Return to Oz

However, 40 years ago, an unlikely filmmaker managed to take the original Wizard of Oz books by L. Frank Baum and turn them into a dark, twisted sequel that may have underperformed at the box office, but now stands as one of the strangest chapters in movie history — and the film that traumatized a generation. Murch’s idea for a sequel was purposefully more faithful to the books, and what most people forget about The Wizard of Oz is that the books were really, really weird. This is reflected in Return to Oz from the get-go. The movie opens with Dorothy, played by an 11-year old Fairuza Balk (considerably younger than Judy Garland when she played Dorothy) worrying her Aunt Em and Uncle Henry with talk of her friends from Oz. Looking to heal her, they send her to a sanatorium where she is subjected to electroshock therapy, but a freak storm and a mysterious girl transport her — and her chicken, Billina — back to Oz. But this version of Oz is completely different. All of her old friends are gone, and the land is ruled by the Nome King (Nicol Williamson) with the help of the Princess Mombi and her interchangeable heads (Jean Marsh, Sophie Ward, Fiona Victory). It’s up to Dorothy, the now-talking Billina, the robot Tik-Tok, and Jack Pumpkinhead to find her old friends and get her back to Kansas.