Something Wicked This Way Comes

Two best friends, Will and Jim, who are almost the same age but born on different sides of midnight, live in a small town. A creepy carnival called Pandemonium comes to town with a bad guy named Mr. Dark who has magic rides like a carousel that makes people older or younger, and freaks who grant wishes but really trap people forever. Will's dad helps them fight the evil with books and laughs, and they save the town from the carnival's tricks just in time for Halloween.

In Ray Bradbury's 'Something Wicked This Way Comes,' set in the idyllic yet ominous Green Town, Illinois, two 13-year-old boys, Will Halloway and Jim Nightshade, born only minutes apart on opposite sides of midnight, encounter the sinister Pandemonium Shadow Show carnival led by the malevolent Mr. Dark. This eerie troupe arrives in late October, offering temptations of eternal youth and fulfillment of deepest desires through freakish attractions like the ageless Dust Witch and a magical carousel that accelerates or reverses aging. As Jim is drawn to the carnival's promises of maturity and power, Will senses its corrupting evil, drawing in Will's introspective father, Charles Halloway, the town librarian grappling with his own regrets of lost youth. The narrative unfolds as a battle between innocence and temptation, with the carnival ensnaring townsfolk in mirrors, calliopes, and bullet witches, forcing Charles to confront his midlife melancholy through laughter and ancient knowledge. United by friendship and paternal love, Will and Charles dismantle the carnival's dark magic during an apocalyptic storm, restoring balance but leaving lingering shadows of what might have been. Bradbury's poetic prose weaves horror, nostalgia, and redemption into a timeless fable on the perils of wish-fulfillment.