Not to be confused with the television series of the same name, or the Agatha Christie mystery (a stage production of which I once appeared in; just sayin’), this one from 2004, which aired on the ABC Family channel (where it was significantly edited to remove some of the gore FX and language), is so much better than it has any right to be. Granted it has some bigger names attached to it than you’d typically find in this sort of vehicle: Stacy Keach (obviously having a good time in the harbinger role), Judge Reinhold (as a cookie-cutter cliché jock character), Nicholas Turturro, Kaley Cuoco, and even Eileen Brennan—but it also has Backstreet Boy Nick Carter in a prominent role. (He isn’t horrible, but he’s about what you’d expect, best case scenario. Same as the case with Kaley Cuoco.) The budget ain’t much and the film breaks no new ground, but I really enjoyed this one.
What I liked most about it is that the Headless Horseman behaves and is treated by the material like an 80s slasher more than a ghost, much as he is in Tim Burton’s SLEEPY HOLLOW, but here the vibe is decidedly more 80s and the Horseman is not so omnipresent. Give this one a shot. As a B movie, I’d give it an A.
