Washington Irving's short story 'The Legend Of Sleepy Hollow', which the screenwriters don't seem to have understood fully, provides the basis for this fair-to-middling effort. A new kid at Sleepy Hollow, New York's high school is actually a blood relative of the original Ichabod Crane. The family name has been changed to "Cranston", so nobody knows about his ancestry. Purely by coincidence, the innocent teen is hired to tell the story of the Headless Horseman to groups of kids as part of the town's Halloween celebration. (What were the odds?) Cemetery caretaker Stacy Keach is the requisite Crazy Old Guy who knows the "truth" behind the famous story but, as is so often the case with Crazy Old Guys, nobody will listen to him until it's too late and heads have begun to roll. THE HOLLOW tells us that Irving's famous folk tale was more-or-less true, kind of like how RETURN OF THE LIVING DEAD told us the events in the original NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD really happened. Unfortunately this movie has little of RETURN's wit or energy. The characters are basically all teen movie stereotypes, including the nice handsome kid, the hot-headed jock, the cute cheerleader, the football coach who's a jerk, and so forth. There are some first-rate, briefly-seen CGI effects, including a shocking moment in which a girl has her head lopped off by the Horseman's sword while she's running away, shown onscreen with no cuts (other than the decapitation, that is). The film has a beautiful autumnal look with all the outdoor night sequences artfully lit with warm oranges, yellows and greens, but it's a shame the trees and assorted foliage don't really suggest New York in the fall. The most damaging problem from a visual standpoint is the fact that not only does this Headless Horseman have a head, but that it's a big, goofy-looking oversized pumpkin. Sure, he kills people, but in truth he looks a little bit ridiculous riding around with that big silly pumpkin mask. All in all the movie isn't a disaster or anything, just a very run-of-the-mill teen slasher entry with a supernatural killer and a tenuous link to a famous work of fiction. Don't expect brilliance, but THE HOLLOW might be worth a watch in the fall if you enjoy movies set at Halloween (like I do).
