Tonight’s movie review comes courtesy of Walt Disney and Ray Bradbury in the dark carnival story “Something Wicked This Way Comes” from 1983. A movie with a complex and troubled production, at one point it was to star Kirk Douglas and at another it was going to be directed by Sam Pekinpah. It is based off of Ray Bradbury’s book by the same name, though that book was originally intended to be a screenplay (But the movie fell through, so it became a novel and was only later adapted back to a screenplay).
Other names attached to this at various times included Steven Spielberg directing and Christopher Lee or Peter O’Toole as the villain. The movie ended up with Jack Clayton directing… mostly. After a dispute with Disney over the movies tone and the bad performance of the test screening he was effectively replaced and the studio spent six months and $15m on reshoots. He wasn’t the only person sent packing though as they also scrapped the entire score written by Georges Delerue, which they had decided was too dark in tone. Delerue was replaced by James Horner who provided a score that emphasized the small town America feel a bit more and the terror a bit less. The film also dumped it’s editor Argyle Nelson Jr. and had assistant editor Barry Gordon take his place instead.
Beware The Autumn People.
With Kirk Douglas no longer available and O’Toole and Lee too expensive the casting settled on Jason Robards as the heroic father “Charles Holloway” and Jonathan Price as the sinister “Mr. Dark”. For the child leads Vidal Peterson was cast as “Will Holloway” and Shawn Carson as “Jim Nightshade”. Strangely enough Vidal was dark haired and Shawn blonde, but they had their hair dyed the opposite to play their respective roles. This was basically on Bradbury’s insistence that Carson was perfect for the Jim Nightshade role. Because of the reshoots there is at least one scene where the kids are noticeably older. The cast is capped off with Diane Ladd and Pam Grier (As the mysterious “Dust Witch”).
This is a story about regrets, pining for days gone by, the bond between a father and son and of course evil beings that feed on misery. In this story said evil beings materialize in the form of a carnival and set their sights on a small sleepy American town in Illinois called “Green Town”. We see the story unfold through the eyes of the two boys Will and Jim a mischievous pair that see more than they should have and threaten the evil Mr. Dark’s plans. The hero of the piece though is Will’s father Charles who must overcome his own doubts, regrets and weariness to rise to the battle ahead.
Then Rang The Bells Both Loud And Deep.
So this is a Disney movie and that is apparent on screen. Though this is in their more adult period and several years after they broke into that market with “The Black Hole” (1979), it is still geared to be family entertainment and of course focusing on the kids as protagonists places this into a fairly safe category of child friendly horror.That’s not to say that it doesn’t manage to achieve some menace and creepiness. There’s only really one notable horror scene outside of straight character interaction and your mileage may vary with it depending on how well you get on with spiders. Overall though I’d say it’s quite well balanced and I suspect Disney made the right move in toning things down.
I have listened to the original soundtrack from Delerue and it’s actually a superb soundtrack, but it does come across as some kind of epic horror. James Horner however was clearly aiming for something more specific in his version and bring out a bit of the quaintness of the small town setting and a bit of quirkiness where the carnival is involved while maintaining a sense of wonder and mystery. The horror elements are still there but like the film itself it is finely balanced. You can tell Horner was given specific direction here because this really doesn’t sound like his other work of the period. As I mentioned with my “Wolfen” review, as talented as Horner is a lot of his soundtracks sound very similar. Not this one! This could be a Danny Elfman score.
No Man’s a Hero To Himself.
The focus on the relationship between a father and son is nice to see and gives a heartwarming conclusion. While Disney rarely does such things these days, it was pretty common in the 80’s to have this kind of traditional family tale. But it’s a timeless thing as there will always be fathers and sons. The focus on regrets and missing the past is another timeless theme and the evil that comes to take advantage of that… well it sort of reminds me of modern studios rebooting all our beloved franchises of the past. In a way the villain is symbolic of modern Disney!
Speaking of the villain, Jonathan Price who wasn’t especially well known at this point, is very good. While Pam Grier’s Dust Witch is certainly creepy, she rarely interacts with the heroes, while Mr. Dark gets a lot of dialogue and delivers it with both mystery and menace. On some occasions I thought perhaps he was talking a bit too much, but overall he was the highlight of the movie. Not that there are any weak links here really. Even the creepy side characters with their blank expressions manage to be menacing without having to do much but stare blankly and occasionally smile.
By The Pricking Of My Thumbs.
So in conclusion, this is a solid movie and I wish Disney still made them like this. It’s not too adult for kids or too childish for adults, it has enough elements to it to just about call it a horror, but manages to be a heartwarming family tale on top of that. It’s reasonably well acted and we actually got two great soundtracks out of it. What leaves me a little bit torn is I’m just not sure if a darker version could have been more interesting, at least for me personally. Plus had they been able to pull off the planned CGI (Yes, in the 80’s!) it could have been quite visually spectacular too.
This is a high 6.5/10 that I will definitely be rounding up to a 7 for my IMDB score. For me though I felt it was a little lacking in places where they could have pushed elements a bit further and so falls just short of a straight 7. That doesn’t mean I don’t recommend it though (6.5 is still high from me). If you want a Halloween movie you can play for the whole family (Including kids) this would be an excellent choice.
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