4K Ultra HD Film Review

Sleepy Hollow (1999) • 4K Ultra HD [Paramount Pictures]

Ichabod Crane is sent to Sleepy Hollow to investigate the decapitations of three people; allegedly by the spirit of a Headless Horseman…

The origin of this film is obviously Washington Irving’s 1820 short story The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, but this particular adaptation started life as an idea make-up maestro Kevin Yagher had after he started directing episodes of Tales from the Crypt (1989–1996). Yagher developed his concept further with then-unknown screenwriter Andrew Kevin Walker, a few years before his own breakthrough with the spec script for Se7en (1995), turning the character of Ichabod Crane from a school teacher to an avant-garde detective.

Yagher’s directorial career floundered in the 1990s, especially when he removed his name from the debacle of Hellraiser: Bloodline (1996), and so Paramount demoted him to prosthetic make-up and instead hired Tim Burton (Edward Scissorhands), whose Superman Lives project had recently shut down development. Originally pitched as a low-budget slasher by Yagher…