If you first saw the esteemed classic THE WIZARD OF OZ as a child—and unless you were living with some Stone Age tribe in the jungle somewhere, there is no excuse for NOT having seen it—you already know: THE WIZARD OF OZ is SCARY. AS. F*CK. Come on, the Witch? The Flying Monkeys? The Haunted Forest? (“I do believe in spooks! I do believe in spooks! I do I do I do believe in spooks!”) Even the big green floating head of the false Oz. That’s the stuff of nightmares, right there. (So of course I adored it.)
There are plans underway to develop a movie (and perchance a series, a franchise) based on the original Oz novels written by L. Frank Baum, only rendered as straight-up Horror. Tacking on the caveat “if done right,” this news has me positively giddy with anticipation. I was disappointed when Disney’s OZ THE GREAT AND POWERFUL, while successful, didn’t rake in enough of the filthy lucre to generate a new series of Oz films. This, however, a new flick or set of flicks done as Horror, could be even better. Don’t change the stories too much, I say. They’re scary enough as they are. Just show us more blood. Let the violence happen onscreen. Give the Flying Monkeys bigger fangs. It could work. It could work really well.