Something Wicked This Way Comes

By the pricking of my thumbs...

Beset by production issues, Disney being horrified by the horror of the piece and etc, Something Wicked This Way Comes proved to be a most divisive picture. Yet it's actually a spooky family friendly horror yarn.

Plot sees the Pandemonium Carnival roll into a small American town and mysteriously grant the residents their wishes. Of course it's a "too good to be true" set up, and after two young boys discover the carnival's secrets, they come under threat from the owner, Mr. Dark (Jonathan Pryce deliciously sinister).

Directed by Jack Clayton (The Innocents) and photographed by Stephen H. Burum, pic is far darker than what Disney envisaged at the outset. Missing the crux of Bradbury's literary bent, t...

It might not be as great as it could've been, but I did enjoy watching 'Something Wicked This Way Comes'.

Jonathan Pryce definitely carries events as Mr. Dark, who is a character that suits him very nicely. I'm a fan of Pryce from other films, so it's little surprise that I like him here. Jason Robards is good too, if a little muttered throughout. The child actors, meanwhile, are passable.

The premise is filled with intrigue, it doesn't quite deliver on a grand scale and yet I still felt suitably entertained. The film is shot quite neatly, the main town in particular looks pleasant.

Good, admittedly mostly thanks to Pryce.

Something Slow & Dull This Way Comes

In 1932, a mysterious carnival comes to an Illinois town where weird things start happening and people strangely go missing. Jason Robards plays a librarian while Jonathan Pryce is on hand as the shadowy head of the carnival

Something Wicked This Way Comes (1983) is spooky fantasy written by Ray Bradbury (based on his book). The studio, Disney, wasnt happy with director Jack Claytons original cut and so took it out of his hands and undertook expensive reshoots, reediting and rescoring, plus adding a narration.

I was expecting to love this movie since I favor flicks set in carnivals or circuses, like Water for Elephants (2011), "Berserk!" (1967), "Circus of Horrors (1960) and Funhouse (19...