Chatty Hollywood

Accompanied by music that hides terror and tension, a carriage speeds through the night.

An old man wearing a white wig was sitting in the carriage, looking nervous.

Suddenly, there was a thunder in the sky.

The driver was startled, and the old man in the car looked out of the car uneasily.

In the blur, there seemed to be a phantom flashing from the side of the carriage.

The old man retracted into the carriage, but suddenly he heard a horse neighing from the front, followed by the sound of a sword being unsheathed.

This made the old man sit on pins and needles, especially after hearing a slight "plop", he couldn't help but poke his head out of the carriage again——

The coachman's head is gone!

The old man's mouth opened in surprise when he saw this scene. He didn't even have time to scream before he realized something -

Without the driver's control, the speeding carriage will soon lose control and crash!

In desperation, although he was afraid, he could only reluctantly jump off the carriage.

Even though he fell badly, facing the fear of the unknown, he still plunged into the cornfield on the roadside and started running wildly.

“It feels very much like the mime era!”

Roger Ebert couldn't help but smacked his lips when he saw this.

——Due to a special invitation from Paramount, Andrew Kevin Walker was invited to the scene as soon as "Sleepy Hollow" was released in Chicago.

As an elder among film critics, he also watched some silent films when he was a boy.

There was no dialogue at all in this section, only sound effects such as thunder and horses neighing, and even the color of the title sequence was closer to black and white, which made him feel a bit like the silent film era.

This made him miss it very much, and he couldn't help but feel a little fond of the movie.

Of course, as a film critic who has read countless films, Roger Ebert knows very well that this is actually a little trick of the director.

However, he doesn't hate it.

In fact, he felt that the dialogue-free title sequence was used very well.

The silent film feel, coupled with the completely invisible monster, is very suitable for the scene.

Sitting in the screening room, Roger felt a silent sense of fear coming towards his face through the big screen.

"Excellent lens language!"

Roger Ebert murmured to himself while experiencing the faint feeling of fear.

**********

Compared to the older film critic in Chicago, the young girl Emily who is currently watching the movie in Washington has a different feeling.

Of course she won't be afraid!

As a girl who grew up watching horror movies, Emily is not incapable of experiencing fear, but she will never be easily frightened.

In fact, after experiencing the silent atmosphere of fear, Emily even felt that her adrenaline level was slowly rising.

That’s the feeling a little girl gets when she watches her favorite horror movie.

"I love this movie!"

Emily said this to herself.

She glanced at Abby beside her——

In the darkness, her new friend's face could not be seen clearly, but his eyes were sparkling.

——Abby is indeed my kindred spirit!

Emily was sure of this in an instant.

At this time, a dull thunder sounded again in the screening hall.

On the big screen, after the old man ran through a large cornfield, his vision suddenly became empty. There happened to be a thunder at this time, and he subconsciously looked up -

A scarecrow with a pumpkin head is standing there quietly.

——Like the old man, many viewers in front of the big screen also breathed a sigh of relief.

Some people even smiled and said softly:

"Happy Halloween!"

——After all, it is the night of October 31st!

However, viewers such as Emily who have watched many horror movies know that things will not end so easily——

The old man on the big screen feels the same way.

He even realized that the terrifying thing that had been chasing him was right behind him.

With fear and even more pleading on his face, the old man slowly turned his head.

At this moment, the camera gradually overlapped with the old man’s perspective——

A sword light flashed.

The audience didn't even see the person wielding the sword clearly, so they subconsciously leaned back.

There was no way, the sword light coming towards the camera when facing the camera was so real that people couldn't help but feel like they would be chopped down if they didn't dodge.

By the time everyone restrained their defensive instincts, on the big screen, the old man's head had been chopped off.

The blood spurted out and splashed on the face of the scarecrow not far from him.

The grinning pumpkin head, coupled with the blood on it, looked inexplicably gloomy and terrifying.

"It's a pity that I didn't see it clearly!"

Emily felt a little regretful.

The moment she saw the sword light, she subconsciously dodged, which caused her to lose the chance to see clearly the person or monster chasing the old man.

"The director must have done it on purpose!"

The little girl muttered angrily.

Abby, who was sitting next to her, nodded in agreement.

***********

"Of course I did it on purpose!"

At the premiere screening in London, Charlotte answered Charlize's questions in her mind.

The girl's questions, as well as the constant complaints in the auditorium, made the director smile.

"I specially adjusted the lens here so that the time is short enough to clearly see the sword light coming towards me, but I can never clearly see the person wielding the sword."

"Isn't the frame number enough for 24 frames?"

Charlize remembered the visual principles that Charlotte had explained to herself in "The Turn".

"Yes."

Charlotte nodded, and then added in her mind,

"Also, I deliberately used some magic in this shot to cover up Robert Inge, who was playing the Headless Horseman."

"So, even if someone's eyes exceed the limit of normal people, they still can't see clearly the appearance of the Headless Horseman?"

Charlize asked in her head.

"Yes, the fear of the unknown is the scariest, isn't it?"

"..."

Although Charlotte's words were completely correct, Charlize felt that if the audience knew about it, they would definitely send him the razor blade.

——Or throw him into the river and become a floating corpse?

The girl thought evilly.

Then, a floating corpse appeared on the big screen.

This is New York in 1799.

Johnny Depp's Eqab Karan has finally made an appearance.

——As the male protagonist, of course he will not be a floating corpse.

He was the one who discovered the floating corpse.

A young and impulsive rookie police officer who wants to introduce various scientific methods into detection, but is always rejected by his superiors.

When she saw on the big screen that the hero was arguing with his boss that the floating corpse should not be burned but should be dissected to find out the truth, Emily, who was in the 1990s, couldn't believe it.

"Were the police in that era so simple and rough?"

She decided to consult the experts around her.

——As a forensic officer of NCIS, Abby must know a lot about this, right?

Abby, who was sitting next to Emily, nodded,

"Actually, even now, many police officers still do things very simply and roughly."

Abby explained softly in her ear,

"Moreover, although autopsy work existed a long time ago, it was only at the end of the 19th century that it was really taken seriously."

"I see."

Emily nodded.

——In this way, in 1799, it was quite normal for the hero Ichabu’s suggestion to be rejected by his boss.

PS1: "Halloween 3" is definitely an episode of the "Halloween" series of horror films. In the plot description of the movie "Sleepy Hollow", I will not specifically introduce other titles. Of course, there will be other plots that will be introduced later. PS2: I basically wrote the opening scene of "Sleepy Hollow" according to the original film, but I added the oncoming sword light myself. I prefer this kind of impactful shot.