Excepting the somewhat confused climax, which begs for special effects techniques not yet available in 1983, the movie is a relatively low-key affair, relying more on mood than grotesque horror tropes.

| Original Score: 3/4 | May 12, 2025

[D]espite the hiccups and poor reputation, Something Wicked This Way Comes remains a surprisingly potent work of dark fantasy.

| Jun 14, 2023

Something Wicked never really amounts to anything... its not until its viewed for a second time that it begins to make any kind of impact.

| Aug 1, 2022

...offering up horror tropes but grounded in small-town Americana, this is about the most wholesome horror film ever made...

| Original Score: 4/5 | Mar 22, 2021

It's not hokey fun like Watcher in the Woods but just chilling and thoughtful and extremely well acted.

| Original Score: A | Apr 4, 2019

In the end, the storytelling saves the film. Like the book, it's a perfect mash-up of two of Bradbury's favorite themes: small-town life and innocence lost in the wake of something sinister.

| Oct 4, 2018

It's a reminder of when kids movies were about more than farts and wise-cracking animals, and its visuals retain their power to unsettle and unnerve.

| Oct 4, 2018

Book-based '80s movie about an evil carnival is scary.

| Original Score: 2/5 | Feb 23, 2016

Even amidst readily apparent imperfections, "Wicked" still holds a melancholy grip. That's because its supernatural elements are really but a grace note to the symphony of its everyday drama, whose elegant, elegiac qualities have diminished little.

| Original Score: 4.5/5 | Nov 14, 2013

Along with The Watcher in the Woods, it may be Disney's only honest-to-God effort to tell us a horror story.

| Original Score: B | May 14, 2013

The property was snapped up by Disney, which promptly sucked the life out of it, turning it into a scrubbed and innocuous coming-of-age tale. Too bad.

| Original Score: 2.5/4 | Mar 10, 2009

Possibilities for a dark, child's view fantasy set in rural America of yore are visible throughout the $20 million production but various elements have not entirely congealed into a unified achievement.

| Mar 10, 2009

The plot concerns a mysterious carnival outside a small town in the early 1900s that grants the wishes of the town's citizens, with dark consequences.

| Mar 10, 2009

WICKED needs to be viewed as a different kind of film

Full Review | Aug 4, 2008

Full Review | Original Score: 2/5 | Feb 21, 2008

Try as I might to get into this movie, based on the classic Ray Bradbury tale, I've found myself blocked by its off-putting ways.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Aug 26, 2006

Ultimately, though, it's an uneasy blend of horror and whimsy, with the allegory being hammered a little too hard for comfort. It's also marred by some dreadfully tacky special effects and set designs.

| Jun 24, 2006

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Aug 3, 2005

Full Review | Original Score: 2/5 | Feb 10, 2005

Full Review | Original Score: 2/5 | Feb 9, 2005