exceeds his own superb standard. Depp's character is perfectly portrayed as a squeamish and ambitious Ichabod Crane, and is delicately laced with humour. The music of this production supplies a haunting atmosphere, whilst retaining the idea of a fairy tale with it's 'tinkling' quality from Danny Elfman's second score with Burton.

The overall style of this film is a fairly gothic appearance with subtle undertones of psychologically grating storylines. It's genre is classified as horror at face value, but the film also boasts some classic humour and a well-played love tale, as expected of a fairy tale. Despite an element-packed piece, Sleepy Hollow does not crowd it's audience with over-arty showy-offy sets and characters, but blends together the naturalistic elements of traditional theatre with the wow-factor of modern films.

Although a small complaint, it must be noticed that the film shows very little of the carefully crafted backgrounds to the scenes. Hardly any indulgent interior shots are used, which, in some cases, would be a positive factor, but in a Tim Burton production, the audience is so enticed that they just WANT to see the explicitly molded gothic masterpiece sets. There's nothing quite like staring at dust and chunks of polystyrene on a Saturday night.