Das Böse kommt auf leisen Sohlen

A Disney film based on a novel and screenplay by Ray Bradbury and directed by Jack Clayton, who also directed the riveting drama Room at the Top, the classic British horror film The Innocents and the legendary The Great Gatsby – all of this suggests that Something Wicked This Way Comes will indeed be something exceptional. The central motif of the film, which will appeal equally to children and adults with its complexly elaborated characters and fantastical atmosphere, is temptation arising from inner angst. This takes tangible form in an eerie travelling carnival that arrives unexpectedly in an American town at the end of October. This temptation takes a slightly different form for each of the main and supporting characters. Whereas for the two central characters, the boys Will Halloway and Jim Nightshade, it is primarily an amusing attraction that entices them by settling up outside of the city limits toward the end of the year as the days get shorter, for the adult inhabitants it literally offers the fulfilment of their innermost desires. In exchange for such fulfilled illusion, however, the carnival’s leader, the demonic Mr. Dark, charges the highest price. Will’s father, a man of advanced age who for several years has been burdened by his failure in relation to his son, is also in danger of giving in to this temptation. Some levels of Bradbury’s novel have been pruned away, so the relationship between fathers and sons emerges as the central theme, especially the uneasy and potentially traumatic moment for both parties when the father suddenly loses his aura of being a superhuman hero in the eyes of his adolescent child. This alone makes the film a completely unique work, which is further enhanced by its dramaturgical grasp and formalistic elaboration. The film focuses on creating an ominous, fantastical atmosphere, which it achieves by bringing both the characters and viewers face to face with scenes that defy rationality but which it never explains, instead suggesting their enduring mystery. Whether it’s a train without a driver, the beautiful and heartless Dust Witch, the tattoo on the hand of the carnival master or the exchange of Shakespearean quotes between him and Will’s father, the confrontation with these and many other elements gives us the chilling feeling of encountering something ancient that transcends man and reminds him of his own limitations. At the same time, however, Something Wicked This Way Comes is spellbinding in its poetic nature, which is manifested in the cinematic devices used, as well as in the literary qualities its language, not only in the voiceover narration, but also in the characters’ dialogue and even their names. (07.05.2014)