Review - The Hollow

The Hollow, a kind of sequel the Legend of Sleepy Hollow if you will . . .

. . . if you won’t then you should probably stop reading.

Not a great film by any means but entertaining in its own right. It was an attempt to explain what happened to the infamous Ichabod Crane after his last recorded night with the equally infamous headless horseman.

With a cast of actors you just might know – Sheriff Duncan (Nicolas Turturro), Carl (Judge Reinhold), Brody (Nick Carter – yes from the Backstreet Boys) and Claus Van Ripper (Stacy Keach) – The Hollow paints an interesting picture of where Ichabod ended up and exactly what happened to him that fateful night. But what bothers me a bit is that I think The Headless Horseman (Ben Scott) being all supernatural and stuff would have figured Ichabod’s master plan out at some point. Maybe having his head detached formed some kind of mental disconnect?

Either way, Ian Cranston (Kevin Zegers) relocates to the small town of Sleepy Hollow with his Mom (Lisa Chess) and Dad (Judge Reinhold). Dad is not too supportive of Ian’s interests in fencing and drama as he is the town’s football coach and thinks that Ian should be involved in more manly things (he’s kind of a tool if you ask me). Ian finds more trouble in his new town with the star of the football team Brody (Nick Carter) as he is quite jealous of his girlfriend, Karen’s Kaley Cuoco), newfound affections toward Ian (sound familiar yet?).

Enter crazy Claus Van Ripper (Stacy Keach) who apparently knows the whole history of what befell Ichabod Crane after his liaison with The Headless Horseman and just how this affects young Ian – who he refers to as “the teacher”. Of course, everyone thinks that Claus is just the wacky town drunk – which he does seem to be by the way. I have to mention that Claus is involved in perhaps the funniest scene in the movie when he finds himself trapped in Sheriff Duncan’s police cruiser – if you watch The Hollow be sure to be on the lookout for that scene!

At any rate this made for ABC movie was both better than I expected and a bit disappointing all at the same time. When I was watching the film I found myself hoping it would be just a little bit better than it ended up being – of course I am huge fan of the story of The Legend of Sleepy Hollow so I usually have a few issues with films or stories based on the tale.

My recommendation would be to watch this film if you catch it on but don’t go out of your way to find it. Also keep in mind that it is a “family friendly” film so don’t expect too much in the way of gore or anything like that.

Directed by
Kyle Newman

Writing credits
(WGA)
Hans Rodionoff (written by)

Cast (in credits order) verified as complete
Kevin Zegers ... Ian Cranston
Kaley Cuoco ... Karen
Nick Carter ... Brody
Ben Scott ... The Headless Horseman
Stacy Keach ... Claus Van Ripper
Judge Reinhold ... Carl
Lisa Chess ... Helen
Nicholas Turturro ... Sheriff Duncan
Eileen Brennan ... Joan Van Etten
Joseph Mazzello ... Scott
Shelley Bennett ... Erica
Melissa Schuman ... Amber
Zen Gesner ... Marcus
Natalia Nogulich ... Nancy Worthen (as Natalija Nogulich)
Blake Shields ... Rob
Sewell Whitney ... Gordon
Adam Gierasch ... Dad
Daniel Spink ... Mason
Heather Marx ... Suzie
Mason Novick ... Evil Skeleton
Sarah Emily Reckley ... Startled Girl
Kyle Newman ... Cool High School Dude
Joseph Reckley ... Dead Body
Tova Dann ... Cheerleader
Paula Mazzotta ... Pretty Girl in Audience
Hans Rodionoff ... Von Ripper Corpse
Toni Baliton ... Witch Trick-or-Treater
Kyle Herrera ... Vampire Trick-or-Treater (as Kyle AV Herrera)
Evan Wood ... Ghost Trick-or-Treater (as Evan R. Wood)

rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Matt Adams ... Fencing Team (uncredited)
Orion Barnes ... Fencing Team (uncredited)
Brian Danner ... Fencing Student (uncredited)
James Giaquinto ... Fencing Team (uncredited)
Christopher Hartmann ... Fencing Team (uncredited)
Nikki Hersh ... High School PA Announcer (uncredited)
Rusty Locke ... Fencing Team (uncredited)
Laura Reilly ... Student (uncredited)
Deidra Sarego ... Hayrider #1 (uncredited)
Tim Weske ... Fencing Team (uncredited)