the Monster in a windmill that they set afire. Bur-
ton similarly places the spectacular climax of his
film in an ominous windmill, where Ichabod Crane
lures the Headless Horseman (Christopher Walken),
whose mysterious powers save him from death in
the fiery explosion. In addition, Burton draws on
Mario Bava’s visually sumptuous vampire movie
Black Sunday(1960), Roman Polanski’s The Fearless
Vampire Killers (1967), and films from Britain’s
Hammer Studios (the foremost producer of gothic
horror films in movie history), whose style was
characterized by careful attention to detail—
including, of course, lots of blood—in such films as
Terence Fisher’s The Curse of Frankenstein(1957)
and Horror of Dracula(1958). Burton also pays hom-
age to the horror genre by casting Christopher Lee,
who plays the Creature in The Curse of Franken-
stein, as the Burgomaster in Sleepy Hollow.
Sleepy Hollowfeatures many of the prominent
characteristics of the horror and gothic genres,
including
>a spooky setting—the almost colorless village
of Sleepy Hollow and the creepy woods that
surround it.
>a forensic scientist, Ichabod Crane (played by
Johnny Depp, an actor whose fey style has
added much to several of Burton’s movies),
forced to struggle with a demonic antagonist
(or perhaps the illusion of one), the Headless
Horseman (Christopher Walken).
>a seemingly virginal heroine who dabbles in
witchcraft—Katrina Anne Van Tassel
(Christina Ricci)—and her wicked step-
mother, Lady Mary Van Tassel (Miranda
Richardson), the wife of the lord of the manor
who moonlights as a witch.
>various other eccentric and deranged locals.In addition, there are glimpses of the spirit world
and other frightening, mysterious, and supernatu-
ral events.
Burton and his collaborators were also inspired
by the visual style of the eighteenth-century British
artists William Hogarth and Thomas Rowlandson.
In such works as A Rake’s Progress(1732–35), Hogarth
created a series of anecdotal pictures (similar to
212 CHAPTER 5 MISE-EN-SCÈNE
123Different characters in Sleepy Hollowrequire
different looks[1] Baltus Van Tassel (Michael Gambon,
standing left) is among the many characters in Sleepy Hollow
who might have stepped out of period paintings. Indeed,
most of the village’s residents seem stuck in an antiquated,
vaguely European style of dress. [2] By contrast, the darkly
and sleekly dressed Ichabod Crane (Johnny Depp) is a
“modern” American man of science, here wearing the
ambitious but wonderful instrument that he has designed to
perform forensic inspections. [3] In a flashback, the
“Hessian” (Christopher Walken), who in death will become
the Headless Horseman, is all spikes and sharp angles,
looking very much like the vampire in F. W. Murnau’s classic
Nosferatu(1922).