Something Wicked This Way Comes
1983
Jack Clayton
Will Halloway (Vidal Peterson) and Jim Nightshade (Shawn Carson) are two young boys living in a small Illinois town in the 50s. Will’s dad, Charles (Jason Robards) is an older man and struggles to connect with his son. A strange carnival comes to town led by the sinister, Mr. Dark (Jonathan Pryce). The boys are initially attracted the carnival’s delights, but soon come to discover something evil is hiding underneath the surface. They struggle to stay out of the clutches of Mr. Dark, as the temptations of his traveling show slowly draw in the townsfolk. They turn to Will’s dad for help, but even he isn’t immune from the promises that Mr. Dark makes.
Something Wicked This Way Comes is pure concentrated autumn in movie form, with visuals of the falling leaves and the encroaching darkness, to more a metaphoric autumn of human lives, as past glories lie behind and the long winter of old age looms ahead. There is a certain lightness throughout the film, even at its darkest moments. This is a Disney produced horror film, so it trades on dread more than straight-up scares. The story begins with Will and Jim, but makes an awkward transition to Charles Halloway about half-way through the film. The story becomes less about the innocence of these boys being tested by the evil of Mr. Dark, and more about Charles accepting his past and the years he has left. It’s thematically consistent, but narratively it doesn’t quite work. Still, Something Wicked This Way Comes is a marvelous, cozy Halloween story that captures the spirit of the season almost perfectly.
Today's Really Quite Tasty Temptation:
Wicked Funnel Cakes
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