was anyone else terrifed by the wheelers??

Yeah.. they were a bit creepy at sight. The masks on their heads had an evil face, but when they popped their heads up, their real faces were also evil. They had a bunch of makeup on to make them look that way. I loved the way they moved around on the four wheels. Here are some pictures of the Wheelers and how the inventive wheels where attached to them. There's also some nice pictures of the movie and those evil Wheeler masks. Enjoy.

http://warehouse.carlh.com/article_075/index.php

http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://farm3.static.flickr.com/210 2/1583824909_c6216570b7.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.therpf.com/f24/re turn-oz-wheelers-86767/&h=497&w=421&sz=252&tbnid=wjFkv E31zfgngM:&tbnh=90&tbnw=76&prev=/search%3Fq%3Dwheelers%2Br eturn%2Bto%2Boz%26tbm%3Disch%26tbo%3Du&zoom=1&q=wheelers+retur n+to+oz&docid=3wCUopFR-IgjeM&hl=en&sa=X&ei=AdqrT9WwJIW R0AWzxK3kAw&sqi=2&ved=0CHsQ9QEwBw&dur=394

One more thing. The SFX with the heads was done very well. What baffled me about the heads is that once attached to Mombi's body she would no longer be in control. Unless she did some magic to transfer her thoughts into the heads brains. If not, those other girls should have been able to take control, but it appeared that Mombi was still in control even when her head wasn't on the body. I didn't find those party that scary. Only the Wheelers and the faces roaming around on the rocks were a bit creepy to me.

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I only saw this film when it first came out and I was in my 20s and the Wheelers were totally creepy, as was the scene where all the heads wake up and start talking.. this film was way too scary for little kids when it came out.. hard to say now as kids see scary things at a much earlier age than we did!

cool film though and i am sure the high production values still hold up nicely

The Wheelers absolutely terrified me as a young boy. I was always kind of sensitive and easily scared (more so than your average child) when I was a kid. So you can imagine how I must have felt when I saw those twisted, terrifying visages. The sounds of the rusty squeaking which heralded their appearance was pretty unnerving as a child because you just knew something terrible was coming!

Looking back at the movie and many of the 80's and before then make me agree with what you stated Agrenisg. Hollywood does rely too heavily on CGI today and while I'm not totally against It's usage I do miss some of the puppetry and model effects of old stlye film-making.

Take for example movies like the original Star Wars Trilogy. Look at the creatures like Jabba the Hutt, the Ewoks, the one's in the bar at Mos Eisley etc. Although you could see they were people in costumes and/or were puppets they at least looked more tangible. The CGI effects that George Lucas would later use for the more recent prequels although flashy looked too animated! Like you were watching something more akin to "Who Framed Roger Rabbit?"

Anyway, I've strayed from the original topic. I only commented on it because you brought it up Agrenish and I wanted to agree with what you were stating.

I agree, the deadly desert was scary as hell!
As a kid, instead of playing hot lava where you had to jump from piece of furniture to piece of furniture without touching the floor - mine was playing "deadly desert". Even when my friends/cousins didn't get the reference. My house! My deadly desert!

We've met before, haven't we?