I keep waiting for Tim Burton to make another Nightmare Before Christmas.  Since that hasn't happened yet (hey, I can hope), I'll take what I can get.  I'm happy to report that Burton has at least paid homage to Nightmare's whimsical ghoulishness with the nightmares and dreamscapes of Sleepy Hollow.

Based on a Washington Irving story, Sleepy Hollow tells the tale of Ichabod Crane (Johnny Depp), a scientist with an inventive bag of gadgets who comes to the eponymous town to investigate a series of murders by decapitation.  Alas, poor Ichabod steps into a ghost story instead, as the murders are locally attributed to the legendary Headless Horseman.  Fortunately for him, he also steps into a love story, meeting the local virgin blossom, Katrina Von Tassel (the fulsome Christina Ricci).

Sleepy Hollow is a genuinely spooky film, with that spark that is 100% Tim Burton (There's even a cameo appearance by Jack Skellington.)  Some critics have opined that Burton doesn't delve far enough into the fantastic.  Maybe so, but Sleepy Hollow is an effective ghost story nonetheless.  And I've never seen such judicious use of a fog machine. 

Although the score (by Danny "Jack Skellington" Elfman) is brilliant, the standout element of the film is its gorgeous photography.  If you see the movie, just watch for the visual image when “Directed by Tim Burton” is on the screen; it’ll tell you all you need to know.  Except for Katrina, every element and inhabitant of the haunted town is rendered in muted and moody tones.  The only real color is in the crimson drops of blood.  And there’s plenty of blood.  

The script is equal parts macabre and good natured, and the story is satisfyingly twisty.  Although some elements of the resolution are predictable, I would bet that the majority of the audience will be surprised to some extent.  

The cast is uniformly excellent:  Depp plays Ichabod with a surprising amount of wit and Ricci has the radiant presence of a pale Boticelli angel.  The headless horseman is sufficiently frightening, especially when he has Christopher Walken’s head.  

The night I saw this film, we had some really powerful winds.  I heard there were something like 7,000 power outages in the area.  All I know is, I couldn’t sleep.  Before drifting off, I made the mistake of calling to mind a particularly frightening flashback scene (as if the kid who plays young Ichabod isn’t frightening enough all by himself.)  I remained awake for a good hour, listening to the wind making noises that sounded a lot like someone opening our front door and walking through our house.  Visions of my m head being skewered like an olive danced through my head. 

Finally, I got up and bravely went through the darkened apartment.  I closed the window in my room (where the wind was howling and blowing things over.)  I locked the deadbolt on the front door, so it wouldn’t rattle.  I closed all the doors.  And, uneasily, I slept.