![]() In fact, the only thing that connected it to the musical version was the presence of Ruby Slippers, which were silver in the original book. When I was an adult, she told me about Judy Garland’s drug addiction and her gradual fall from Hollywood grace, a story that felt equally tragic to anything on the silver screen. All the sets looked just too false, and I found myself not appreciating the film. I didn’t care for the dancing and the witch didn’t impress me. The sepia opening, for a child who was used to colour television, seemed boring to me. I remember distinctly, because she also had a copy of the old Judy Garland musical version. I keep thinking that something may have happened to him during production of this film, maybe something that put him off directing any films from then onwards. A specialist in sound and editing, Murch worked on editing for films like The Godfather and Apocalypse Now, but Return to Oz was his only venture into directing. ![]() I know that the power behind the film didn’t really rest with him instead it rested with the film’s director, Walter Murch. It’s a strange story and I really wonder quite what the producer, Paul Maslansky, was thinking at the time. I just want to tell you how I felt when I watched this video, and some of the strange things that it reminded me about. I’m not interested in telling you stupid stories like you’ve read a hundred times before. Dorothy didn’t turn to the camera and start screaming while blood poured from her eyes, or anything stupid like that. The film itself played out perfectly normally, as much as possible. Now before you groan and go to read something else, don’t worry, this isn’t a story of a haunted video tape. Truth be told, it is a bloody scary film. I remember watching the film, glued in place in front of the television, not out of involvement but out of terror. I remember that the first time I seen it, I cried. I knew right away that there was something unusual about the film, something especially disturbing. I can’t remember how old I was at the time I seen it, perhaps five years old at most. In 1985, the Disney film ’Return to Oz’ was released in cinemas, and a few years later made its way onto home VHS. And it helped launch Fairuza Balk into roles such as The Craft (1996) with her gothic good looks.– Elton John, “Goodbye Yellow Brick Road” Nasty bastards!Īnyway, it now has a cult following. The Wheelers, in particular, were enough to scare the bejeezus out of any young mind. This failure is more than likely due to the mixed reviews the film received, along with feedback of the dark and disturbing nature of the movie.Ĭonsidering it was intended for kids (and we remember watching it one random afternoon in 1995 or so-boy, did it freak us out), it’s just a bit unsuitable. Off its $28 million budget, it went on to make $11.1 million in the North America. That didn’t stop the film from being a box office disaster. George Lucas was supposed to take over at one point, but convinced the studio to give Murch another shot. This was largely as it was a long shoot and he fell behind schedule, starting in February 1984 and only wrapping in October 1984 (shortly before a young Mr. ![]() As we’d suggest this isn’t much of a kid’s movie.īut all the same, for what it’s worth, if a media text leaves an indelible impact on you in the way this film has… it must have done something right? The Production of Return to Ozĭirector Walter Murch began plotting the film in 1980 and was actually fired by Walt Disney productions. We’ve got to presume whoever wrote that has never seen this thing. On YouTube Movies the synopsis says, “You’ll love accompanying Dorothy on this thrilling adventure based on L Frank Baum’s books!” The film is also rated a U. Others seem to let their childhood fear weight over it. It’s mega divisive-some people think it’s a dark and disturbing masterpiece. The performances are also solid all round and you can see why Balk went on to cult status.Ĭult status is also what the movie has also achieved. And the special effects for the 1985 are excellent. There were quite a few fantasy films like this from the 1980s that were pretty creepy.įrom an objective standpoint, the production values in Return to Oz are high. So it still had the capacity to frighten us rigid. Okay, so we saw Return to Oz when we were approaching our teenage years. ![]() Where some semblance or normality returns for the poor girl. Dorothy does, thankfully, escape and return to Kansas.
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