This movie is a curiosity. It struggles to find a niche for itself, and although it has some interesting imagery and effects, the overall effect seems rushed and incomplete. In a nutshell, a town is menaced by a mysterious carnival that arrives suddenly and it's up to two young boys to uncover the truth. I found "Something Wicked This Way Comes" interesting, but I also found it quite unsatisfying. I came to the film with no knowledge of the plot and at the end of the film I wasn't much the wiser! As it stands, what we have is (slight spoilers just here): the arrival of the carnival, the two young friends generally exploring it and seeing too much, and the rest of the townsfolk somehow falling under some strange spell and/or disappearing.
The two young leads are appealing but not capable of depicting enough emotion to carry the movie, as their acting range is limited to little more than blank staring and surprise. Little better is the Jason Robards as the blond moppet's father, and all scenes between these two are pretty wooden, even the crucial climactic rescue scene, which kind of dilutes any tension. The script doesn't help at all, in fact nobody ever seems to have anything important to say. Shame, because Jonathan Pryce is excellent as the carnival head honcho.
The story would probably have benefited from being turned into a TV miniseries rather than this feature film. Something more along the lines of the original "Salem's Lot" series would have allowed the story and characters to develop better, and we could have gradually got involved in the little mini plots around each town-person who gets wrapped up in the carnival's power, as well as explaining all the bewildering elements like the fortune teller, the big ticket seller who gets younger, the spiders, etc, etc. What the carnival is actually doing and why (and how!) should have been the most intriguing part of the film but it's so vaguely depicted that it meant I hardly got involved in the mystery at all. I mean, I thought I got what was happening when they showed the frumpy teacher who gained her beauty but lost her sight, but what about the one armed football player who just got younger with no ill-effects? And why did some of the victims turn into exhibits? As I said, I thought there were some good ideas in here but they needed more room to grow so that we could have got the hang of it all properly.
The two young leads are appealing but not capable of depicting enough emotion to carry the movie, as their acting range is limited to little more than blank staring and surprise. Little better is the Jason Robards as the blond moppet's father, and all scenes between these two are pretty wooden, even the crucial climactic rescue scene, which kind of dilutes any tension. The script doesn't help at all, in fact nobody ever seems to have anything important to say. Shame, because Jonathan Pryce is excellent as the carnival head honcho.
The story would probably have benefited from being turned into a TV miniseries rather than this feature film. Something more along the lines of the original "Salem's Lot" series would have allowed the story and characters to develop better, and we could have gradually got involved in the little mini plots around each town-person who gets wrapped up in the carnival's power, as well as explaining all the bewildering elements like the fortune teller, the big ticket seller who gets younger, the spiders, etc, etc. What the carnival is actually doing and why (and how!) should have been the most intriguing part of the film but it's so vaguely depicted that it meant I hardly got involved in the mystery at all. I mean, I thought I got what was happening when they showed the frumpy teacher who gained her beauty but lost her sight, but what about the one armed football player who just got younger with no ill-effects? And why did some of the victims turn into exhibits? As I said, I thought there were some good ideas in here but they needed more room to grow so that we could have got the hang of it all properly.