If you are young or young at heart, there is no greater masterpiece of children's horror than Ray Bradbury's 1962 novel, Something Wicked This Way Comes. We may have abandoned our wicked ways, but the children's horror of the past still remains available today. PG horror like The Watcher In The Woods and Gremlins are almost non-existent, and blockbuster adventure films these days never feature anything as hideous as the melting faces in Raiders of the Lost Ark (though Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness certainly tried to live up to that standard). Modern Disney villains are either misunderstood or bureaucratic types who lack the theatrical menace of their forbearers. Unfortunately, the touch of terror customary in fairy tales has fallen out of fashion. From Pinocchio smashing the Cricket in his original novel to the stygian boat ride in Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, it seemed that our fantasies used to nurture a child's love for the gruesome. Were they scary to a youngster? Absolutely! Were they more compelling than any of the sickly sweet heroes around them? You bet! 'Family friendly' stories almost always had that element of morbidity. My fondest childhood memories were of being frightened silly by the old Disney villains like the witchy Maleficent from Sleeping Beauty and the demonic Chernabog from Fantasia.īoth creations reveled in evil and commanded the forces of darkness. As someone who used to be a kid, I can safely state that both assertions are false.

We don't scare children enough these days! For some odd reason, modern storytellers seem to be under the impression that kids either can't handle the macabre or have no interest in fear.

Something wicked this way comes novel