Bryan Fuller at the world premiere of ‘Dust Bunny’ during TIFF 2025. Photo: Josh Korngut.
I wasn’t allowed to watch horror movies as a child, so I got my fix through other horror-adjacent things. Dark fantasy films, animated monsters, and even the Indiana Jones films all helped feed my love of the macabre and made me the horror fan I am today. These little horror gateways are important, and no less than genre icon Bryan Fuller agrees, which is why he wants you to watch Return to Oz, now on Disney+.
If you’re a kid who grew up in the 1980s and 1990s, Walter Murch’s sort-of sequel to The Wizard of Oz was probably a staple of your childhood flirtations with darkness, up there with things like Labyrinth and The Neverending Story. Based on some of L. Frank Baum’s other Oz novels, it’s the story of Dorothy’s (Fairuza Balk) trip back to the land of Oz. After her first adventure, everyone around her started to believe that Oz and all of her friends there were just an elaborate delusion in Dorothy’s head, which led to some frightening psychiatric treatments. When Dorothy escapes the world she knows yet again, she finds Oz in shambles, and must team up with a friendly robot and her old friend the Scarecrow to put things right again.
Courtesy of Lionsgate
A Fairy Tale for Adults and Kids Alike
While it’s technically a fantasy film for children, produced by Walt Disney Pictures, Return to Oz is infamous for its horror-tinged imagery, from monsters called Wheelers to a woman who can change out her heads to, of course, the Nome King. Plenty of kids have been traumatized by the film over the years, but for Bryan Fuller, it’s also an important example of what he was trying to achieve with his new film Dust Bunny: “Gateway Horror.” Here’s what he told Dread Central about that film’s inspirations:
“I love gateway horror,” he said. “I love Return to Oz, and I love Gremlins and Poltergeist… that Amblin brand of horror. The Goonies, while not quite horror, is definitely a thriller. Those were the movies I grew up on, and I don’t really see them in the marketplace anymore—movies that are as much for kids as they are for adults, and that adults can enjoy just as much.”
Watch the Trailer Now
Dust Bunny definitely fits that mold. The story of a young girl who teams up with a hitman (Mads Mikkelsen) to fight a monster, it looks like The Professional by way of Pushing Daisies, with notes of stuff like Return to Oz thrown in. It’s a remarkably versatile film that kids can enjoy alongside their parents, and as a piece of gateway horror, it absolutely works. But before Dust Bunny hits theaters, you can enjoy Return to Oz and get a taste of what’s headed your way.
Return to Oz is now streaming on Disney+. Dust Bunny is in theaters on December 12.
Categorized: Streaming News
