A scarecrow is set ablaze. Dorothy is a ghastly hideous woman in shackles. And a young woman named Emily jolts up from a devastating nightmare in full-on fear for what may be on the horizon as she begins a new day. Her birthday, in fact!

Emily (a strong performance from Chloe Crump) is a lonely writer who cannot look at herself in the mirror without a piece of duct tape that covers her eyes in the reflection cast off from this scary fixture (which presents itself as a portal to another world? A representation of secrets yet to be uncovered? A motley apparition that foreshadows her future?)  

Emily McLaughlin’s life is about to spontaneously combust and it’s a very unattractive future being presented through her nightmares. A dark and hypnotic spiritual component is haunting her, with a strong connection to an old lady named Dorothy Gale. But how? And why?  

For all those who have seen The Wizard of Oz, you are familiar with the leading characters: The Scarecrow, The Tin Man, The Lion and of course, sweet little Dorothy…the girl who was whisked into a whirlwind of witches, and munchkins and monkeys…oh my! Well, first time filmmaker Daniel Alexander took the beloved tale of having “no place like home” and turned it completely upside down. Gale: Yellow Brick Road is a chilling story of discovery from a completely different perspective. What if Dorothy’s adventures in Oz were completely sinister and grim? What if Emerald City was gloomy, diabolical and dreary with a continuous foreboding that Dorothy was unable to escape? What if this is the fate for Emily due to her unknown ties to the Gale surname?

Pandora’s box is soon unearthed, and Emily starts the painstakingly harsh process of piecing together the images which haunt her, the memoirs from her deceased mother Elizabeth and now…discovering her lineage to her grandmother: Dorothy. Throughout this expedition of truth, jump-scares, warnings and ominous figures in the darkness, Emily finds herself trapped in the vicinity where her grandmother has spent the last 20 years of her life in a state of catatonic terror. Frozen with fear, she communicates through clicking her heels together viciously which has baffled the psychiatric home’s staff. But not Emily. Nor the caretaker in charge: Dr. Appleton (a sharp villainous Laura Kay Bailey.)  

What is really going on here? That’s still the main question I struggle with. I know that Emily is a direct descendant of Dorothy, who is now unresponsive due to her time spent in Oz many years ago. I know that a strange creature named Patches becomes the guide for Emily in her search for answers…which are never quite clarified. I know an aggressive attack by a solo munchkin is more comical than frightening (and it’s too bad they couldn’t get Peter Dinklage since he “drinks and knows things!”).  And I know the dream journal found from mom Elizabeth’s belongings in the basement is the key to solving this perplexing puzzle that has paralyzed Emily’s existence. And what about that existence?  

Is Emily imagining these tall tales of evilness that have captured her ancestry in its creepy clutches? Are the Gale ladies part of a scheme to drive the youngest one insane? And is Dr. Appleton the witch or the wizard?  

This film is gripping in idea, but not so much in execution. It’s safe to say after watching Gale: Yellow Brick Road that Emily is lost amid the chaos. And unfortunately, so am I.