Chris Jordan reviews the excellent Ray Bradbury adaptation, Something Wicked This Way Comes.
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| "May I interest you lads in a Faustian bargain?" |
There is something oddly and powerfully
timeless about Ray Bradbury's iconic novel Something Wicked This
Way Comes; a quality that makes
it emotionally resonant on several levels, and that has granted it a
place among the twentieth century's most classic horror tales. It is a
story with great thematic depth; one that means something different
depending on your age. If you're younger, it's a coming-of-age tale
about two kids first encountering the dark side of reality as they
face an evil that threatens their town. If you're older it's a
bittersweet tale of regret, loss, and the futile desire to stop time
from slipping through your fingers. Either way, there are some heavy
philosophical themes at the core of Bradbury's writing, and either
way it offers one of the most chillingly plausible tale of Faustian
bargains ever written. All of this makes Something Wicked
This Way Comes a very complex
and high-concept tale to adapt into a marketable Hollywood movie; and
a very unlikely one
for Disney to want to attempt, let alone actually get right without
diluting its philosophical core. Yet despite those questionable odds,
here we have it: a truly excellent film version of the story, written
by Bradbury himself with all of its darker elements not even slightly
sugar-coated. It stands as one of the riskiest movies that Disney
ever produced; a very grown-up film despite being allegedly
family-oriented. Disney might tell you that the risk did not pay off:
the dark, philosophical tale was greeted with shock and scorn by the
studio's typical family audiences. Not only did it not do well in
theaters, it also proved so un-Disney-like that the studio kept their
name off the VHS box altogether, and licensed it to Anchor Bay to
release on DVD, with the Disney name removed from the opening
credits. Fans of Ray Bradbury, and fans of intelligent genre-defying
filmmaking in general, will tell a different story: Something
Wicked This Way Comes is as
great as it is unexpected, and its word-of-mouth reputation has grown
the film into a much-loved cult classic. This is one of the finest
and most faithful screen adaptations of Ray Bradbury ever made, and
is highly recommended.
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| "Do you like the chair? I got it while I was in Brazil." |
It is
just before Halloween, in a small town in what appears to be the
late-1920s. Two boys are just growing up, and their parents and
parents' friends are just getting old. They all have ways in which
they want their lives to be different: things they want to do
someday, or things they wish they had done. Amid all the desires and
dreams and lost hopes, a mysterious carnival comes to town, which
seems to be able to grant these wishes... for a price. Disney saw
potential in the story for a family film due to its two young
protagonists; and indeed, for kids the film would function as a
compelling story of young friends who face a sinister force within
the tents of Mr. Dark's Pandaemonium Carnival. But that's only half
the story. We see the events equally through the eyes of the two boys
and through the eyes of one of their fathers, played with warmth and
wistful sadness by Jason Robards. Bradbury's thoughtful script has
two equally strong emotional cores: the boys coming to terms with
growing up, and the father coming to terms with growing old.
Depending on your age, the script takes on a different meaning and
morphs into possibly a different story altogether as you gain the
ability to identify with both perspectives. Perhaps it would be most
accurate to say that kids might enjoy Something Wicked This
Way Comes, but you have to be an
adult to really understand its depths. The tale draws its power from
the unfulfilled desires and dreams of its characters, and from the
tantalizingly painful question, what would you give to fix the parts
of your life that you are unhappy with? It's a shockingly serious and
sobering theme for a Disney production, and it was wonderfully brave
of the studio, screenwriter Bradbury, and director Jack Clayton to
tackle that theme head-on, without holding back or playing it too
safe.
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| "What, you thought just because it's Disney they couldn't have a badass witch?" |
While
the studio probably would have rather gone for marketability (hence
their awkward distancing themselves from the film on home video),
someone there should be thanked for recognizing the great duo of
artists at work, and respecting their vision rather than tampering
with it. Ray Bradbury adapted the novel with great thought and care,
turning his story into a compelling film without compromising its
intelligence and philosophy. Director Jack Clayton was a perfect
match to the material: he had already proven himself an expert in
moody, thoughtful, literary horror-drama with his 1961 classic The
Innocents, based on The
Turn of the Screw by Henry
James. Clayton and Bradbury have excellent support from the film's
first-rate cast: Jason Robards and Jonathan Pryce in the central
adult roles, with a supporting ensemble including Diane Ladd, Royal
Dano, and Pam Grier. The two kids at the heart of the story are quite
good: very believable as children right at that age when the pure
innocence of youth is starting to chip away to reveal the world's
darker side. Jonathan Pryce gives one of the finest performances of
his career as the sinister, charismatic Mr. Dark, the Faustian
proprietor of the carnival. Few characters have ever embodied evil so
well, with a quiet, menacing-yet-reassuring deviousness that could so
plausibly lure in lost souls. Pryce's perfectly balanced delivery
gives great power to Bradbury's wonderful gothic dialogue, which
boasts lines like, “We are the hungry ones. Your torment calls us
like dogs in the night, and we do feed – and feed well.”
It is
a bit of a miracle that this film of Something Wicked This
Way Comes even exists; not just
because it's unbelievable that Disney produced the film as it is, but
that Hollywood did at all. While it certainly has some great
spectacle and horror atmosphere, it is all about emotions and themes;
it is horror in the existential rather than conventional sense. It
seems destined to be a sleeper cult-classic rather than a mainstream
hit, and it certainly isn't for those who like their horror a bit
more straightforward or fast-paced, but those who like this style of
storytelling will love this film. Bradbury's thought-provoking script
and Clayton's moody and atmospheric direction are a perfect match,
and the cast brings just the right gravitas to the material. Whether
it resonates with you as a coming-of-age tale, a musing on regret and
lost youth, or a bit of both, it is undeniably powerful in a
relatable way that few horror films attempt. If you want a movie that
is both great Halloween viewing and an excellent drama in its own
right, this is it.
Score:
-
Christopher S. Jordan
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