Headless Horseman (2007) User Reviews

My Review

[joemamaohio · 5/10 · 17 July 2008]

In "Headless Hoseman," seven college students on the road to get to a Halloween party take a detour into the bowels of hell. They stumble upon a small town in the middle of nowhere, and they soon find themselves trapped there, as unwitting victims of the Headless Horseman who, after every seven years, resurfaces to earth to claim the heads of seven kids...otherwise the entire town goes to hell with the Horseman.

For a Sci-Fi original film, I was impressed with the effects (albeit they were still horrible, but not as bad as some other Sci-Fi original films) and even the acting of the seven students. I somewhat cared if they survived, although I predicted who would survive at the beginning of the film, and I was right, but still I was rooting for them to make it through and especially send the whole inbred town (oops, did I give that away? Well I guess that's why I say there's spoilers) straight to hell where it belongs.

I won't say it as a B-rated horror film, I feel it was slightly above B...I don't know what that is exactly, but it's a little better than B-rated.

A movie made for TV, it's OK for a low budget flick.

[redrascal6 · 4/10 · 29 October 2007]

OK I saw this movie last night, I was not expecting to much as it was aired by the SCFI Channel. I cant complain it was watchable, the special effects were OK for what they were. The storyline was weak, no real plot twist's. It was basically what you see is what you get from a low budget horror movie. The acting was poor in places, but overall not to bad.

You have to take into account, that this was never gonna be a blockbuster. You were never meant to be wowed just entertained.

So if you want amazing action, big star's, great acting and a story that you are never quite sure what is going to happen, then this is not the film for you.

If on the other hand you just want a little entertainment for an evening in, then this film is watchable, it's not great but if you don't expect too much then you can make it to the end, thinking like me. "I've seen worse"!

Brainless Horseman

[Moechi · 3/10 · 19 August 2021]

7 college students (most of them look like they go through their second divorce already) make a road trip and find themselves in a strange small town.

Conveniently, the townspeople have to sacrifice SEVEN young people to the Headless Horseman, who visits the town every halloween...

What can be said about the movie: The special effects are bad, the story is boring and the acting is sometimes ridiculous (especially the old store owner). The Headless Horseman itself looks ok, but lacks scariness. The sets are decent.

Conclusion: It's bad, but it's not "best of the worst" material either. Just boring, predictable and trashy.

P. S.: Elizabeth Prestel's (Candy) acting style fits better in an Adult Movie...

Great compared to other 'sci-fi originals' but still crap compared to real movies

[movieman_kev · 2/10 · 5 May 2008]

On All hollow's eve in 1862, a confederate soldier and his commanding officer are attacked by the headless horseman, flash forward to modern day and we find seven friends on their way to a Halloween party. Of course they take a 'short cut' and get lost (as teens tend to do in these kind of films) and end up in a ratty old hick town where the horseman starts to use them as cannon fodder. Apparently, his head grows back a tad with each decapitation around his belt that he sends through a whirlpool vortex to hell (don't ask) their only chance lies with a magical fabled sword (again don't ask)

I had no clue this was a 'sci-fi original' when I rented it, so it's my own fault for watching it. Typical lousy acting and atrocious CGI for one of these films, the story is a tad more interesting than is usual the case, but it's still pretty bad. It's always good to see Richard Moll in a film (I did grow up on Night Court after all) but that's one of the very few things that this movie has going for it.

My Grade: D+

DVD Extras: Trailers for "Day of the Dead" (2008), "Senior Skip day", "Mega snake", & "Black ops" (formally Deadwater)

They don't get much worse than this.

[gerry1019 · 1/10 · 29 October 2007]

This, broadcast last weekend was the latest entry in the SciFi channels efforts to make the worst movies of all time. When I am watching a movie like this I'm perfectly able to suspend my belief in the "Real World" and accept the premises of the film. What I can't accept is, within the aforementioned premises, the complete abandonment of normalish standards of behaviour. That's the problem here. The story is an old one and has been told before. In this case a group of kids end up in a mysterious village and the malevolent townspeople don't intend letting them leave. I don't know any of the cast but if normally playing idiots is their thing, they succeed here.All sorts of glaringly obvious escapes are just ignored and stupidity rules the day. Only watch this if you have recorded it so you can liberally use the FF button.

I hoped the creature would slash them all

[MartianOctocretr5 · 2/10 · 4 October 2009]

It's hard to believe how lousy this trash is. Never mind the title; this has nothing to do with the Sleepy Hollow legend, nor does it have any of the meaning that story does. It has no meaning at all.

Just some gratuitous torture porn serial slasher flick with acting that makes a kindergarten play look like Oscar material by comparison. It's the same old routine you've seen 14,363,889 times before: a bunch of obnoxious screaming teens are arrested for no reason at all by a stereotyped wacko hillbilly sheriff. The kids are clichéd personality types from Saved by the Bell that would never hang out together in real life (bimbo, nerd, jock, dumb fat kid, smart shy girl with glasses, goth, stoner, etc.) Then a whole town of weirdos picks on them. Then some guy with a fake looking Halloween costume and cheap rasta wig stands around staring at them a lot, drooling blood a lot, and killing them off one by one a lot. But you'll never care what happens to these dimwits; if anything, you'll probably hope they get croaked; at least that'll stop the screaming.

Who will live? Who will die? Who really cares?

Typical trash, disappointing...as usual...

[AndyVanScoyoc · 2/10 · 8 December 2019]

I love Gothic style horror and while I knew this was NOT going to be on the same par as the Johnny Depp version, I figured I'd give it a try.

I really shouldn't have.

GREAT start and for a few seconds, I was hopeful.

It was short lived.

Honestly, are there REALLY people that are THAT vapid in the world? If so, I'm glad I haven't met them because I'd slap the taste out of their mouth.

Really...do people actually in the real world make time to be around sniveling morons who act like they're 12?

No lie...I remember my friends and I being stupid like these people, in JUNIOR HIGH...circa 13-14 years old!

Do these filmmakers get a budget and say, "okay, we have money! Let's go hog wild making a STUPID movie!"?

I was having doubts by the time everyone left the store and then when Miss Inbred Reject from The Dukes of Hazzard showed up with her ridiculous accent, I knew all was lost.

And it just got worse...

Go do yard work, plant farmland, build a rocket... seriously, do ANYTHING but waste your time on this drivel.

SciFi Channel is scraping the underside of the barrel now...

[Moondrop_C · 28 October 2007]

Just saw this thing last night. Why? I dunno. I was also surfing YouTube and even the bad videos there were better than this waste of my time. This was bad. BAAAAAAD. And not in a cheesy B-movie bad-is-good way.

Bad writing, baaad acting, plot practically straight out of the Friday the 13th Series from the late 80s, but without the convenience of being over and locked in a vault in an hour.

Seemed to me that they'd spent all of the budget on visual effects, leaving no money to pay decent writers and cast this movie with people who could act. With the exception of Richard Moll, they must have found these people at community theater productions in towns where the people have never seen what real acting looks like.

If you thought the 8 Movies to Die For picks were bad, this might make you want to throw your TV out a window.

BTW, why is this still (as of this moment) marked as being in post-production when SciFi has gotten their hands on it?

Looking For A Top To Chop

[bkoganbing · 2/10 · 10 January 2009]

A group of seven young people ride into a Deliverance like town in the piney woods in the Appalachians and to their dismay find this is the hunting ground of the headless horseman. Washington Irving did not tell the truth about it being in the Hudson Valley, it was really in Eastern Tennessee. Anyway old headless has been doing his accursed thing for two centuries now.

If this one didn't come out on the Science Fiction Channel it would have been one of those early season big screen releases that folks just love to go to for the gore.

As the jock types and wise kids get shortened a little bit on Halloween, it turns out that the kid who reads the classic literature, Billy Aaron Brown, comes up with a way to defeat the unreasoning one.

Watching this slasher flick, the song that Bing Crosby sang about The Headless Horseman from the Walt Disney cartoon feature of Ichabod Crane kept going through my head. They should have featured it here, it couldn't possibly have hurt the film.

Another Cheap movie

[ysaiid · 3/10 · 2 December 2007]

Believe me this movie doesn't deserve wasting your time. It is a bad bad movie. Bad story, Bad actors, bad timing and terrible direction. It is like a normal episode of a horror TV series and never can be in the level of horror movies that we love to watch. Even the series Buffy is more exciting.I can act better than those amateur young actors. They really don't know how to act all of them...when you are watching the movie you think that they are saying the script and not taking the effort to act the script. really bad. And I think the director directed each seen alone without taking the whole picture together. The timing is really annoying and the scenes doesn't make you fell thrilled at all. The sound effects are like taken from many other movies put together. The film is overall the worst horror movie i have ever watched and i don't advice you to watch it.

SciFi movie

[BandSAboutMovies · 3/10 · 12 January 2020]

Originally airing on SyFy back when it was still Sci-Fi, way back on October 27, 2007, Headless Horseman is all about the famous Washington Irving story, which was true and was much less scary than what actually happened.

It's directed by Anthony C. Ferrante, who would go on to create Sharknado.

On their way to a party, seven teens stumble upon the town of Wormwood Ridge, whose townsfolk are celebrating a ceremony honoring the Headless Horseman. Turns out that the town wants their skulls, to quote the Misfits.

Nearly everyone loses their head in this one, quite literally. You know, if I've learned anything, if you end up in a small town and it feels weird, just leave before you die.

Richard Moll shows up. Seriously, that dude is in so many of my favorite weird 1980's movies, like Evilspeak, Night Train to Terror, House and The Sword and the Sorcerer.

So yeah. Don't go in expecting Sleepy Hollow and just aim to have some fun and you'll be just fine.

Over all a good movie

[leader-16 · 8/10 · 17 November 2007]

OK so i heard about it while watching the SCIFI channel and it looked really interesting so on the day after it came out i sat down and watched it. it was really good. decent acting, the horseman was awesome and the part where he rides the motorcycle out was cool. over all i give it a 8 out of 10 because it was just a thriller, not scary but it was awesome i just don't get why people say it sucked, i think it was a good movie. just give the actors a chance jeez. And besides its a scifi movie what do you expect but this turned out to be a good one. story is kinda weird i thought it was gonna follow the actual story but in the end it was alright. when they release it on DVD i'll be sure to pick it up.

Headless Horseman: Better than I expected

[Platypuschow · 6/10 · 25 May 2018]

I expected the worst here I have to be honest, every previous movie regarding the Headless Horseman mythos has failed royally.

Early on it follows the usual formula of a bunch of 20 somethings on a road trip going on a shortcut and running into trouble. So little originality is on display, then you have the shoddy sfx and patchy script and the thing was setup to follow suit and fail miserably.

However somehow it came out watchable. The cast are oddly competent, Richard Moll is present and the practical effects look great.

Sadly it does trail off a bit and yes as mentioned it has its fair share of flaws. Thankfully there is enough decent content to counter this and Headless Horseman though nothing special is a harmless take your brain out horror effort.

I'll say this, it was still better than Sleepy Hollow (1999)

The Good:

Horseman actually looks okay

Cast do a great job

Richard Moll

The Bad:

Patchy script

SFX aren't great

Things I Learnt From This Movie:

When blowing up a car you may as well blow yourself up with it because reasons

Homeless people wouldn't miss their heads

OK for a TV film

[dien · 5/10 · 17 March 2008]

I know, I know, it's so easy to criticize this film. Badly acted, poor special effects, no real redeeming qualities, etc. But before you do that, consider the circumstances under which it was made. It's a Sci-Fi Channel original, which means limited budget and no award expectations.

While I'm not that familiar with the headless horseman and Sleepy Hollow legends (and honestly, I don't care that much about them), it was easy to follow the linear plot and enjoy the ride. And though I usually hate overacting, it was particularly the performances that kept me watching to the very end (especially Arianne Fraser as Tiffany is hilarious!!!).

If there's one thing that seriously bothered me, it was the ending. It came too quickly and I expected someone else to survive. Nevertheless, if you want a film that won't give you sleepless night because of the complicated plot, give Headless Horseman a try. You might be surprised (in a positive way, of course :-)).

It was better than I had expected...

[paul_haakonsen · 5/10 · 19 March 2023]

Right, well in all honesty, then I have to say that I wasn't exactly harboring much of any high hopes or expectations to this 2007 movie titled "Headless Horseman". The movie just didn't exactly permeate any sense of top notch entertainment. But still, since I hadn't already seen this movie, then of course I opted to watch it and give it a fair chance.

Writers Zachary Weintraub and Anthony C. Ferrante actually put together a fair enough script and storyline for the movie. Was it corny? You betcha. Was it campy? Indeed. But there was still something oddly entertaining and enjoyable about this take on the classic "Legend of Sleepy Hollow" story.

The storyline was predictable, for sure, but I actually still enjoyed it for what it turned out to be. It was actually an adequate enough movie for me. And I have to say that the twist on the "Legend of Sleepy Hollow" story was actually a nice one.

I was, for the majority of the cast ensemble, unfamiliar with the actors and actresses. But I will say that they actually put on fair enough performances to carry the movie. I actually only think I was familiar with actor Richard Moll here.

Visually then the movie was okay. It is not a top notch and over-the-top special effects movie; so don't expect to be bedazzled and blown away. I will say, however, that the special effects were adequate and sufficient for a movie such as this. And in all fairness, then I have to admit that I definitely liked the costume design for the Headless character.

All in all, then "Headless Horseman" made for an adequate enough viewing experience. It is, however, not a movie that warrants more than just a single viewing.

My rating of director Anthony C. Ferrante's 2007 movie lands on a five out of ten stars.

Not so bad as these films go

[Leofwine_draca · 5/10 · 11 February 2022]

HEADLESS HORSEMAN (2007) is a modern-day spin on the famous Washington Irving story that inspired Tim Burton's SLEEPY HOLLOW (1999). As a TV B-movie, shot in Romania and first shown on the Sci Fi Channel, you'd be forgiven for not expecting too much from this one, and you'd be right as it's not so great. However, I found it fairly watchable for a low budget film, about as good as one of these can get. The story is interchangeable with dozens of others, with your usual assorted teens heading off to a remote locale and getting caught up with a local and very murderous legend. A few twists on the horseman here: not much in the of horse-riding, but instead a villain modelled on the one in JEEPERS CREEPERS with some cool regenerative FX that reminded me of Uncle Frank in HELLRAISER. Quite a bit of gore too which the gorehounds among us will enjoy.

Better than it should be

[kannibalcorpsegrinder · 9/10 · 24 October 2014]

Trying to go to a party, a group of friends find themselves targeted by a cursed town to hold them hostage for a Headless Horseman to continue their curse and must find a way to leave the town alive.

This is a really surprising and enjoyable slasher. One of the better elements at play here is the fact that this one manages to retain its creepy vibe throughout, playing this one as something much more than an average take on the genre. The woods here add a really great touch of suspense as there's a large amount of fog over the area, the disorienting designs of the leaf-less trees adding a really great air of creepiness due to all the chasing and stalking set there, and even plenty of the stalking set in town gets quite fun. That carries into the film's better qualities for those stalking scenes, both out in the forest as well as through the town as this one features some really great ones. The car graveyard chase features some great moments with the chase through the rows of skeletal cars, a big outdoor scene in the woods where he chases the group while on horseback and a rather lengthy chase through town that gets really fun and action-packed at times are those really great scenes, though on the whole there's really none that don't work. Added together with the fast-paced storyline and plenty of bloody decapitations that make up the kills here, this one has a lot right about it. There's really only one clear problem here, and that's the over-complication of the story. Although it plays off the long-standing tradition of having the creepy town meting out a supernatural brand of punishment on normal outsiders, this at times seems like its got way too much that takes up a little extra bit of time to further pad the back-story. Its initial explanation gives it plenty to get through but after awhile it just feels like overkill. Otherwise, this is a lot of fun.

Rated R: Graphic Violence and Language.

Excellent Take on the The Legend of Sleepy Hollow Theme

[adel-mattar · 7/10 · 2 November 2007]

This was a great movie...the acting was average, the characters were average, and the special effects were pretty good but there were some flaws..

the sheriff looks like the priest from the century before who originally killed The Legend of Sleepy Hollow but dies violently instead of destroying the demon.

They also killed the main bad guy about twice but he would not stay dead. No explanation as to how that is possible.

Additionally, they did NOT explain why The Legend of Sleepy Hollow was haunting this small American town and preventing the people from leaving.

Watch it...you will NOT be disappointed!

headless

[kairingler · 8/10 · 11 February 2010]

watched this the other night on sci-fi, very interesting take on the legend of sleepy hollow, but this is supposed to take place in a different town called Wormwood. a man made a deal with the devil a long tim e ago and now the town has to suffer the consequences of his actions. enter the clueless teens that wonder off of the beaten path, they run over a bear trap and in taking the short cut are now stranded and late to a party in the big city.. mostly the town is inbreeding but not all, apparently the horsemen needs so many heads by midnight if not the town ceases to exist, one character that i like is appropriately named "Candy" she is very pretty and adopted, so technically not one of the inbreeding clan, all in all it's not a bad picture,

Not bad for a Skiffy Movie

[JoeB131 · 6/10 · 10 May 2008]

A little better than average for a Sci-Fi channel movie.

Now, stop me if you heard this one before. A group of college friends decides to take a shortcut through the woods on the way to a Halloween party, whereupon their truck breaks down, and the inbred inhabitants of a small town set upon them. (Amazingly, the Skiffy Channel had to film this in Romania, because apparently they couldn't find one of the inbred redneck towns they seem to think dot the countryside of rural America.)

The discover that the Headless Horseman of legend must collect seven heads every Halloween, in order to preserve the town of accursed souls.

Now, this is pretty much the plot of every bad horror movie you've ever seen. What makes this one better than most? I think the characters were more interesting than they usually are in films like this, which is good. You had Richard Moll playing the proprietor of the general store, which added some comedy to the film.

Overuse of CGI for special effects, but the plot held together reasonably well. Or maybe I've seen so many bad ones that an okay one doesn't offend as much as they normally do.

A Great horror film

[jacobjohntaylor1 · 9/10 · 17 September 2020]

This is a very scary movie. I do not know why this a got a 1. There most be a lot of people who do not know a good horror movie when they see it. This is a very scary movie. It has great acting. It also has a great story line. i give it 9.

A Bit Above Average

[aimless-46 · 6/10 · 1 September 2010]

While better than average, "Headless Horseman" is yet another example of how the industry corrupts a genre by running winning formulas into the ground, in this case the old familial horror category. Although started by "Psycho" back in 1960, the genre did not really get going until the original "Texas Chainsaw Massacre". It combined the weird family stuff with elements from 'Deliverance" to portray backwoods American people as demented in-breds who bring their victims to a place they have turned into a slaughterhouse; insert obligatory junk yard of prior victims stuff - which in this case includes a bucket of cell phones which made little sense since later on you learn that the killings only happen for one day every seven years.

"Headless Horseman" adds in some "Wrong Turn", "House of Wax", and "Sleepy Hollow" stuff to the standard mix. Although not much of a story it does have excellent production design (perhaps because it was filmed in Europe), about the right level of computer effects, and a cast that includes several great looking actresses.

Best of all it subtly takes the self-parody route, everything is played straight-but just enough over the top to provide some amusement value to a discerning viewer (the Candy character and Richard Moll's shopkeeper being the best examples of this). The obvious absurdities make it easy to suspend disbelief- knowing that not even a complete idiot would behave the way these characters do at times throughout the movie.

Seven college kids find themselves being systematically exterminated by a horseman from hell (who at times has a head and at other times is headless) in the backwoods of Missouri. There is less misogyny than usual and the writer manages to avoid the usual off-kilter moral force that punishes the cast for engaging in sex and mild drug use (they do neither). There is a fair amount of gore but the "R" rating is extreme; the film should not be a problem for anyone of middle school age or older.

The DVD has not special features related to the film itself.

Then again, what do I know? I'm only a child.

Fun low-budget horror

[Wuchakk · 6/10 · 28 December 2011]

Syfy's "Headless Horseman" (2007) is not based on Washington Irving's tale of "Sleepy Hollow," but why should it be since the headless horseman has been a motif of European folklore since at least the Middle ages? Irving simply borrowed the monster for his tale.

The film was shot in Romania but the story takes place in Missouri. A group of youths take a shortcut to a distant party and end-up in the cursed hamlet of Wormwood, where they encounter the diabolical headless horseman who wants their heads. Because the town is cursed and has a pit-gateway to hell the inhabitants are wont to help the horseman get his heads, except for one person.

The film only plays it semi-straight with a strong air of self-parody or camp, which means it's impossible to take seriously and you won't find the various horror antics chilling in any way, shape or form, unless maybe you're under-aged. But this doesn't mean it's not entertaining.

"Headless Horseman" takes elements from flicks like "House of Wax," "Ogre," "Sleepy Hollow" and "Wrong Turn" and does a decent job despite its TV budget. If you're a fan of those types of films you'll likely appreciate "Headless Horseman." I prefer it to the latter two.

The film excels in its sense of horrific fun. Beyond that it has a quality cast of no-names and a good 'lost town' set. The no-name cast features not one, not two, not three, but four good-looking young women, including Elizabeth Prestel as Candy and Arianne Fraser as Tiffany. No nudity or sex, but it's not needed, and Candy has a couple of really cute outfits. Excellent job on this front.

As far as the special effects go, mostly CGI, I was impressed during the first half but they got pretty bad by the final act. This was a case where less would've been more, but I guess the filmmakers felt they HAD to have an effects-laden finale. Too bad, because it really detracted from the film.

Still, "Headless Horseman" is a quality low-budget horror flick that mostly gives the viewer the entertainment expected and desired. It's not serious horror in the sense of taking seriously or provoking real chills, not at all, but it's pretty darn entertaining.

GRADE: B-

Good Story marred by Bad Acting

[Vince_D · 6/10 · 31 October 2023]

Released in 2007 and directed by a pre-Sharknado Anthony C. Ferrante, "Headless Horseman" is a modern-day re-imagining of Washington Irving's classic horror folk-tale, "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow." Although it has a creative and imaginative story, the film is severely marred by poor performances.

The plot unfolds on All Hallow's Eve, when seven college students en route to a party, decide to take a shortcut and wind up in the "lost" eerie town of Wormwood. According to local legend, 100 years ago a madman kidnapped and violently tortured some kids until the townspeople took matters into their own hands and beheaded him. Now, he returns every seven years as the Headless Horseman to exact revenge by taking the heads of seven new victims. Our unsuspecting newly-arrived college visitors soon find themselves being hunted down one-by-one as the legendary figure seeks his vengeance.

I understand that in these lower budget b-movies, rookie actors will do rookie acting that is not always the best, and I take this into consideration when rating movies. However, even with that in mind, the acting in this was just bad. Even the more experienced cast members like Richard Moll delivered cringe-performances. Rebecca Mozo, an actress I've never seen before, was the one standout and did a good job."

In terms of visuals, the effects and creature design for the headless horseman were good, especially considering it was made in 2007. There are some cool atmospheric and intimidating shots of the Headless Horseman who's physical appearance slowly and creepily changes throughout the film. Other than that, the cinematography and music are mostly forgettable.

Overall, for fans of schlocky-horror movies, "Headless Horseman" can be an entertaining watch if you can get past the acting. 6/10.

6 Stars for the Horseman

[QueenoftheGoons · 6/10 · 1 June 2021]

The horseman was cool - the death scenes good. Moll was a nice touch - what a voice. Every time i hear his voice i think of Harvey 2face. The ditsy chick is annoying and not enough of the people you can't stand die but the Horseman is very cool. Love the spurs.