Something Wicked This Way Comes (1983)

In a small Illinois town, two young boys (Vidal Peterson, Shawn Carson) are intrigued when a mysterious carnival comes to town. It isn't long before the boys discover the carnival's deadly intent. Based on the novel by Ray Bradbury (who adapted his novel for the screen) and directed by Jack Clayton (THE INNOCENTS). The film has a problem history. This is a Disney film and they wanted a family friendly film while director Clayton wanted to stick closer to the darkness of the novel. Add some unfriendly test screenings and against Clayton's will, Disney fired the editor (Argyle Nelson), deleted scenes, dumped George Delerue's score and did some re-shooting and re-editing. The results are decidedly mixed. It's not a bad film by any means but it never achieves a level of true dread and terror. I'm not quite convinced by the casting of Jason Robards as the small town librarian father (I think he was a janitor in the novel) of Peterson. There's nothing small town or particularly paternal about Robards as an actor. A missed opportunity though the 10 to 12 year olds might like it. The replacement score by James Horner isn't bad at all! With Jonathan Pryce, Pam Grier, Diane Ladd, Royal Dano, Richard Davalos, Mary Jane Canfield, James Stacy, Ellen Geer and Arthur Hill does the narration.