a review of 绿野仙踪

HOOPTOBER XII NIGHT TWENTY-NINE: The most eccentric pick of this year's Hooptober, and the first time that challenge creator Cinemonster has made a specific movie required viewing, let alone one that is not typically regarded as "horror." per se. As far as I can tell this was chosen in tribute to the late David Lynch, a filmmaker whose influence on the modern horror aesthetic is notable but who never necessarily set out to be a horror director. Lynch could be extremely cagey about his inspirations and influences and talking about the meanings behind his films, but at the same time he also could not have made his admiration of Victor Fleming's THE WIZARD OF OZ any clearer, once famously saying that "there is not a day that goes by that I don't think about The Wizard of Oz." Beyond the Lynch connection (spelled out in detail in the recent documentary LYNCH/OZ, viewable for free on Kanopy) another thing that is very clear to me is that OZ is perhaps the earliest and most formative "scary movie" for multiple generations of American children, starting with its 1939 release, but really becoming solidified by its annual airings on broadcast television starting in the mid-1950s and continuing through the 1990s, before it started airing exclusively on cable. There are the overtly "scary" moments that everyone can think of -- the various sudden appearances of the Wicked Witch, the pyrotechnical whiz-bangery of the Wizard's audience chamber, the flying monkeys and the Witch's spooky castle and her horrified shrieks upon being melted. The movie is also loaded with the fears children have about being separated from their loved ones, being lost in strange places, and successfully navigating a confusing world. On this rewatch, I found myself taken with the narrative economy and pacing, and how everything that happens in the movie happens very quickly and decisively. Scenes that have lived in my mind for all my life, and that I can imagine as crystal-clear moments that exist frozen in time, moved past in a rush when viewed in real time. It is a film of overwhelming images, delivered nearly at the speed of thought, like the most vivid dream I've ever had. Just six more films to go!