10 Non-Horror Movies That Are HORRIFYING
3. Return to Oz
Return to Oz may be generally classified as a dark fantasy film, but this unofficial sequel to The Wizard of Oz did the one thing nobody expected - it pivoted hard into card-carrying horror territory.
A nightmarish, half-century-later riposte to the original classic, Return to Oz sees Dorothy (Fairuza Balk) back in the Land of Oz, which is now effectively a post-apocalyptic wasteland.
From the astonishingly creepy production design through to the many uncanny characters Dorothy encounters throughout the story - many of them straight-up body horror abominations - this is an extremely ballsy film even if you remove it from the context of its predecessor.
As entertainment for children, it's sublimely, skin-crawlingly unsettling, and gives kids enough credit to accept that they might be able to handle it. Watched today as an adult, though, it's truly impressive how filmmaker Walter Murch was able to convince a studio to give him $28 million to produce something so aggressively unhinged.
After all, what kids' film doesn't include electroshock therapy, headless bodies, and deadly, people-devouring deserts?