I’m not going to waste time mincing words. Some things just need to be expressed without the flourish and pomp. The truth is Tim Burton’s take on the classic Legend of Sleepy Hollow was a masterful piece of artistic understatement and impeccable craft — and it may just be his most underrated films.

The general storyline of Sleepy Hollow isn’t vastly different than the legend for which it’s based. Mr. Ichabod Crane — played with alarming precision and elegant detail by Johnny Depp — is still a lanky man with a frightful streak that you wouldn’t believe. He’s still squeamish around all things creepy, including insects and blood. He still has a deep seated interest and subsequent repulsion with wicked folklore. However, his character this time around is that of an eccentric constable instead of the popular school teacher. He’s come to Sleepy Hollow to solve a string of seemingly unsolved cases in which the subjects are victims of vicious, freak crimes of beheading. The twisted horror of these cases: the detached heads are never found at the crime scene.