"It's Halloween soon."

Around this time of year, I often find myself itching to watch Return to Oz (and listening to its score). I think that's because, even though it isn't a true "Halloween" movie, it does have some themes and visuals that pair up nicely with the holiday.

There's the Jack Pumpkinhead character, whose head is jack-o-lantern (and who bears a pretty strong resemblance to Jack Skellington in The Nightmare Before Christmas, as many fans have pointed out over the years). 

There's the haunting score and occasionally scary visuals. 

And there's even an odd little scene early on in the film in which Dorothy is given a pumpkin by a little girl at the ward who tells her, "It's Halloween soon." 

Anyway, it seems like I'm not alone in my inclination to sort of pair up Return to Oz with Halloween as I've noticed that this is the time of year that I see more people talking about the movie on social media (usually about how "creepy" or "traumatizing" it is to watch), and it's also the time that there seems to be more fan art being done. 

I've come across some pretty great Return to Oz fan art recently, and I thought I would share some of my favorite work here. 

The following pieces are by Brooklyn-based artist Allison Steinfeld, posted on her Instagram account as part of the "Inktober" challenge. I really enjoy her style and think she does an excellent job capturing different moments from the film, especially the film's more bizarre moments.

A photo posted by Allison (@allisonsteinfeld) on Oct 1, 2016 at 7:51am PDT

A photo posted by Allison (@allisonsteinfeld) on Oct 2, 2016 at 2:46pm PDT

A photo posted by Allison (@allisonsteinfeld) on Oct 3, 2016 at 3:08pm PDT

A photo posted by Allison (@allisonsteinfeld) on Oct 8, 2016 at 8:25pm PDT

A photo posted by Allison (@allisonsteinfeld) on Oct 22, 2016 at 9:44pm PDT

A photo posted by Allison (@allisonsteinfeld) on Oct 26, 2016 at 7:34am PDT

Steinfeld's artwork reminds me of our own Sam Milazzo's. Sam has done a lot of Oz-inspired artwork, as you can see by taking a look at his Deviantart profile, including his very own comic book adaptation of Return to Oz (yes, the entire film). Sam's attention to detail is impressive, and it's a very nice adaptation of the film. I particularly appreciate the little nods to the books and the inclusion of some of the film's deleted scenes. If Return to Oz is your jam, you should definitely take the time to check it out (link here).

Sam has also created a number of Return to Oz videos over the years, my favorite being the "fan trailer" he created for the film's 30th 25th anniversary. I think too many of the "fan trailers" I've seen for Return to Oz present the film to be much more dark and disturbing than it really is, so I like that Sam's provides what I think is a more accurate representation of the film.



I've only scratched the surface of what's out there in terms of Return to Oz fan art, so I encourage you to peruse Instagram, Tumblr, or your social media platform of choice, and feel free to share any great Return to Oz fan art you've come across (or that you've done yourself) in the comments.

Happy Halloween, everyone!

A fun drawing by the one and only Eric Shanower.