The Wizard Of Oz

Here is yet another entry on our list of the '100 Greatest Scary Movies' that makes you scratch your head a little bit. That was definitely my reaction. How could one of the most beloved and magical family films of all time, 1939's The Wizard of Oz find its way to the rank of 86 on such a list? And to have it rank higher than 28 Days Later? That was seemingly preposterous in my mind. But I was committed to this task of watching every last film on the list and I begrudgingly revisited it. Not that I dislike the film, far from it, but I entered this task to watch scary movies not sweet, magical ones; to watch fright and horror done to the best of their potential.

Now, I began to realize that I had not seen this film in a very long time. My teenage years had seen me develop into more of a Return To Oz fan, the dark, eerie sequel that was released in 1985 so many years after this original film. However, for all of this movie's saccharine sweetness, I found that there were indeed some fairly dark undertones. I mean, right off of the bat we have a wicked old woman who tries to have Dorothy's iconic dog exterminated. And let us not forget that the first wicked witch is savagely crushed beneath the weight of an entire house, her legs withering away into nothing, leaving nothing but her pair of slippers behind.

I have noticed in watching older films and especially old cartoons, just how casually violent they all were. Slapstick especially was a supposed comedic form but the aggression of it all and the brutality of the jokes were actually very vicious. But I digress. My point is that there is a darkness hidden within this magical world that is displayed before and it is trying with all of its might to take it away. Yes, it is all implied for the most part, but it is indeed there. Once Dorothy leaves the relative safety of Munchkin land, the world becomes dark and untrustworthy. She is attacked by trees and her friends are dismembered and broken when they try to aid her. And just what is going to happen to Dorothy when the sand in that hourglass runs out? Is her life force somehow bound to it by some wicked spell of the witch? Or is it something more primal, like the winged monkey minions or the witch herself, simply coming in and killing her?

Speaking of the monkeys, those horrible flying monkeys, they are a creepy lot without a doubt. Visually, yes, but also in a metaphorical sense; they have taken you from the safety of this innocent world and delivered you directly into the hands of evil. Even the wizard, the hope in which you had put your whole faith in turns out to be a sham, a falsehood that cannot truly give you the salvation you had hoped for.

Is this movie scary, truly deserving of its place and rank on this list? Probably not, but it was an interesting exercise in discovering the underlying darkness just under it surface. Stuart Gordon, the director behind the fantastic gore masterpiece Re-Animator, has claimed that this film has caused more nightmares than any other movie in history. I do not know where he gets his information, but I can believe it in some ways for a child who gets lulled into a state of security by the parades song and dance might be find themselves frightened by what inevitably follows. But regardless, it is still a great film, both for its restrained ghoulishness and its hopeful cheer.