Whatever happened to scary movies for kids?
In the early 1980s, Disney produced a string of both animated and live-action films that pushed the boundaries of the macabre in family entertainment. Movies like Return to Oz, The Black Cauldron, The Black Hole, and The Watcher in the Woods scared their young audiences alongside entertaining them, and we here at VPL like to not only reminisce about those types of kids’ films, but analyze what makes them so wonderful and important. So for this episode, we are turning to one of the most perfect Halloween movies ever made: 1983’s Something Wicked This Way Comes.
But not only is Something Wicked This Way Comes dark and disturbing, it also has a great deal of fantasy and awe – no doubt infused into the film from its source material. Renowned science fiction/horror novelist Ray Bradbury penned this tale, and his brand of timeless and universal storytelling is really what sets this movie apart from the pack. In the episode, we get into what certain themes and elements make this story so compelling, like the eternal warning, “Be careful what you wish for.”
So, this Halloween, join us as we head over to the original “dark carnival” with Mr. Bradbury and this under-seen, yet very influential film. And as always, thanks for listening! If you would like to support us, please take a quick moment to like us on our social media sites (Facebook, Twitter), and remember to rate and review us on iTunes. You can also become a patreon patron here, or buy some cool merch designed by our very own Andrew Gimetzco at places like these: RedBubble, Society 6, Tee Public, Threadless.
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