'The Witches of Oz' new poster, clips and teaser

Maybe this will help us get the taste of 'Tin Man' out of our mouths. Finally.

Not since 1987's made-for-tv Return to Oz have I been this excited about an OZ film. Let's face it - the original musical 1939 version with Judy Garland reduced the menacing, opium-induced political propaganda originally created by L. Frank Baum to so much MGM glitter and Oscar romance. But Fairuza Balk's first starring role, as Dorothy Gale who returns to Oz to face an evil Nome King, a headless princess, wheeled human punk rockers who chase you through the streets of the broken Emerald City, and talking chickens, was awesome. And since then?

Just more gibberish in musical form and a really bad made-for-TV SyFy Channel Dorothy movie that I think we'd rather all forget.

But now comes The Witches of Oz, directed by Leigh Scott (he of the many many many B-movie funstravaganzas such as Frankenstein Reborn and Transmorphers) which features several amazing (yes, you heard me!) actors in key roles that sound like they really cast this thing well. Also, I have been fantasizing about a film that has Jeffrey Combs AND Lance Henriksen together, at last, and here we are. The darkly subtle Mia Sara (Legend) will play Princess Langwidere, who in the original book series is a princess who collects heads from unwilling women and keeps then in glass cabinets for whenever she'd like to wear them (her own head comes off quite easily.) Henriksen is Uncle Henry, Combs is 'Frank' (no doubt an ode to the original author of the 'OZ' books himself), and of course there will be a doggie (I'm sold) playing Toto.

And flying monkeys. Flying monkeys that, according to IMDB, are all real except for the wings which were digitally created. I mean, they're flying around NYC so I'll give them a break on that one.

Official Synopsis: The Witches of Oz follows the exploits of the grown Dorothy Gale, now a successful children's book author, as she moves from Kansas to present day New York City. Dorothy quickly learns that her popular books are based on repressed childhood memories, and that the wonders of Oz are very, very real. When the Wicked Witch of the West shows up in Times Square, Dorothy must find the inner courage to stop her.

So, so much to get excited about. So, so much by which to be disappointed. I'm not quite over the shock of Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland or even that atrocity Hook that Spielberg cobbled together by his hellish arts in 1990. So you can't blame me for fearing what may come of this.

Let's hope this is a dark, fun, and interesting take on the original characters and not an Enchanted-style kids flick. But knowing Leigh Scott and his films, I don't think 'kids' are on his agenda.

Check out these clips and interviews to get a taste for what the film will be, and get a load of the new poster. I'm crossing my fingers for this. I hope I'm not bitching about this film later. But - knowing how much I love The Asylum and what a big part of them Scott has been on the past several years, I'm willing to suspend my disbelief and let my heart be broken if need be to give this a chance. I'm just a little girl who wants to go to Oz, after all.