Gale Stay Away from Oz

Created an account just to give this review. I am a huge fan of Frank Baum's books and the Return to Oz film (I haven't even bothered to watch the 2013 film), so I think my opinion holds some weight.

This feels like it was made because the Oz universe recently came into the public domain, and there was a desire to capitalize on it.

It has many Oz references (thank god they got the *silver* slippers right) but fails to *feel* like a dark Oz film. Oz is fantastical, even fun, but has that creepy edge to it that taints everything. This was perfectly captured in the Return to Oz film.

This short film (runtime of 28 minutes) just feels like a bunch of horror tropes strung together with Oz theming. There is the makings of a great story here, but I feel like the screenplay needed more work. It's a short film with limited time, but if less time was spent on being 'creepy' and more time was spent on tying things together and telling a story, it would have been much better.

TL;DR You don't need all the creepy music and flashing lights, the Oz universe is *already* creepy. Just tell a compelling story with good characterization in this universe and it will turn out good.

I'm not entirely sure what this is meant to be? It's listed as a movie but it's under 30 minutes in duration. I watched it because I was intrigued. However, I have no idea what I just watched? It just seems to this girl with I assume some mental health problems who seems to be stuck in an endless loop of weird dreams relating to her possible grandmother who seems to be Dorothy from the wizard of Oz. She literally wakes from one dream/nightmare and seems to be in another. I didn't jump once even though the movie tries it's best to to make you jump and I have literally no idea what this movie/series is trying to do or where the plot is trying to take you? I'm not even sure there is a plot.

I've seen other reviews give this a decent rating although I generally have no idea why because its just weird.

It drew me in, I subscribe to the chilling app a month ago just for this show...now waiting still to see more of it. Was hoping when the app said now streaming it meant I could watch more than episode 1 over again. I love that it is staying based on the original oz movie, which I've watched since the 1970s. I always hoped it would take a sinister twist and now it has. Our adult children and three oldest grandchildren can not wait to be able to also watch it. They were a bit disappointed when I told them that it is only available on the chilling app, their phones do not support that app. Hope it's available on tv channels soon.

I enjoyed it. It's ambitious and could be something great. This short film is a prototype for what could potentially be a groundbreaking way to experience Oz through the horror genre. It has legs and many of the elements needed to take this where it needs to be. From a scriptwriting perspective it needs a lot more work on things like pacing and dialogue, but considering it's got little in the way of a budget, it gives us a glimpse of what it could be with some more work. I applaud Daniel Alexander for seeing an opportunity in a much loved piece of work. I first saw the preview a while back on TikTok and can tell you now the most people already guessed what the twist/reveal was based on a casting choice, however if the story finds it's way into a feature film, hopefully there are more twists to be discovered.

I love this so much! I must say that you won't understand it without seeing "return to oz" starring fairuza balk from 1985. It's a full length dark and twisted view of oz. Watch that first! I love that movie too..it's one of my favorites!

I love this so much! I must say that you won't understand it without seeing "return to oz" starring fairuza balk from 1985. It's a full length dark and twisted view of oz. Watch that first! I love that movie too..it's one of my favorites

I love this so much! I must say that you won't understand it without seeing "return to oz" starring fairuza balk from 1985. It's a full length dark and twisted view of oz. Watch that first! I love that movie too..it's one of my favorites.