Enjoyable version about known Washington Irving's novel, titled ¨The legend of Sleepy Hollow¨. It concerns on Ichabod Crane(excellently personified by Johnny Depp). He's a N.Y. constable assigned to investigate brutal murders in a little town named Sleepy Hollow. Crane is housed by Balthus Van Tassel(Michael Gambon),whose beautiful daughter(Christina Ricci) falls in love for him. At the beginning Crane denies to believe that a rider without head committing the grisly killings, but he's early convinced when seeing the graphic evidence of his own hands. Meanwhile, wealthy authorities and rich proprietaries (Richard Griffiths,Ian McDiarmid,Michael Gough,Michael Gambon) from village reunite to planning and defending against the amazing beheaded creature.Finally, all it leads to an unexpected twist and breakthrough ending on what's happened before.

This is an agreeable and effective film, still has shock value from grisly killings .It's proceeded with a Burton style and containing colorful images and wonderful dreams with Burtonized narrative. The movie is plenty on suspense, thriller, grisly terror and sensationalistic set pieces horror when the decapitations take place. Wide use of gore and now famous decapitation , for those who like this kind of things. Casting frankly extraordinary with several famous actors and exceptional secondary cast and special cameos by Martin Landau and Christopher Lee .Glimmer cinematography by Emmanuel Lubezki and sensational musical score by Danny Elffman, both are Burton's usual. The film is lavishly produced by Francis Ford Coppola-Zeotrope studios- and Kevin Yagher-famous makeup expert- .The motion picture is marvellously directed with visual style and fair-play by the great Tim Burton. Rating : Magnificent flick and better than average.

Well, after seeing this film I would have to say that this is about the worst Tim Burton directed film I have ever seen--mostly because the script is hopeless. The problem seems to be that although a fortune was spent making the town of Sleepy Hollow for the film as well as doing some incredible stunts, no one seemed to have bothered making sure the script was up to snuff. The bottom line is that cool decapitation scenes are not enough to carry this movie and it seems as if the film is designed for undiscriminating audiences.

So what's so bad about the script? Well, it didn't bother me that practically none of the film was based on the original story--after all, that was a short story and it would have made a relatively dull 15 minute movie. No, instead the problem was that the story just seemed to revolve around just action and special effects. So much of the dialog seemed pointless and sloppy. In particular, late in the film, Miranda Richardson goes on a long-winded exposition in order to explain the film--like she was reading from a script in order to explain what had happened to the audience. In addition, there were so many needless story elements--particularly those about Ichabod's childhood that seemed so needlessly antagonistic towards Christianity as well as a strong bent in favor of "white witchcraft". Throw in a silly and pointless meeting with a witch with no eyeballs, 18 decapitations, tons of gratuitous blood and you're left with a film that bears much more resemblance to THE GRUDGE or Friday THE 13TH than THE LEGEND OF SLEEPY HOLLOW!

If you like dumb big budget films or will watch anything that teams Johnny Depp and Tim Burton, then this movie is for you. Otherwise, try any of their other pairings--such as the excellent films CHARLIE AND THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY, CORPSE BRIDE or SWEENEY TODD.

As I like Tim Burton, and I am fond of the timeless story, I was eager to see what this 1999 film was like. I also grew up on the Disney classic The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, the Headless Horseman creeped me out so badly when I was little I thought I would never see the day when I would see that topped. Now after seeing this I think I just have. The Headless Horseman is terrifying here, Christopher Walken does a phenomenal job playing him. I do agree that the story does drag on occasions, but plenty makes up for that minor fault. Visually, Sleepy Hollow is amazing, like Batman Returns and Edward Scissorhands, the sets and cinematography are dark and Gothic, and the special effects are wonderful. Also Tim Burton I think was the perfect choice for director, he is oddball and eccentric and that directorial style is perfect for this film allowing him to give a clever, unique and atmospheric take on the story. The music score by none other than maestro Danny Elfman is dark, suspenseful and haunting, like it should be. The story is a true timeless tale of horror, and really well structured here, as is the nuanced script. The performances are excellent once again, with Johnny Depp absolutely brilliant as the maverick yet intuitive Ichabod Crane and Christina Ricci fine in a poignant sort of way as the lovely Katerina. Solidly supporting them all the way are Michael Gambon, Miranda Richardson, Michael Gough, Jeffrey Jones, Ian McDiarmid and Richard Griffiths. And of course the film is full of cruel shocks and thrills, the murder scenes are shocking and violent but not in the sense that you have to look away. Overall, very unique and beautiful take on the tale. 9/10 Bethany Cox