Return to Oz (1985) @ Congress Square Park

By far the darkest and strangest Oz movie made since the 1939 original, this 1985 Disney release starred a young, big-eyed Fairuza Balk in her first-ever role. Return to Oz explored a kind of subtle horror, especially meant for young audiences, that mirrored the tone of the original novels written by L. Frank Baum in a way that no other adaptation has done.

Part of the System Reboot summer film series presented with SPACE, PMA Films and Friends of Congress Square Park, which examines the cinematic source material of film franchises that have persisted or have been reinvented from the 1980s through 2023, when new installments await the masses.