Villiany wears many masks, none of which are more dangerous than virtue.
A review by Mike Shea Movie Rating: ( * * * * · ) DVD Rating: ( * * * * * )
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For the most part, anything that comes from Blade. The basic idea of the movie is that a man of science and logic is sent to solve a supernatural set of murders. In order for it to work, there has to be a logical reason for the Horseman to come out and hack people up. So the latter half of the movie is Ichabod piecing the bits of the puzzle together. Luckily there are more than enough cut scenes of the Horseman cutting up some poor chap to not let us get too bored. The end of the movie plays out like a Scooby Do episode, with a wild twist of who-dun-its and last minute confessions. Frankly I thought this was a bit weak, I didn't really care at all who did it, I just wanted to see the horseman wack a few more heads. Still the movie does a great job getting the feeling of Sleepy Hollow right and making you truly feel like this monster that comes out of the night is truly unstoppable. The acting, set design and direction make up for the relatively weak story. The DVD is an excellent collectors edition with a 1.85 to 1 16x9 enhanced picture and a big Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack. There is a directors commentary with Tim Burton and a featurette. Overall, Sleepy Hollow would have sucked if it wasn't done by Burton, but with him in its corner it pulled off a weak story in great style. Don't let it slip by.