Return to Oz (1985)
Directed by: Walter Murch Starring: Fairuza Baulk, Piper Laurie, Nicol Williamson
Sixth months after returning home from Oz, Dorothy (Baulk) is
struggling to return to normal life. She is sent to hospital but her
mistreatment causes her to attempt an escape. She is swept down a river in
torrential rain and when she wakes up, she finds herself in Oz once again.
However, things have changed drastically since she has left. She must team up
with new friends Tik Tok, Jack Pumpkinhead and the Gump to defeat the Nome King
and return Oz to its former glory.
I am going to start by reading you an extract from the blurb
on the DVD “If you loved The Wizard of Oz, you’ll love accompanying Dorothy on
this second thrilling adventure based on L. Frank Baum’s “Oz” books!” No, no
and no. Everything about that is wrong. This is absolutely nothing like The
Wizard of Oz. People often discuss repressed memories, these are the events
that occur for when you are a child that are so traumatic you forget them. For
me, watching Return to Oz is exactly that. I completely forgot about watching
this movie until I was reminded of its presence recently. I decided to watch it
and all the bad memories came flooding back. This movie is freaky as shit! I
was terrified as a child and I was terrified as an adult.
The film starts out with a moment that I probably didn’t
understand as a 10 year old but completely threw me off my feet as an adult. Dorothy is struggling
to sleep so her auntie and adoptive mother (played by Piper Laurie, who has a
terrible track record with motherhood) sends her to an overnight stay at a
psychiatric hospital. Fair enough because Dorothy is clearly sick but the
doctor tries to give her electroshock therapy! She is a 8 year old girl for
Pete’s sake! The creepiness does not stop there. One of the main enemies in the
film, Princess Mombi, is a head-hunter who keeps the heads of young women she
has captured in a big room on display. She can then change the head’s with her
own! Holy shit! Then there is the ending. The team is forced by the Nome King to
pick an ornament from a room full of them, which is supposed to be the
scarecrow, or they are permanently turned into an inanimate object. Spoiler
alert, everything works out ok in the end, but bloody hell, way to freak me
out. Then there are the Wheelers. Forget iconic horror movie villians such as
Pinhead, Freddy Kruger, and Jason Vorhees, the Wheelers are by far the
freakiest villians to ever grace the screen. These things gave me nightmares
for a long time.
When this movie was released, it was a massive financial
flop. This was because of a couple of reasons, it holds the record for the
longest time between the original and sequel (46 years) and it is way too dark
and twisted for its target audience. In the end, I think this is a great movie,
but as a horror movie, it is in no way suitable for children. I recommend
watching this movie but on occasions think about what you would feel if you
were watching this as a 10 year old.
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