The Wizard of Oz isn’t just an influential movie, it’s the influential movie. In 2018, researchers at the University of Turin used mathematical approaches to find what movie has been most referenced or cited as an influence in film history, and the groundbreaking 1939 MGM blockbuster took the top spot. With such an illustrious history, it’s hard to imagine any other movie trying to tackle it, but last year, Wicked proved that it was very possible, even with a different source material.
However, 40 years ago, an unlikely filmmaker managed to take the original Wizard of Oz books by L. Frank Baum and turn them into a dark, twisted sequel that may have underperformed at the box office, but now stands as one of the strangest chapters in movie history — and the film that traumatized a generation.
