New York detective Ichabod Crane is sent to Sleepy Hollow to investigate a series of mysterious deaths in which the victims are found beheaded. Locals believe the culprit to be none other than the legendary Headless Horseman.
I find it utterly dispiriting that the talented Burton could think of nothing better to do with this astonishingly rich material than to transform it into soulless junk.
– Jay Boyar,
Orlando Sentinel,
1 Jan 2000
fresh:
Even when the narrative stalls from too many detours and decapitations, Sleepy Hollow is gorgeous filmmaking that brims over with fun-house thrills and ravishing romance.
– Peter Travers,
Rolling Stone,
9 Aug 2001
rotten:
Sleepy Hollow has an aesthetic that seems based on album covers. It doesn't feel like the work of an artist in any way.
– Mick LaSalle,
San Francisco Chronicle,
18 Jun 2002
rotten:
Burton, for all his skill, never ranges beyond the thrills of the obvious; he doesn't enlarge the meaning of the horror he shows us, the way a Brian De Palma might.
– Peter Rainer,
New York Magazine/Vulture,
7 Aug 2004
rotten:
For about an hour it's a fine, ghoulish carnival sideshow, and that has its charms, but there's a thin desperation about the climax.