Angie's Horror Recs: SLEEPY HOLLOW.
SLEEPY HOLLOW
(1999)
Starring: Johnny Depp, Christina Ricci, Miranda Richardson, Michael Gambon.
Directed by: Tim Burton
Rated: R.
Yes, I'm a Burton fangirl. Have been for as long as I can remember. When you grow up watching The Nightmare Before Christmas and Edward Scissorhands until your VHS tapes break, it leaves a mark on you. While I don't love all of his films, and I do have issues with some of his more recent films, his early work will always be above reproach in my book. And while I greatly enjoy several of his films, if push came to shove I'd have to say that Sleepy Hollow is my favourite Burton flick.
Why? Let me count the reasons.
ONE: The feel, the look, the atmosphere, the colours! Within five minutes you just know this is a Burton picture -- his fingerprints are everywhere, from the pumpkin-headed scarecrows to the smoky mist swirling around the twisted, skeletal trees. The palate in Sleepy Hollow is heavily saturated sepia and murky blacks; it's a dark and spooky fall, and so everything is dead or faded. Almost the entire cast dresses in blacks, dark brown, or washed out beige. The town is ominous, the woods even more so. The air of unease and supernatural dread is palpable. AND I LOVE IT. This is exactly how I imagined Sleepy Hollow to look, and how I feel every Halloween season should look. Amidst all of the murky hues, the day-glo red/pink tempera blood is especially surreal and effective.
Besides the blood, the only other vivid colours come from the simply sumptuous dresses Katrina (Ricci) and Lady Van Tassel (Richardson) wear. Which brings me neatly to number
TWO: THE COSTUMES. OH LORD, THE COSTUMES. I want to meet the costume designer and kiss their feet, because these outfits are like cocaine to me. I have an incredibly soft spot for anything set in the Victorian/turn-of-the-century period, in large part because I covet the clothes everyone wore. I love Ichabod's fitted pants and boots and waistcoats and white shirts; I love Katrina and Lady Van Tassel's elaborate dresses even more. The patterns, the details with ribbons and buttons and lace, the huge skirts and cleavage-revealing bodices -- I DIE OF HAPPY JUST LOOKING AT THEM. And you can't tell me men didn't look awfully handsome and debonair in those breeches and waistcoats and jackets. Mmmmm.
THREE: The cast. I do sincerely love Johnny Depp, though I don't fangirl over him as much as I used to. I love his cheekbones and his fabulous hair and soulful eyes, and I love how he immerses himself into his characters. He is Ichabod Crane, with all of his eccentricities and squeamishness and slight cowardice and propensity to faint at a moment's notice (I've kept track, and Ichabod faints SIX times in this film. You've gotta love when the hero of the pic faints more often than the heroine). Also gotta love his reliance on his steampunk-ish, homemade scientific tools and goggles. It wouldn't be a Tim Burton movie without some fabulous eyewear, after all. Depp said in interviews that he deliberately played Ichabod a bit over-the-top and ridiculous, gasping or screaming frequently and delivering some of his lines over-dramatically; he said he had a very classic horror vibe from the script, and so wanted to deliver a performance that wouldn't be out of place in a Hammer film. I applaud you for these choices, Mr. Depp.
Christina Ricci is wan and lovely as Katrina Van Tassel, the good witch who bewitches Ichabod. She's a very ethereal and mysterious figure from start to finish, but I also like how she's willing to leap off of burning windmills and onto racing horses when need be. Miranda Richardson is all elegant charm and slyness as Lady Van Tassel, and terrifying creepiness as the Witch of the Western Woods, playing an unsettling dual role with the ease that she always has. Michael Gambon is loud and properly condescending as Katrina's father Baltus, and the rest of the supporting cast features some fabulous character actors, famous British faces, and frequent players in Burton's cast of characters: Jeffrey Jones (the principal from Ferris Bueller), Richard Griffiths (Uncle Vernon from Harry Potter), Ian MacDiarmid (Emperor Palpatine), Michael Gough (Alfred the butler), and Christopher Lee himself as a judge.
Special note MUST be made of two of my favourite members of the supporting cast, the first being Marc Pickering as Young Masbeth, Ichabod's assistant and manservant. I don't care if this sounds creepy in the least, considering Pickering was barely a teen when he made this film, but I simply love watching him act. He's adorable, to start with, and manages to make you love him in all of a minute. He's braver than Ichabod: volunteering to go into the cursed Western Woods when the rest of the men hesitate, grabbing a rifle and defending the town in the action-packed church scene, and pushing aside Ichabod's bed to save him from the giant spider that made the detective jump onto a stool. He also gets some of the best lines, and his expressions/delivery are amazing. As someone who adores found family stories, I find myself sometimes wondering what Masbeth's life was like with Ichabod and Katrina in New York.
And then there's the Headless Horseman himself, played to batshit perfection by Christopher Walken. We all know Walken: some of us love him, some of us hate him, some of us wonder just what planet he's from. But whatever your views, he was perfectly cast as the Hessian. He screams! He roars! He chops off heads willy-nilly! He has shark teeth and rocks a sort-of-fro look and insane blue eyes! HE'S MARVELOUS, has all of eight minutes of screen time, and never says an actual word. Brilliant.
FOUR: I love the story and the way Burton adapted the original legend. For starters, he makes Ichabod a much more likable and understandable character, giving him a back story and a viable reason for interfering with the Horseman. Changing his profession from schoolteacher to detective was a wise choice, making Ichabod more proactive and heroic, while also slipping in a couple of fun comments about the archaic and downright stupid way criminology was handled at the turn of the 19th century.
The motivations behind the Horseman's rampage is also revealed by the film's end, and it's all rather dark, gothic, and satisyfingly more complex than simply "he wants a new head". There's a great use of parallels with Ichabod's journey into the supernatural and his past, as well, and I love a good parallel. And I adore how Burton took one of the first (and dare I say BEST) American ghost stories and turned it into both a horror movie and a gothic love story. Ichabod's and Katrina's relationship is great, in large part because it's so quiet compared to most tales of gothic love. They never kiss on the lips, only twice on the cheeks, and hardly ever touch. Their love is communicated mostly through looks and soft, poetic turns of phrase. And let me tell you, that makes me melt more than most torrid sex scenes ever could.
But it's not just a love story, of course not: this is, after all, Burton we're talking about here. There's plenty of macabre imagery, squick-inducing gore and mayhem, and some truly fabulous cinematography. I love the framing of the shots, especially during the pivotal church sequence, and the special effects when the Horseman leaps out of the Tree of the Dead astride his demonic steed Daredevil remains incredible. Of course, the dead bodies, sprays of blood, and decapitated heads all look just a little bit fake -- but I'd argue that that's part of the charm of the film. This movie definitely has more in common with the Hammer films of the 60s, or the classic Universal monster movies of the 30s and 40s, than it does with contemporary horror and it's obsession with realism, blues and greens, and creepy gray people who move weird. And I think that's another reason why I love it so much:
FIVE: This film is refreshing in the way it nods back to the classic, early days of horror. It's more about the atmosphere and the imagery than about the slick effects or gore. There's a sense of nostalgia I get from this movie -- it feels, strangely enough, like coming home. It's rooted firmly in the iconic past, and somehow manages to seem timeless at the same time, as all good horror films should.
If you've never seen Sleepy Hollow before, please treat yourself this Halloween. It's a fun, beautiful, and moody picture that's good for just about any age (don't let the R rating fool you -- there's far worse violence and more sexuality in most video games these days). And if you've already seen it, be sure to re-watch before Christmas starts nipping at our heels and we have to put The Nightmare Before Christmas on constant repeat.
On a scale of 1 to 10: Sleepy Hollow has a comfortable 8 in Angie B's book of the dead.
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