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View Full Version : Alice In Wonderland & Wizard of Oz becoming a horror franchise

cabal
08-26-2002, 05:34 AM
Well for those not aware there is a guy called American Mcgee who makes videogames. He recently made a game called "Alice" This is a dark twisted version of the original "Alice In Wonderland" It has an incredibly haunting soundtrack by Chris Vrenna. There is also a great toy line with zombie versions of Tweedle Dee and Dum, A ghoul version of the Mad Hatter etc. And last but not least there is allegedly a movie of American Mcgee's Alice being filmed by Wes Craven. All this sums up to mean that "Alice In Wonderland" has gone from being a slightly bizarre disney animation to a soon to be legitimate HORROR franchise.

Now there are reports that American Mcgee's next game will be based on "The Wizard of Oz"
One can only imagine what a dark twisted version American will come up with. And no doubt a movie should be soon to follow!

I can't wait to live in a world where "The Wizard of OZ" is a legitimate horror film! How surreal!
Kid Ego
08-26-2002, 05:56 AM
cabal:
I can't wait to live in a world where "The Wizard of OZ" is a legitimate horror film! How surreal!I thought it already was! That shit already scares the piss outta me.

This is ancient news by the way.
Kid Ego
08-26-2002, 05:57 AM
Cinematic Happenings Under Kid Ego:
This is ancient news by the way.Not that it isn't FUCKING COOL, though. :D
cabal
08-26-2002, 06:13 AM
Well there's a nightmarish version of Alice In Wonderland directed by Jan Svankmajer. But that one probably wouldn't qualify Alice as a horror franchise.

I wasn't posting this to be up to the minute news by the way. I'm just stating the fact of how these two children oriented films are becoming full blown horror.
Krak-At-Arms
08-26-2002, 09:58 AM
If these are both done right they will rule. I can just imagine how strange these films would be. I never played the Alice game but I've seen pictures and it looks pretty bad ass. A horror "Wizard of Oz"? And we thought the flying monkeys were fucked up before. These movies have potential. They should do an anthology film using nursery rhymes(or some of the shorter fairy tales like Hansel and Grettle) with a horror make-over hosted by a cracked open Humpty Dumpty.
Kid Ego
08-26-2002, 10:00 AM
Next comes Willy Wonka... :)
Dan Whitehead
08-26-2002, 10:07 AM
Don't forget that McFarlane is doing a series of Wizard Of Oz figures as well.
Mr.benn
08-26-2002, 10:36 AM
Maybe after 20 sequels each they'll end up doing a Alice vs Dorothy movie set in a hellish mixture of oz and wonderland....wouldnt suprise me!
Smilin' Jack Ruby
08-26-2002, 10:36 AM
Too bad the WB didn't pick up the Mick Garris-directed pilot, "Lost in Oz" that he shot in Australia earlier this year. That would've been an interesting one.
TravisDearly
08-26-2002, 11:07 AM
Smilin' Jack Ruby:
Too bad the WB didn't pick up the Mick Garris-directed pilot, "Lost in Oz" that he shot in Australia earlier this year. That would've been an interesting one.What? NO! I thought they did. Well that sucks. I actually wanted to see that.

P.S. But of course we get more Seventh Heaven. Dear god someone kill me now.

PEACE OUT!
cabal
08-26-2002, 11:15 AM
I'm not too thrilled on Mcfarlane making Wizard Of Oz toys. They'll probably end up making them look over the top and stupid. Just like their monster toy series they're doing now. All of those current monster toys being made these days have a generic quality about them that just bugs me. At least there's Clive's cenobite clones and the future Giger stuff.

I still need to see all of "Return to Oz" I was at a party and it was playing. I got to see a good ten minutes of the Oz in ruins and the weird people with hand wheels. It looked amazing.
girlcreeture
08-26-2002, 11:16 AM
It's all about John Skipp and Marc Levinthal's Emerald Burrito of Oz, a badass book that you should get if you haven't already.

Then you should and get all Skipp's other books (co-written with Craig Spector) if you don't have those already either.

And that MG pilot pains me, must see...
Disciple
08-26-2002, 12:57 PM
cabal:
Well there's a nightmarish version of Alice In Wonderland directed by Jan Svankmajer. One of the all time underrated horror classics. Puts McGee's self-consciously "dark" interpretation to shame.
cabal
08-26-2002, 01:08 PM
I actually spent 30 bucks getting it on tape! Bah! I have to spend another 30 getting it on dvd now!

I loved the animal skeletons in it! and the rabbit full of saw dust! Jan's the man!
caligari
08-26-2002, 01:10 PM
Jan's Alice was great "said the white rabbit"
Scott Standridge
08-26-2002, 01:11 PM
I think Disney's Alice in Wonderland is pretty fucked up on its own. I mean, not horrific, but Walt and the boys were definitely smokin' something when they put that shit together. One of my fave disney flicks, and the reason my band was called "Mad Hatter."

That, and the fact that none of the other guys would go for "Vorhees' Victims". :D
cabal
08-26-2002, 01:24 PM
Could have always gone with "Crystal Lake" or "Drowned boy becomes serial killing hockey fan"
billylove
08-26-2002, 01:47 PM
Return of the Living Krak:
If these are both done right they will rule. I can just imagine how strange these films would be. I never played the Alice game but I've seen pictures and it looks pretty bad ass. A horror "Wizard of Oz"? And we thought the flying monkeys were fucked up before. These movies have potential. They should do an anthology film using nursery rhymes(or some of the shorter fairy tales like Hansel and Grettle) with a horror make-over hosted by a cracked open Humpty Dumpty.I suggest you look up those nursery rhymes again. Cause when American's got their hands on em they were seriously edited.

The "Americanized" versions of these stories turned them more into fairy tales and not what they were really meant to be. To scare the pants off of little kids into behaving.

Little Red Riding Hood:

<a href="http://www-dept.usm.edu/~engdept/lrrh/lrrhm.htm" target="_blank">Little Red Riding hood gets it.</a> Version which was written in 1729.

<a href="http://www-dept.usm.edu/~engdept/lrrh/lrrhc.htm" target="_blank">She is saved!</a> 1834

<a href="http://www-dept.usm.edu/~engdept/lrrh/lrrhf.htm" target="_blank">Yet again. She is saved.</a> 1856
Krak-At-Arms
08-26-2002, 02:26 PM
Isn't there another version of Little Red Riding Hood where a hunter comes in after the wolf eats her and he chops open the wolfs stomache with an axee to get her out?
girlcreeture
08-26-2002, 02:40 PM
I believe in another more unalduterated version of Red Riding Hood that yes, she is pulled from the severed guts of the wolf along with grammy too.

Pure fairy tales are wonderful, there are some great books available with largely unedited versions out there and I'll list the ones I have when I get home tonight.

There's also several anthologies edited by Terri Windling and Ellen Datlow of fairy tales re-written by modern fantasy and horror authors. These books are great fun and get down to exploring the nast themes fairy tales have. Good stuff!
Scott Standridge
08-26-2002, 02:46 PM
I remember reading the Brothers' Grimm original version of Cinderella. You wouldn't think there'd be any gore in Cinderella, would you? Au contraire. When the prince's men come round to try the glass slipper on all the daughters (only I think it was a fur slipper in the original), the wicked stepmother is so determined that her daughters be chosen that she insists they chop off their toes in order to get the shoe to fit. The prince's man is not fooled, however, b/c he sees the blood pouring out of the shoes. Also, I think, after all is said and done, the stepmother gets her eyes pecked out by crows or some shit.

Get hold of the original brothers Grimm stuff. You won't be short of material for your screenplays ever again.
girlcreeture
08-26-2002, 02:57 PM
And before I forget, if you've never heard the fairy tale of Bluebeard check it out, fucking chilling.

I love it, it's one of my most favorite fairy tales.
billylove
08-26-2002, 03:24 PM
Return of the Living Krak:
Isn't there another version of Little Red Riding Hood where a hunter comes in after the wolf eats her and he chops open the wolfs stomache with an axee to get her out?I only posted the first three, there were about two dozen different versions in that list.

And the Brothers Grimm do have more of the purer versions out there.
Disciple
08-26-2002, 07:44 PM
Original/uncensored Brothers Grimm was apparently pretty grim reading. I remember an interesting episode of Clive Barker's A to Z of horror, where he covered this very subject...
cabal
08-26-2002, 10:47 PM
Does anyone remember the very last episode of Tales From the Crypt? It was completely animated and based on the 3 little pigs. Pretty unique way for that show to go out.
TravisDearly
08-27-2002, 12:23 AM
cabal:
Does anyone remember the very last episode of Tales From the Crypt? It was completely animated and based on the 3 little pigs. Pretty unique way for that show to go out.YES I DO! Another reason why I loved that show. God I morn for the days. When anhtology shows were all the rage.

P.S. Anyone heard when the new twilight zone show is suppose to be on tv? It's going to be hosted my Forest Whitaker.

PEACE OUT!
ChainsawZombie
08-27-2002, 04:34 PM
I love the TFTC last episode! So funny! The original tales are very dark and disturbing. And amazing.
billylove
08-27-2002, 04:53 PM
Travis, I saw a commercial for that the other day.
WrappedinPlastic loves life
08-27-2002, 07:05 PM
cabal:
And last but not least there is allegedly a movie of American Mcgee's Alice being filmed by Wes Craven. All this sums up to mean that "Alice In Wonderland" has gone from being a slightly bizarre disney animation to a soon to be legitimate HORROR franchise. I could have sworn they canned that movie a long time ago. Cravens working on a remake of Kairo at the moment, or so was reported.
Alice in Wonderland
08-27-2002, 07:25 PM
At the end of Snow White, isn't the wicked stepmother forced to wear shoes of red hot iron and dance in them till she dies?

Fairy tales are hardcore. Accept no substitutes!
Capt. Eucalyptus
08-27-2002, 07:40 PM
Here's a cool site that looks to have the original tales.

<a href="http://www.surlalunefairytales.com" target="_blank">http://www.surlalunefairytales.com</a>
Straxboy - An Anthony Hickox Film
08-28-2002, 04:58 AM
I watched Walter "Apocalypse Now!" Murch's "Return To Oz" on cable the other day - twice. I hadn't seen it since I was a teenager and my oh my....what a surreal, bountiful trip it was.

When people talk about how Hollywood doesn't take risks anymore, they're genrally talking about productions like this. Released in 1985, at a budget of $27m (pretty hefty for those days) Murch's continuation of Baum's Oz saga is a fascinating collage of wit and wicked whimsy with some stunning sequences -- the Princess Mombi/alternate heads sequence and the subsequent stealing of the magic dust scene are particularly grotesquely imagined highlights -- uncredited photography by the incomparable Freddie Francis and a wonderful, magical score by Murch's "Conversation" collaborator David Shire.

Faruzia Balk is an uncanny replacement for Judy Garland, really catching a dark recapitulation of Dorothy's patanted tragic, wide-eyed wonder -- listening to Balk's voice patterns in her performance here is very enlightening.

And the Wheelers -- the leader of which is played by "The Blob" and "Dead Heat" actor Pons Maar -- are wonders of imagination to rival the winged monkey's of the original. Scarifying spectres of the Nome Kings breathlessly rendered ruined kingdom of Oz...

And let's not forget the Hammer-esque asylum sequences at the start with a terrifying Jean Marsh who performed similar wicked witch duties a couple of years later with "Willow" ...

...they don't make kid's horror films like this (or at all!) anymore that's for damn sure.
Dan Whitehead
08-28-2002, 05:24 AM
girlcreeture:
Then you should and get all Skipp's other books (co-written with Craig Spector) if you don't have those already either..."The Light At The End" is one of my favoruite horror novels. Not quite as keen on "The Scream", but still different enough from the pack to make them worth seeking out.

Once again, Creetch demonstrates impeccable tastes...
cabal
08-28-2002, 06:43 AM
I've been attempting to keep up to date on the American Mcgee Alice film. As far as I know it's still on. It wouldn't surprise me one bit if Wes Craven backed out of it though. He's nothing but a hack anyway so it would be for the better.
TravisDearly
08-28-2002, 12:02 PM
Brian (billylove) Collins:
Travis, I saw a commercial for that the other day.Thank God! Which means it's not going to be cancelled. Well for now at least. I hope the new show is just as good as the original and 80's version (well don't we all? lol).

PEACE OUT!
Johnny Butane
08-28-2002, 12:26 PM
...and the 80's version? You're kidding, right?

Yes, 'Alice' is still on for Craven. How much work he's doing on it is up in the air, but like I said the last I heard was that casting was being done for the title character.

'Kairo' is a project he's had his name attached to for a while, but no movement's been done on the front for a long time, if ever. I think it's just an idea on paper, to be honest.
cart00n
08-31-2002, 06:38 AM
I thought Return to Oz was MUCH closer to the feel of Baum's books than that sacharine musical version. Funny thing is, the musical was based on a musical play Baum wrote that was dark as hell (I played the Scarecrow in a high-school production). Ah, well...

I've always wanted to play McGee's Alice, alas, I have a dinosaur for a computer...

These are series that DESERVE to be given the horror treatment. I've always thought so. I just hope they're done right...

Incidently, does anybody know when/if Return to Oz will make it to DVD?