gavin6942 In a small American town, a diabolical circus and its demonic proprietor (Jonathan Pryce) prey on the townsfolk.For some reason, I recall as a kid turning on the TV and this was on... and thinking it was pretty scary. Now, twenty years later, I am watching it and thinking I was a silly kid. I love horror movies and this would hardly even qualify. It has music very much like "Harry Potter", and is no scarier than anything from the series.Not to say it is a bad film. It is actually rather decent, and there is never a bad time to adapt a Ray Bradbury story. How faithful it is, I have no idea. I have not read nearly enough of his work. But it is interesting some of the parallels here with the work of Stephen King, primarily "It" or "Needful Things".

FlashCallahan Will and Jim hear about a strange travelling carnival from a salesman, so they decide to see what it's all about. But Will is fearful, as most carnivals end their tours after Labour Day, and it's the middle of autumn. When Mr. Dark rides into town at midnight, setting up his massive carnival in a matter of seconds, the boys are both thrilled and terrified. It seems to be just another carnival at first, but it is not long before the forces of darkness are manifesting from the haunting melodies of the carousel, which can change your age. With his collection of freaks and oddities, Dark intends to take control of the town and seize more innocent souls to damn..........With Disney going dark in the eighties with their live action movies, they hit an undeserved slump, which is highly unfair, when material like this is the outcome.Sinister from the word go, the film is dark to its core, and it revels in the fact right until the last shot, and it never pulls its punches, which some may find difficult to digest, coming from the studio that loves fun, brightness, and laughter, as this is the other end of that spectrum.But as entertaining and genius as it is, it's easy to see why it failed, and journeyed into obscurity. It's way too dark for children, it's the stuff of nightmares, literally.And on the flip side of this is the fact that many would be deterred by the Disney moniker. Many would think it would have a saccharine edge to it, but this couldn't be further from the truth. Imagine a Disney film where a man has a spell cast on him where he feels what it's like to die, or children are covered in spiders, and a man is aged, explicitly on screen, and this is your movie.Pryce is wonderful as Mr. Dark, charming, suave, but just one scene changes all that when he discovers Robards is lying to him. That's when the film goes even darker.If you ever get a chance to see this wondrous film, do so, but do it on a cold winters night,with all the lights off.You'll think twice about the carnival for a long time after......

scarletminded Maybe it is because I grew up with this movie, that I love it so. Especially watching it around this time of year. It drips Autumn and all its beauty and decay. Sure, the sets look like movie sets, but I feel this adds to the storybook like quality of the piece. I have read the book too and do see how someone in love with the book might be upset at this retelling. It doesn't bother me though and I will tell you why.The atmosphere of this movie is amazing. The director, who also made The Innocents which is another favorite horror movie of mine, knows how to craft an image. The acting is all good. Mr. Dark, Jonathan Pryce, is my favorite, stepping out as the evil carnival owner just a scant few years away from Brazil, even though I never knew him in this movie until it was pointed out to me. Ah, acting and a beard makes all the difference. I would marry Mr. Dark, but then I am a Gothic minded girl who wouldn't mind the Dust Witch in the entourage. I really think happiness is over rated too, take me with you! I suppose, this wasn't the point of the book or movie, but I digress. The child actors are good, really, no one acts horrible in this movie. It adds to the theater like quality of the movie, its dreamy and murky. I never knew Pam Grier of Coffy fame was the Dust Witch. Again, the power of acting and character actors can take it to the next level. I have no idea why this movie would get a "rotten" rating on Rotten Tomatoes, yet the audience rating is 63%, goes to show you how the movie is actually loved. The scene with Mr. Dark tearing out pages in a book to show Will's father's life passing by is wonderful, in fact, Jonathan Pryce, does a bit of a running monologue for the most part and makes it believable. Add the carnival and all its craziness and the Dust Witch in her shroud, setting fashion standards for the gothlings to come, it is a formula win for me.I wish the scene with the Dust Witch in her balloon could have been added. It would have been cool to see. Or Mr. Dark being killed by happiness, which we all know is the best way to kill a goth. I wonder how the original cut of this was before special effects were drizzled all over it. I almost have to see the film Hysteria now because Jonathan Pryce looks like an older Mr. Dark in it. Growl!

pepekwa I try not to watch Disney movies as they invariably are very schmaltzy, preachy and basic for my taste. This film as others have noted is about as dark as Disney has ever got. But most importantly, its entertaining, this is an old-fashioned good versus evil tale set in pre-war small town America. Carnivals were always big deals in the pre-TV era and Disney spent some good money on production to bring it all to life. Johnathon Pryce has always played the part of the villain well and he doesn't disappoint here. The special effects by 80's standards were good enough, veteran director jack clayton made this very watchable, keeping up a level of suspense throughout and while not terrifying, there were some very creepy scenes that made this a bona fide horror movie.