After years of hearing about the film’s horrific and nightmare inducing imagery, I finally turned on the 1985 cult classic Return to Oz. The Walt Disney Pictures film is seen as a spiritual sequel to the classic technicolor The Wizard of Oz from the 1930s. The sweetness of the iconic movie musical is replaced with an absurdist grit and underlying dread throughout the entire film, with Dorothy having to become an action hero as she works to restore order in the Emerald City.
Everyone is right: the film is wackadoo. It’s not bad, just bold. While the 1980s tended to create family films that delved deeper into one’s fears, this movie takes it to a whole other level. Multiple heads, demonic imagery, and gutsy character design create a film that has held up as the weirdest entry in Disney’s filmography.
Is this what could be missing in Disney’s current slate now? Dread? Maybe a bit of the mania surrounding what scares us could help to add a creative boost to the (hopefully robust) upcoming slate.
I frequently think about Guillermo Del Toro’s canceled Disney announcements from the first ever D23 Expo. Unfortunately, the Expo is known for announcing quite a lot of projects for them to never end up existing. (i.e. Mary Poppins at EPCOT, the Main Street U.S.A. theater, Walt Disney Animation Studios’ Gigantic) Del Toro appeared in 2009 with two announcements: his own Haunted Mansion film and a new series of family “horror” films.
Del Toro tackling Haunted Mansion has always been the most obvious pairing that has yet to materialize. Instead, we have received two ill-reviewed comedic films. Del Toro is known for adding a creepiness to all of his work, even if it’s not outwardly a horror film (The Shape of Water).
Also announced was Disney Double Dare You, which was set to be a series of scary films directed at younger viewers. These animated films would bring the idea of thrills and chills to a younger demographic. Yet, as we all know, the brand went the way of the Dodo and we were left with nothing from the mastermind.
Is there something to be said about bringing fear back into Disney content? I don’t think a proper horror movie is necessary, considering the Searchlight and 20th Century Studios banners now under the Disney umbrella, but being scared is not relegated to only horror movies. Return to Oz shows us that you can still be creeped out by, at its heart, an action-focused tale of togetherness. Here’s to Disney working on creating some of their own nightmares in the near future.