As is the tradition these days, Frank L. Baum’s kids classic The Wizard of Oz is getting a dark, low-budget reimagining in the shape of Wicked of Oz.
Directed by Aaron Mirtes and written by Mirtes with Nathan Illsley, based on an idea by James Cullen Bressack and Scotty Mullen, the film traps Dorothy Gale in a savage land where she faces a blood-drenched death everywhere she turns.
A freak tornado pulls Dorothy (Kenzie Wynne) into the wicked world of Oz just in time for the down-on-her-luck Kansas farm girl to confront Glinda, a starving cannibal who finds herself all out of Munchkin meat. Things go downhill from there, as Dorothy goes head-to-head (literally) against a skull-cracking Scarecrow, a Tin Man whose hobby is to collect still-beating hearts and a Cowardly Lion who pleases his master by ripping apart anyone he sees. Oz becomes Ooze as Dorothy – armed with scavenged weapons – battles her way through hordes of psychotic enemies until she finally happens upon her ultimate nemesis, the Wicked of Oz. Above and below are first-look images.
The pic also stars Chelsey Fuller as Glinda, Patrick Sharn as The Wizard, Destinee Monét as Toto, Zach Lazar Hoffman as The Cowardly Lion, Brad Belemjian as The Scarecrow and Carson Butcher as The Tin Man.
