something wicked this way comes (M17)

twenties america. jason robards is the father. a boy and his friend and the carnival comes to town. the carnival is evil. it appeals to people's unhappiness, regrets and yearnings, rather than their happiness with what they have. a man who desires women is abducted. a woman who yearns for her past beauty is abducted. a man missing an arm and a leg is abducted. the merry go round can turn people young. will and his friend nightshade discover the tricks of the carnival and the head of the carnival, mister dark,(jonathan pryce) seeks to kill them. (he is aided by a woman who is both temptation and death) lightning and rain are the foes of the carnival and evil. (lightning illuminates and rain washes them away) mister dark tries to elicit information from jason robards who regrets his life as a librarian and his inability to save his drowning son (who was saved by mister nightshade who then disappeared a few years later) and his old age. mister dark offers to turn the hands of time back (dramatically tearing pages from a book which then appear to be on fire, as he offers to go back in time to various ages of youth and the torn pages are the lost opportunities that jason passes up.) jason then saves his son and the nightshade kid.