"Something Wicked This Way Comes" qualifies as a horror film, but it's an altogether different kind than we've been getting lately. The new breed of horror movies are essentially geek shows, exercises in despair in which all hope has been abandoned and evil rules the world. Bradbury's world of fantasy calls back to an earlier tradition, to the fantasies of Lord Dunsany, Saki and John Collier (but not H. P. Lovecraft!) -- horror fantasies in which evil was a distinct possibility, but men also had within them the possibility of redemption. Robards is offered a choice in this movie, and it is a choice. Things need not end in disaster.
Something Wicked is one of my favorite Ray Bradbury novels and I'm glad to see it was turned into a movie worth watching. I've only seen bits and pieces of the movie on the Disney Channel but from what I've seen I'd have to agree with Ebert. There's an overwhelming sense of foreboding in even those small clips.
Sounds like this is one to put on the must-see list.
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