Sleepy Hollow: Sanctuary Review

 

After two fantastic episodes with Death, Sleepy Hollow returned to a sleepier episode filled with nightmare-inducing ghosts, Evil Dead style demonic roots and a hellish tree demon to drive new terrors into our very souls.

As soon as the bodyguard joked around about the house looking haunted, I knew that we were going to be in for a freaky ride, and boy was I right. Far too often we get haunted houses that don't look, or act the part, but this former sanctuary was easily the scariest haunted house I have seen in years. Even without seeing the ghosts, demon or the extensive bloody root system, everything about the house felt evil. Once the action got started, that evil feeling only amplified into pure terror.

A groundskeepers worst nightmare

There is one thing they need to work out though. The constant changing cameras during the chase scenes were a very disorientating at times. Would a more static camera really have reduced the tension so much that they had to resort to flipping between camera angles every few seconds?

I suspected that Ichabod and Abbie's family have been tied together for some time now, but it didn't make the announcement any less satisfying. But what happened to Crane's descendants? Now that we know how strong Abby's family is, whoever is left of Ichabod's family must also have some power of their own, especially since they have witchcraft in their blood. Will we be introduced to yet another influential character, or could someone we already know have that powerful blood flowing through them? Maybe a certain billionaire? Or maybe a soul eater?

I didn't care for the side story involving Jenny and Captain Irving nearly as much, though. It almost seemed like the writers just stuck the little time they had together into the episode so that they weren't left out completely. I am sure that Macey is going to suddenly play a large part in the upcoming episodes, but the way she was introduced felt unnaturally forced. At least her character seems refreshing, unlike her mother.

Sanctuary was definitely another shining example of why, even with the main villains working in the background through most of the season, Sleepy Hollow consistently feels like this years best new series. I can already tell that this will be a series we will be missing between seasons, even before the Christmas break starting after next week's episode gives us a taste of that withdrawal.

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