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21 November 1999
SLEEPY HOLLOW, starring Johnny Depp, directed by Tim Burton.
Tim Burton's back. SLEEPY HOLLOW is a gas!
Macabre, spooky, funny, grotesque, and cute. When David Lynch went for baklava with the art crowd (and we never saw another ELEPHANT MAN), Tim Burton went back to the matinees, and reran some old Hammer and American International and Mario Bava flicks.
It's 1799, the "eve of a new millenium." America is barely on its feet as a new nation, barely out of the dark ages of puritan morbidity and repression. Ichabod Crane is a young, rebellious police constable who dares to using "modern" techniques of forensic investigation and deductive reasoning to solve crimes. When the brash, young city slicker is sent on an errand to upstate NY to investigate several grisly murders, he insists that he's tracking down a "madman" of flesh and blood. From there, the film gets bizarre, deliciously bizarre.
This story, or rather this adaptation, was tailor-made for Tim Burton. Everything outside is cold, dark and decaying. A weary young nation just 20 years after the Revolutionary War. Inside, all is charming and quaint, lovely fabrics and handmade objects. But underneath, a very old struggle between ancient beliefs and a fear of the unknown works its magic.
As in many of the classic Hammer horror films, a young hero represents the future. He brings with him new ideas, new technology, and a barely hidden hatred of "old ways, old prejudices." Flashbacks to a childhood tragedy reinforce Constable Ichabod Crane's rejection of both organized religion and pagan beliefs (witchcraft). The locals are convinced that the murders are the work of a supernatural madman; the hero is just as convinced that this cannot be so. Both sides of the equation are in for a gruesome surprise.Look at the Tree of the Dead (at right). Typical Burton. A deformed freak of nature grows out of the darkness, reaching for the light. Squint your eyes, and you can see that the tree almost looks like a creature, or a half-visible face. SLEEPY HOLLOW is full of such metaphors.
Go see it; prepare to be rocked to sleep in a waking nightmare.
D.B. SpaldingCare for an ASCII (print-friendly) version of this review?
