Something Wicked This Way Comes (1983)

Bradbury's Something Wicked This Way Comes is a classic, and possibly his best work. This film should have been a great success, with a good cast, and especially with Bradbury himself writing the script from his own novel, but alas, it was not. Several reviewers have suggested that it should be remade with modern special effects. This may be a good idea, but the effects were generally pretty good for the early '80's, and in my opinion the major problem lies elsewhere.Ultimately, this is a suspense film with very little suspense. This is particularly obvious in the climactic scenes in the library, which should have dripped with suspense, but actually felt flat. Which presumably points to the director and perhaps the editors. This is surprising, as Jack Clayton had a fairly high reputation and made some very good movies, but perhaps he was just no good in the suspense genre. Whatever the reason, this was a reasonably good movie which should have been much better.

One of the things that Ray Bradbury did better than most was to find that delicate balance between Light and Dark in his stories (and his characters). While SOMETHING WICKED THIS WAY COMES director Jack Clayton gives it the ol' college try, he as often as not misses the mark in that regard. The cinematography is gorgeous, and the scenes are staged and directed with great skill, but the movie more often than not fails to clearly delineate between the truly Light and the unfathomable Dark that is the great motif of this movie. The Dust Witch, for instance (Pam Grier), comes across as a sexy seductress, to be sure- but scary...? Not that I saw. Likewise, Dark himself (Jonathan Pryce), although he does deliver his lines with almost serpentine sliminess, is something less than scary. The fx don't help, nor does the happy ending: it would've been preferable to see the town looking like a ghost town in the end, with empty shops and maybe even the ghosts of proprietors past (and passed) moving through the dark to disappear forever from the minds of those who once knew them.

As long as I've read books, I've loved Ray Bradbury. No author has influenced me more. When news of his passing reached me two years ago, I was crestfallen. If anyone could have lived forever, it would have been him. "Something Wicked This Way Comes" is the first novel I ever read cover to cover. It's a rare book where you can put your thumb down on any sentence on any page and find something poetic and beautiful. Bradbury's preferred format was the short story and he never adapted as well to the novel or the screenplay. He happen to write both for the 1983 feature adaptation of "Something Wicked This Way Comes." It's not a great film but is one that has moments of greatness inside of it.The film follows Bradbury's novel quite closely. During a bleak October, the ideal town of Green Town, Illinois is visited by a carnival. Led by the enigmatic Mr. Dark, the carnival seems to grants the most heart-felt wishes of the lonely, sad, scared towns people but at a terrible price. Two young boys, Will Halloway and Jim Nightshade, are swept up by the mystery of the carnival, at first intrigued and then frightened. Will's father becomes an unlikely hero to both, forced to overcome his own regrets and fears into order to protect the boys from the dark dreams of the carnival.The book, "Something Wicked This Way Comes," is something of an allegory, a dark fantasy struggle of good and evil painted across an American small town. I love the book very much but found Bradbury's themes overly simplistic sometimes. Perhaps the only way the film is superior is that Mr. Halloway, frequently long-winded on the page, is a more flawed, more human character on-screen. James Robards is excellent in the part, every regret and bad memory on his face. He is a warm, loving father but one wrecked by guilt for the things he didn't and should have done. If Mr. Halloway is a more realized character in the film, then Mr. Dark is perfectly captured from the page. Bradbury wanted Christopher Lee to play the part, which probably would have been incredible. Yet Jonathan Pryce might be perfect in the role. There is such a real, deep sinister intent behind his every word and action. Mr. Dark isn't quite the Devil himself but something very close. Pryce gives a star-making performance.Both actors and characters are placed against each other in two scenes that stand out over the rest of the film. The first is when the carnival marches down the town's streets. Their trumpets play out a funeral dirge. Will and Jim hide under the sidewalk. Mr. Dark confronts Will's father, searching out the boy. The father tries to mislead the man, the boys' faces tattooed on his palms. In rage at being lied at, Mr. Dark digs his fingers into his own hands, drawling blood. Blood that drips down on Will's face under the street. That's an awfully good scene.However, the second confrontation between father and devil is incredible. The boys hide in the library. Mr. Halloway lifts his head up, taking his glasses off. Suddenly, as swift as a shadow moving into the room, Mr. Dark appears behind him. The two trade barbs, Bradbury's lyrical dialogue dripping off their lips. Mr. Dark snatches Halloway's book away from him. With every page torn away, another year lifts off of the man's life, a glowing page falling to the floor. The scene builds an incredible intensity. Pryce doesn't overdo it. Instead, he spits the words with vigor, rage quivering out of him. The book and film's themes are summed in this scene, undoubtedly one of the darkest ever in a Disney film. If the rest of "Something Wicked This Way Comes" had been as good as this one moment, it would have been a classic for all time.It's a shame the film around those two incredible performances and two fantastic moments is so frequently a drag. The opening and closing narrations, though expressed with Bradbury's lyrical verse, paint the film's themes out too neatly. The subplot concerning Mr. Cooger is unresolved. Royal Dano is delightful as Tom Fury, the lightening rod salesman. Fury's overall importance to the plot is somewhat murky. His sudden reappearance at the end reeks of sloppy writing. A long scene where Will and Jim are attacked by spiders and a hand made of mist in their bedroom is awkwardly executed and goes on much too long. The film's climax is muddled and lacks satisfaction. Charles Halloway escaping the Mirror Maze through the power of love comes off as helplessly hokey. Mr. Dark dragged to his doom by the carousel comes off as grim and mean-spirited. Considering the book ended with Will and Dad pushing Dark with laughter and happiness, the film's ending seems murky and inconclusive. "Something Wicked This Way Comes" is haphazardly paced. The film is only 97 minutes long but feels much longer.Changing the Dust Witch from an old crone to a siren-like embodiment of male desire was a smart decision. Pam Grier is sensual and enchanting in the part. Jack Clayton's direction is occasionally quite striking, such as a single shot of Will and Jim running down the darkened town street. Sometimes, Clayton's direction is a bit flat. The film had a troubled post-production, with rewrites, a completely new ending shot, and a new score recorded. Georges Delerue's original score is appropriately sinister at times but drones too much. James Horner's new score works for the film a little better but it's too light at times. "Something Wicked This Way Comes" is a troubled adaptation of a wonderful book. It's honorable in some ways and worth checking out for Bradbury fans, despite maudlin and uneven elements.

I try not to watch Disney movies as they invariably are very schmaltzy, preachy and basic for my taste. This film as others have noted is about as dark as Disney has ever got. But most importantly, its entertaining, this is an old-fashioned good versus evil tale set in pre-war small town America. Carnivals were always big deals in the pre-TV era and Disney spent some good money on production to bring it all to life. Johnathon Pryce has always played the part of the villain well and he doesn't disappoint here. The special effects by 80's standards were good enough, veteran director jack clayton made this very watchable, keeping up a level of suspense throughout and while not terrifying, there were some very creepy scenes that made this a bona fide horror movie.