Review of Sleepy Hollow (1999) by M. K — 21 Sep 2012

Next to Bram Stoker's Dracula, this is the most visually gorgeous horror film of the 90s (and nothing has really topped it since, either). There are images here of unforgettable beauty and power, like Lisa Marie magically floating amidst the trees (stolen by Terrence Malick for Tree of Life), little girls in a snow covered forest snapping a twig to seal another character's fate, a nightmarish tree that bleeds red blood (and later holds captive a woman's pale limb, beckoning--inspiration for a memorably nightmarish setpiece from Lars von Trier's Antichrist?), and a typically Burton-esque and magnificently decrepit windmill.

The basic storyline is a convoluted whodunnit that mostly solves itself for the viewer instead of allowing us to piece it together on our own, but it's all told by Burton with such style and flair that you hardly care, and Elfman's score is one of his best, with a title theme that's among his most haunting and memorable.