Tim Burton’s most intense film is experiencing a streaming revival after its release

Whether you realised it or not, the gothic style of the legendary Tim Burton has been front and centre on your screens lately. He directed four out of the eight episodes in the popular second season of Netflix’s Wednesday.

One of the cast members, Christina Ricci, has worked with Burton before and their earlier project from over 25 years ago is now getting renewed attention it’s currently trending on streaming platforms.

The film is Sleepy Hollow, a 1999 horror movie starring Johnny Depp, another frequent collaborator of Burton’s as the movie is a loose adaption of The Legend of Sleepy Hollow the 1820 short story by Washington Irving.

Right now, Sleepy Hollow is one of the top ten most-streamed movies in the U.S. on Pluto TV. It sits among other fan favourites such as all three Godfather films, the zombie thriller 28 Days Later starring Cillian Murphy, the comedy classic Coming to America and the 2005 Western drama An Unfinished Life and many more.

Although Sleepy Hollow is not the highest rated film in Tim Burton’s collection, it’s still considered one of his standouts works. One Rotten Tomatoes, it holds a solid 71 percent score from critics and an 80 percent rating from audiences.

The site’s consensus reads, “It is not Tim Burton’s best work but Sleepy Hollow entertains with its stunning visuals and creepy atmosphere,” highlighting its haunting style possibly the darkest of Burton’s films as the renowned film critic Roger Ebert praised the movie, giving it 3.5 out of 4 stars.

He called it “the best-looking horror film since Coppola’s Bram Stoker’s Dracula.”

Besides critical praise, the film was also a success at the box office. Released in a competitive movie year, Sleepy Hollow was made on a budget of $70 million and earned $207 million globally. That includes $101 million from the U.S. and $106 million from international markets.

It became the 21st-highest-grossing movie of 1999 and still ranks among the 40 highest-grossing horror films ever and it even outperformed some newer titles like The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It (2021) paranormal activity and Robert Eggers’ 2024 remake of Nosferatu.