Day 19: Something Wicked This Way Comes (1983)

A Month of Horror

I have always wanted to do a marathon of "HORROR" throughout the month of October, one where I would revisit a new horror movie every day from the first to the thirty-first.  I will revisit the classics as well as new entries into the canon.  There are many movies that define this time of year, and I hope to showcase 31 of them this month...

October 19: Something Wicked This Way Comes (1983)

There was a time in the 1980s where Walt Disney Studios were well-known for their more subversive fare, movies like "Tron" and "The Black Hole", that blew young minds with their sci-fi stories, and others such as "The Watcher In The Woods" and "Something Wicked This Way Comes", that left permanent scars on the young psyches of their viewers.

"Something Wicked This Way Comes" featured a screenplay by Ray Bradbury, based on his own original story, and features many of Bradbury's common themes.  The movie is a celebration of the innocence of youth, just as it is a tribute to the eerie mystique of autumn, a season that more than any represents a passage of sorts.

Will Halloway and Jim Nightshade are you average young boys in an average small town.  It is an idyllic introduction before things end up going off the rails with the arrival of a travelling carnival.  It soon becomes clear to the two young boys, that there might be more to the carnival than the rides and attractions it hawks on the unsuspecting public.

The beauty of this movie, a failure in its day with both audiences and critics, is that the story is a clear example of Bradbury's genius, and his ability to take those things that are comfortable and familiar, and twist them into a darker less obvious version that the one we know.  He is able to take our deepest set dreams and turn them into nightmares.

While not a perfect movie, and one that didn't do so well on its initial release after major studio reworks, it is still a creepy story and one that has always remained with me over the years.

Tomorrow, I plan to visit with one of the other great slashers of the horror genre, one who encourages no running in the halls...