I had other October Recommendations to see when it came for a Halloween themed film. Though really it became clear after finishing childhood Sleepy Hollow films and TV that Tim Burton's Sleepy Hollow would no doubt be my recommendation for the month of October. Sure there was The Adventures of Ichabod Crane and Mr. Toad via 1949 but no debate the greatest movie adaption has always been Tim Burton's Sleepy Hollow, staring Johnny Depp and Christina Ricci (who I was surprised was 19 when staring in the film) along with an incredible list of supporting actors from Michael Gambon aka Harry Potter, Christopher Lee aka Christopher Lee, Ian McDiarmid aka Emperor Palpatine, along with Michael Gough aka Alfred from the first two Batman films Burton directed and Christopher Walken as well as the ever talented, underappreciated Stunt man Ray Park.
Set in 1799, "Sleepy Hollow" is based on Washington Irving's classic tale "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow." Faithful to the dreamy custom-bound world that Irving paints in his story, the film mixes horror, fantasy and romance and features an extraordinary cast of characters that dabble in the supernatural.
Granted it's been quite a long time since I watched this Tim Burton classic but no doubt this is the greatest and only faithful adaption to Sleepy Hollow I've ever seen, and this is it's only film about Irving's classic tale so there's no mystery that none of the film producers out there today would ever touch this film and try to remake it, and even if they did how can you really capture the magic and the story Tim Burton himself created in the first place? And to sum up that answer you really can't for many reasons, you'd try to do something different and it would never work. Why it wouldn't work mainly because writer Andrew Kevin Walker really sat down and created a version of Sleepy Hollow that makes the most sense of any story but more importantly stayed true to the source material as well. The way the film itself was developed started around 1993, Kevin Yagher, a make-up designer who had turned to directing with Tales from the Crypt, had the notion to adapt Washington Irving's The Legend of Sleepy Hollow into a feature film. Through his agent, Yagher was introduced to Andrew Kevin Walker; they spent a few months working on the film's treatment that transformed Ichabod Crane from a schoolmaster from Connecticut to a banished New York City detective. And really the idea of making Crane a detective is the most genius idea moreover making the film alone as a mystery film that that blends both horror and the supernatural in the best way possible. Also, it makes the perfect sense of creating a story into film because if you made this guy the same as he was in the short story it wouldn't be interesting to watch on film I mean sure it would work on Shelley Duvall's Tall Tale and Legends show, but on film it would be a disaster. Now, the way I was introduced to the movie was of course through Dish on Demand previews furthermore notice the R rating on the preview and thought to myself "well of course I wasn't going to see it" though through the course of like a year I ended up seeing it mainly because my brother said it wasn't scary moreover not gory so in the end I got around to watching it back then and was obsessed with the movie, I mean it was one of the many few movies that came out in 1999 that I though was great and amazing at the same time and also learned that Ray Park was the Headless Horseman so that was a bigger plus because he was one of the greatest villain's in the Star Wars Universe hence Darth Maul. Surprisingly, this was the first movie I was introduced to Johnny Depp though to be fair there maybe a few in terms of Dish On Demand previews though in all fairness those don't count so Sleepy Hollow was my first Johnny Depp film, moreover I would defiantly rank this in his top five best performances for many reasons, I love the fact that is portrayal of Crane is yes true to the character in terms of his being afraid but is also brave as well as really smart when it comes to solving murders. But most importantly he's also got a great list of supporting actors including the late great Michael Gambon whose most remembered for Dumbledore, but his greatness in the film was him telling the story of the Headless Horseman, and really him telling that origin story I kind of wished he was narrating more books. Though the Late Christopher Lee's performance in the movie is very slim he also does a great job in the first act of the movie sending Depp's character to Sleepy Hollow and the same goes to Ian McDiarmid does a great job despite his role being small as well. Which leads us finally to the Horseman himself or two of them, Christopher Walken and Ray Park starting first with Christopher Walken, I honestly don't know how Burton decided to cast Walken as the Horseman but really was genius for many reasons mainly is that he gives Walken chompers along with the wig and tells him "look Chris this is a small role so all I want you to do is just roar and I'm afraid to be the bear of bad news but that's your only lines", now that's just an assumption but it makes perfect sense, for which leads us to Ray Park aka Darth Maul, now yes Walken plays the Horseman with a head but I have to believe that Ray Park was the main stunt double for Walken's fight sequences because there's no way he would be able to do all of the sword and ax twirling was done by Park, and really all the praise goes to Park because along with Walken he helped create whole presence of the Headless Horseman moreover brings a lot of character especially when it comes to his fighting style and how he walks and rides, even a great scene where he butchers a family we hear his spur's which brings a extra level of awesome because it's like the grim reaper coming into you're house ready to kill you in you're sleep, and really that's what make Ray Park such a great character actor and stunt man because he is able to transform himself into the character not using words but using appearance as his strong suit on screen. Now granted I had to close all the logic out of my head because yes the movie is a fantasy/horror movie but when it comes to the action sequences it's really amusing how the Headless Horseman is able to craft a scorpion spear without a head. Having watched the film for the first time in quite a while, I have to say this was a great murder mystery film from start to finish it plays out great as a who done it story moreover is a great visual stunning set piece that I believe everyone will enjoy and despite that the film is an R rating I would also tell all the parents out there that this is an appropriate movie for the kids and yes it may sound crazy but I also have a niece that watches scary movies furthermore is in the fourth grade and this movie alone she would say is a great movie to watch on Halloween.
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