I’d not seen Return to Oz in a long, long time before last night when I found it was on the telly. I watched it. I loved it and something very much clicked.
It was the ideas behind the story and the characters. Odd characters, strange characters, but characters that felt very real. Tiktok, the mechanical man, who needed different parts of him winding up in order to work, and who was the one man army of Oz. Jack Pumpkinhead – made from a jack-o-lantern and branches and who just wants to know who is mother is. The evil witch who changes her head(s). The being brought to life by fixing furniture, palm leaves and a moose’s head together and sprinkling magic powder on it. The lunch pail tree. The coming back to a familiar place and finding everything different.
Bloody brilliant.
Bloody brilliant.
I remember being taken to the cinema to see it when I was little, and I remember being enchanted and terrified at the same time (those wheelers were PROPER scary).
But yes. The characters. The story. The imagination. The way the different was almost normal.
But yes. The characters. The story. The imagination. The way the different was almost normal.
You know? I think something stuck.
(And here’s the trailer. Not the best, but it’ll do.)
Teehee, first He-man and now Return To Oz – you're sending me on a proper trip down memory lane this week, Nik! I remember seeing Return To Oz at the cinema too. I must have been about 5 or 6. Actually, what I remember so clearly is the first attempt to see it. I was with my dad and it was sold out. I was so heartbroken they gave me a free box of popcorn to take home which I tucked into even while I was still crying. But the next attempt to see it was successful and it scared the life out of me. Especially those wheelers! And all the heads. Proper freaky stuff. Now I want to watch it again 🙂 Maybe I can find it in time for Halloween …
I was TERRIFIED of the wheelers! And Mombi -her real head screaming from the glass cabinet *shudders*. Haven't watched that for years. I'm getting very nostalgic reading your recent posts!
that's the most terrifying film I have EVER seen.Rotting pumpkin heads?Headless queens?I'm going to have nightmares now… I just know it.
Francesca – what a story!!(The whole of the film's on youtube and I just ordered the dvd from amazon for next to nothing…)
Oh yes. Terrifying! Hope the nostalgia's a good thing!
Jenn, if I give you nightmares I apologise. I am sending you glowing deep sea fish things to soothe you and to scare off the frightening things.
NikI've had, since seeing this post, dreams about:1. paying £2.50 a week for a kenwood kitchen mixer and not being able to find out how many weeks this was going to go on for, nor how much the mixer cost.2. being asked to contribute £20 to someone's wedding suit, who I didn't know, and feeling awkward that I didn't want to.3. searching around an outdoor market for something to eat and getting increasingly anxious when I couldn't find anything.All typical anxiety dreams for which I hold your blog responsible. Bad. Bad!
AND I forgot the ECT machine!Ugh!
ECT machine? Jesus! That's almost as scary as the Kenwood mixer! And I can only apologise! Sorry.N x