spookky!
Sleepy Hollow
Written by NChick Saturday, 27 October 2012 15:34
Bumper art by Phillip Murphy
Comments (158)
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10.27.2012 - 17:25 | rzeiler
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10.27.2012 - 19:47 | rzeilerall I really remember about this movie is that Johnny Depp faints in like every scene.
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10.27.2012 - 18:09 | Give1Take2
A very interesting review. ^^
To be honest, I can't remember anything about Tim Burton's Sleepy Hollow except the mom being killed by the preacher (didn't even know he was supposed to be Johnny Depp's--er, Ichabod's father) and that it had a lot of silly, ridiculous, bloody, gorey murder scenes. Oh, and that it didn't make any sense. And it was nothing like the book.
...
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10.27.2012 - 19:15 | EmperorSamWow, this is so great. I thought it was Todd doing the Walken impression at first, but Doug does a pretty good one. Weirdly enough, I don't remember the movie being this bad, but apparently it is.
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10.27.2012 - 21:30 | LunaBuna
It was actually Rob doing the impression. I coulda sworn it was him and got thrown off by your comment, but come the credits-- yup! :) He was awesome as Walken in that Hotel Awesome skit.
And IIRC, I think I got maybe 5 minutes into this movie .. probably when it aired on TV ... and went: NOPE. I don't know anyone that liked it and found no reason for me to see it myself. Glad I dodged that bullet.
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10.28.2012 - 13:48 | Vismutti
Oh, it's not that bad! Okay, I guess to each their own... But I really do like it, even with its flaws.
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10.27.2012 - 21:44 | EpicFish
Even though it's not Doug, it's his brother Rob doing the Walken impression. I honestly thought it was Jon (ChaosD1). He does a great Walken impression!
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03.08.2013 - 12:06 | Jendrexylnostalgia chick doesnt say its a bad movie she kinda likes it but says the end doesnt make sense.I think its definitely not the worst tim burton film and fitting to his style.he should go for stories like this
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10.27.2012 - 19:17 | Dakota The Mad
You know. If you think about it, that montage with all the decapitations and death at 1:44 could have been used as a 5 Second Movie.
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10.27.2012 - 19:35 | WadegroveHonestly, I kinda enjoyed it up until the part they visited the lady in the woods.
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10.27.2012 - 23:16 | LikaLaruku
Exposition time.
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10.27.2012 - 19:40 | haddr_maul
Great Review and nice mention of Ray Park (for those who don't know he was the horseman during the fight scenes...and Darth Maul, funny since the Emperor himself is in this too) I liked it for the same reason.. It wasn't easily put into any genre. Plus, as a swordsman I like seeing decapitations by sword in film :)
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10.27.2012 - 19:51 | Guild Navigator
The "true" wives' tale of the headless Hessian was supposedly not originated from that area but from around Yorktown. Hell,Sleepy Hollow wasn't even called that (it was called Tarrytown) until the mid-90s.
Burton's Sleepy Hollow is one of those movies that I'm the first to recognize it's not great (yeah,that kid sucked) but that I still like it purely because its mise en scene. Ever seen a Rembrandt painiting called The Anatomy Lesson? Well,this movie is like that whole painting in motion. It's dark and sombre tinges sprinkled with German surrealism touches that are Burton's fetish-like trademarks.
What? No Halloween song? Bummer... :(
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10.28.2012 - 13:51 | VismuttiYou mean Dutch surrealism?
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10.27.2012 - 19:59 | TheSparkyChick
YES! EVEN THOUGH I HATE TIM BURTON. YES!
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10.27.2012 - 20:09 | Rue_Ryuzaki2
Yeah I'll watch it again if I see it playing on tv sometime this month.
Oh Christopher Walken your funny. Hmmm speaking about him playing supernatural oriented characters(I believed the Horseman is suppose to be a spectre)I wonder is anyone on the site plan on doing the Prophecy movies he was in soon? It would be entertaining seeing those reviews. haha.
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10.27.2012 - 20:17 | TheBechtloff
You need to start doing smoother transitions into your commercial breaks NC. Just saying.
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10.27.2012 - 20:52 | Mothmouth
Thank god this is one of those few Tim Burton movies I've never seen. This movie is awful... just awful. I think I prefer Sweeney Todd, thank you very much.
I have to admit that your new bumper artist is pretty good.
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10.27.2012 - 23:15 | LikaLarukuYou can't say it's awful if you never saw it; that makes you a hypocrite.
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10.28.2012 - 14:09 | dennett316
No it doesn't, it just makes their opinion worthless. To be a hypocrite they'd have to criticise someone else for doing the same thing they just did.
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10.27.2012 - 23:51 | AlucardsQuest
You've never seen this film, and yet you know it's horrible? What are you, fucking psychic?
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10.28.2012 - 12:04 | GernBlanstonNot only do you think a movie you've never seen is awful, you missed the part where Lindsay said she liked it in spite of its flaws.
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10.27.2012 - 20:55 | fanime1
Aw, I remember this film. I saw this instead of some Pokemon movie with my dad. It was a wonderful night for me. I was such a scaredy cat as a child, so I felt so proud of myself that I got through it. I was still terrified, but I found myself enjoying it anyway. Because of this, and the fact that I'm such a Tim Burton geek, it holds a special place in my heart. I even have the VHS, but haven't seen it in awhile. I'll admit that I know it's silly now, but I still love it. BTW, Rob did SUCH a great job as Christopher Walken. Seriously, best impersonation of him EVER! He should get an award or something. So yeah, I laughed a lot at this review and not just at the Christopher Walken parts. I'm also glad I got to see what the real Sleepy Hollow looks like...yeah...Anyway, I do think being sexually assaulted by any guy with pointy teeth is a very painful punishment, kind of silly but effective nonetheless.
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10.27.2012 - 21:01 | HydrassasThe whole thing with the horseman not being able to cross the bridge comes back to the belief that evil spirits cannot cross running water on their own... Thinking about that for a moment does lend credence to the belief that spirits are made up on electromagnetic energy because I'm pretty sure if you put an electromagnetic field over a stream or something like that then the moving water would absorb some of the field and cause it to disperse much more quickly as the water became charged and continued to flow, then there's iron which is highly magnetic and can hold a charge, salt which ionic and so on think about it. ;)
Also, the tale of the headless horseman is more than likely a spinoff of a faerie (and yes I do mean fairy) known as a Dullahan. In short you do -not- want a Dullahan on your tail as no amount of locks and chains will stop them as they'll just open and fall off, if you see one it will throw a bowl of blood over you to signify that you're next, it has an oversized rotten head that looks like moldy cheese and it's eyes are always darting around.
The only thing that will stop a Dullahan is gold, allegedly even a pin of gold will stop them in their tracks and run for it.
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10.27.2012 - 21:02 | CrazyEmoOtakui love Tim Burton. and this movie, is no exception
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10.27.2012 - 21:48 | lithiumgreenI always knew that Tim Burton was taking way too many liberties with this film, and frankly, I don't blame him. The Legend of Sleepy Hollow is a relatively boring folktale story with a strange but not all that interesting character in Ichabod Crane. It certainly pales in comparison to another more famous New England tale in a town that's a little more than 20 miles from New York, which, btw, ACTUALLY HAPPENED.
Edit: Also, good call on the daddy issues, Lindsay. Both Burton and Nolan seem to harbor some unfinished business.
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10.27.2012 - 21:04 | MothmouthI'll give it credit for being the middle finger to every genre, though.
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10.27.2012 - 23:52 | AlucardsQuestYes but don't bother to watch a movie before you pass judgment upon it, lest you be proven wrong on something.
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10.28.2012 - 21:39 | mrrubino
"Oops. Chick said she liked that it gave the middle finger to every genre. [Note: She said "to genre", as in the concept of separating films into distinct and rigid categories itself, not "to every genre".] Quick, qualify preceding statement!"
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10.27.2012 - 21:06 | Henson
The description of the town of Sleepy Hollow as "Upstate" is so typical from someone who lives in NYC.
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What would a Sleepy Hollow-ite consider it as? (And it's true, hell I consider Weschester to be "upstate" and that's practically still the Bronx. Lol)
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10.28.2012 - 18:33 | Henson@Miraimaki
I'm not from Sleepy Hollow; I live in the Syracuse-Utica area, which is considered either 'upstate' or 'central', depending on who you ask. To us, calling anything from Yonkers to Binghamton "upstate" is just plain silly. It's southern.
Although, to be fair, I probably wouldn't object to Westchester being called a part of the "greater NYC area", so what do I know?
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10.27.2012 - 21:07 | FishEyenoMiko
Ya know, the corpse spurting all over Depp is bad enough for its inaccuracy, but it's made even worse by the fact that later in the film, a body *not* bleeding after death is a PLOT POINT.
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10.27.2012 - 21:38 | TenshizenAnyone else just come here because of Christopher Walkin?
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10.27.2012 - 23:15 | LikaLarukuNope. Most of us have been here for years.
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10.28.2012 - 08:42 | Whisky Tango Foxtrot
We are all here because of Christopher Walken. Christopher Walken breathed the world into existence, and we owe all we see to His divine benevolence.
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10.27.2012 - 21:38 | TragicGuineaPig
10:49 - Am I the only one who was thinking, "LARGE MARGE!!"
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In a magazine interview given at the time of this movie's release, Johnny Depp told a wonderful anecdote about Michael Gambon hiding an electronic fart machine in one of the corpses. Just as Depp reaches gingerly for the neck-stump, the future Dumbledore activates the keyring-sized remote in his palm. The corpse seems to emit this huge gut-ripper and filming had to be suspended for several hours because nobody could stop laughing.
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10.27.2012 - 22:01 | medicalvampire
Rob was Christopher Walken? I'm surprised. I thought it would be ChaosD1 and his impeccable Walken imitation.
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10.27.2012 - 22:02 | JimmyBThe kid in Sleepy Hollow will next be seen in the movie Les Misérables. He's currently 27, by the way :)
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10.27.2012 - 22:05 | Big_Wheel
Gotta say, Miss, while you make some good points, (particularly in regards to the ending) I have to disagree on the whole. Yeah, it's cheesy, yeah it does tick most of those Burton boxes, but, as an homage to the classic Hammer Horror films that Burton was going for? I think it succeeds admirably.
Of course, my personal feelings might be coloring my opinions, somewhat, as it was the first DVD I ever owned, and the fact that I watch it every Halloween.
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10.28.2012 - 12:10 | GernBlanstonYup. This movie is a straight up love letter to Hammer movies, with the over-the-top violence, campy/silly tone that you never know is purposeful or not (here it is). Only thing missing is female nudity and Peter Cushing (preferably not nude).
I dig this one too. It sure is a gorgeous-looking movie, that's for sure.
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10.27.2012 - 23:03 | SpeedyEric
I haven't yet seen "Sleepy Hollow" from start to finish, but it IS in my bucket list.
Danny Elfman is to Tim Burton what John Williams is to Steven Speilberg.
6:16- Well, remember, this was long before trains and cars.
Rob Walker is still awesome doing the Chritopher Walkin impression.
9:48- At least Christina Ricci played Wednesday in the Addams Family movies, which look like Tim Burton films, because of the production designs.
16:17- At least that killing was off-screen.
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10.27.2012 - 23:18 | LikaLaruku::Looks at title card:: Why do you always look like a brunette Eleanor Miller from Alvin & the Chipmunks?
This is one of the best things I ever saw on the big screen. A movie so nice I bought it twice.
The Disney Ikabod was a douchebag.
Burton-Depp is a combo platter for me. If Depp's in it & Burton's not directing, I'm not interested. If Burton directs it & Depp isn't in it, I'm not interested. You know that Prince Vince in the Beetlejuice cartoon is basically Depp, right?
I loved the Alice Movie....Though I was a little disappointed...I wanted Burton to do American McGee's Alice, distance himself from Disney, & maybe break into less kid-friendly horror-comedy movies at some point.
Sofar the ONLY Depp-Burton film I don't like is Dark Shadows. Jessy says I hate it for all the wrong reasons. Depp was playing a sexually active character when Burton has always casted him as a libidoless "girls kind of scare me" timid bunnyrabbit. He wasn't timid in Sweeney Todd, but he was still disinterested. So yes...I admit that I want Depp to play the exact same character in every movie.
Law & Order: Sleepy Hollow Unit.
Fuck yeah, Walken Horseman! I'd pin a poster of that face in my office.
Oh yes, the mugging...I still laugh every time he reacts something jumping at his face. Actually, as an adult, this show is more of a comedy than the thriller I saw it as when I was a teen.
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10.27.2012 - 23:54 | AlucardsQuestThat's kind of shallow, Tim Burton has made a lot of good movies without Johnny Depp. Don't be so stuck up.
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10.28.2012 - 11:01 | ShanetefilmmakerBatman, BeetleJuice, PeeWee, The Original Frankenweenie and Nightmare Before Christmas. Good movies but of course a very short list.
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10.28.2012 - 14:13 | dennett316I'd add Mars Attacks to that list...but I realise I may be in the minority.
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10.28.2012 - 04:23 | Michster
Disney's Ikabod was kind of a douchebag yes.
Still that 30-minute disney-short is a bazillion times better than this movie.
Ooh well, at least we had Christopher Walken going "Graaaaaarrrgggh!" every now and then.
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12.04.2012 - 22:50 | Hapsetshut
As was the character in the book
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10.27.2012 - 22:42 | ManWithGoodTaste
Nais review.
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10.27.2012 - 22:50 | Tom Smith
I remember watching this movie when I was very young and not being scared at all, in the slightest. I didn't think it was scary and I didn't think it was clever but I did think one or two bits were funny. But I for sure thought it was really bad.
Walken as The Horseman, and the Horseman's design, are absolutely terrible and really bring the movie down. The earlier scenes where Walken kills like 50 armed dudes with just his sword was hilarious and totally unbelievable. Instead of being this big and powerful behemoth he is instead this goofy looking doofus with ninja skills.
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10.27.2012 - 23:14 | TerminalSanity
I think the reason why Tim Burton gets so much much hate these days is his movies have become increasingly stylistically self indulgent. Where as once his unique style colorfully and creatively conveyed offbeat stories and characters it now buries them underneath Burton's brand of the surreal and macabre.
The substance has just gone out of his of work of late. He's like an artist who is as technically brilliant as ever but is utterly uninspired and has nothing left to say with their work but keeps working anyway because enough people are still buying his work.
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10.28.2012 - 00:28 | THOOM
I don't think indulgence of style is the reason. If anything, that is his saving grace. I think all of his stories/scripts suck. I haven't seen all of his movies, but I have seen many of them and I only like Ed Wood and this movie.
And I think horror movie fans, especially fans of Hammer films have and will enjoy this. And there are plenty of horror movie fans. And of course gore fans will like this because the beheading and such are done so over the top stylistically.
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10.28.2012 - 05:16 | TerminalSanityI wouldn't call it his saving grace merely what keeps him bankable as a director. If he put half the effort he put into scripting as he does establishing his trademark aesthetic like he used to in say films like Edward Scissor Hands, Ed Wood, the first Batman movie, and hell even Beetlejuice he'd be a legitimately good film maker again instead of the novelty one he's allowed himself to become.
Note that in every example I just gave while the narratives weren't exactly complex (far from it)in the films they were cohesive and made sense plot-wise and thematically where as now his films tend to lurch about with all the grace and natural flow as a donkey riding a unicycle across a tightrope. His style used to be a vehicle for his simple stories now when he makes a film its little more than cheap vehicle for his style. For people who actual want a serviceable and functional story in a film that's a pretty big bone of contention downright frustrating by the time you watch his "take" on Alice in Wonderland.
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10.28.2012 - 11:03 | ShanetefilmmakerThat's not the reason, he was fired from making more Batman sequels and while he made good movies on the way down his popularity faltered since and he has taken people with him.
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