Return to Oz (1985)

Director: Walter Murch

Cast: Nicol Williamson, Jean Marsh, Piper Laurie, Fairuza Balk

Have I Seen It Before?: There was a period as a child in the 90s where it seemed like everyone I knew had seen the movie, was just finishing watching the movie, or in the middle of watching it, but somehow, I never got around to watching it. As we finally took the dive into Disney+, my wife insisted that this be one of the first things we watched. Apparently, she was watching it back in the time when everyone else was. Thus, I can remedy what might have been a tragic oversight from my own early years.

Did I like it?: This film may have the opposite problem of The Wizard of Oz. The original film is drab and largely banal during the scenes that take place in Kansas, and the film only comes to life (quite intentionally, and technicolorly so) when Dorothy reaches Oz. Return to Oz makes its more bold choices in the early scenes, hinting at a darkness in the world of the Gales—complete with early ECT machines—that surprisingly got past the Disney corporate heads.

Once Dorothy (Balk) returns to Oz here, the film exhibits the same kind of puppetry that one could find in Labyrinth (1986), The Dark Crystal (1982) or other fantasy films of the era. The stop-motion use to bring the Nome King (Williamson) to life ages poorly. Stop-motion can be a delight on its own, but it has never, ever interacted believably with real actors. It was fine for King Kong (1933), when it was the leading edge of special effects, and could be stylistic in the works of Ray Harryhausen or Tim Burton, but here it distracts more than it enchants. Jack Pumpkinhead (puppeteered by Brian Henson and Stewart Larange) is an interesting creation, it does make me think a live-action-esque remake of The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993) might be the worst thing Disney could possibly do.

It may not be any particular fault of the movie, but the adventure is mildly pedestrian, and the far more transfixing parts of the film deal with the hero attempting to cope with not being on an adventure. I want to like the film more than I do, but it’s entirely likely I may have missed the key moment where it could have burrowed its way into my imagination.

Carrie (1976)

Director: Brian De Palma

Cast: Sissy Spacek, Amy Irving, Nancy Allen, Pig’s Blood Travolta*

Have I Seen it Before: I’m almost sure that I have, but I can’t point to when I might have done so. I definitely remember reading the book, if that helps.

Did I Like It: Well, clearly the memorability of the book over the movie should tell us something.

I like Brian De Palma. I really do. I think The Untouchables (1987) is about as great a movie as is ever to exist. Once one has worked out just what the hell is happening in Mission: Impossible (1996), it’s a pretty enjoyable spy thriller. 

And I want to like Carrie. I really do. I get the feeling I wanted to like Carrie just as much as De Palma himself wanted to like the film. Unfortunately, he only seems to be interested in certain parts of the film. 

The climax is the kind of confluence of conflicting POVs that have become De Palma’s bread and butter. While through cultural osmosis, we’ve all seen the moment when Carrie (Spacek) is brought to her semi-final humiliation, but it’s the Rube Goldberg machinations that lead up to that moment and eventually tear everything apart that makes the sequence worth remembering.

Everything else tends to play out with the subtlety and wit of an after-school special. The score—by Pino Donaggio—is all over the place, when it isn’t shamelessly and artlessly aping Bernard Hermann’s score for Psycho (1960). 

And of course, De Palma does seem to be awfully interested in footage of naked women, and there is plenty of it. I’m not a prude, but the tableaus De Palma puts together makes me think that he may not have been the one to properly understand and tell this story. To be fair, King may not have been either, but I digress. I have not seen the 2013 remake, the fact that a woman directed the film does tend to recommend it on at least one level.

*Little known fact, the blood dumped on Carrie during the film’s infamous climax was played by John Travolta’s cousin.