Spoiler Warning: Minor spoilers for Wicked: For Good below. If you want to go into the 2025 movie blind like me, then come back after watching it.
I have to admit something. Though I watched and loved Wicked when it came out last year, I have never seen the musical or read the book on which it was based. That said, while I had a feeling the highly decorated Wicked: For Good was going to be a flashy, emotional, and action-packed musical, I had no idea there were going to be two rather intense scenes of pure body horror.
It wasn’t anything on the level of David Cronenberg’s best movies or other examples, like The Substance (though that would be wild). Still, the origins of two iconic heroes from The Wizard of Oz (one in need of a heart, the other a brain) were nightmarish, to put it lightly. Now, I have to talk about it!
I Had No Idea There’d Be Transformation Scenes, Let Alone Some This Traumatizing
Having largely avoided the Wicked: For Good trailers ahead of the film’s release, the thought of a transformation scene, let alone two, never crossed my mind. I was aware the heroes from The Wizard of Oz would be showing up in some shape or form, but I had not the slightest idea two of the most beloved characters from Wicked – Boq Woodsman (Ethan Slater) and Fiyero Tigelaar (Jonathan Bailey) – would be going through what appeared to be excruciating changes by the time it was all said and done.
Boq Woodsman Turning Into The Tin Man Was Straight-Up Nightmare Fuel
Boq Woodsman, not being able to have his freedom after attempting to leave Nessarose Thropp (Marissa Bode), was one thing, but being turned into the Tin Man shortly after was the stuff of nightmares. Watching him go from flesh to metal while experiencing physical, emotional, and mental pain was honestly too much to bear, and it legitimately caught me by surprise. His yelling, “What have you done to me?” after all his living cells were turned to cold tin, broke my heart.
Fiyero Tigelaar Becoming Scarecrow Was Just As Brutal
Jonathan Bailey may be the sexiest man alive in our world. However, by the end of Wicked: For Good, his character, the once charming Fiyero Tiegelaar, is made into a scarecrow by the time it’s all said and done. His transformation into the beloved Wizard of Oz character was equally nightmarish, with him being brutally beaten (nearly) to death before being transformed after sacrificing himself to save Elphaba Thropp (Cynthia Erivo).
What makes both of these sequences, and the transformations, even more intense is the fact that they were constructed primarily with practical effects.
This Was Much More Intense Than I Expected A Modern PG Movie Could Be
Wicked: For Good never reaches the level of peril and trauma as seen in classic movies like Temple of Doom and Gremlins, and others released with a PG rating, but this was so much more than I was expecting. I was aware going in that the movies are more toned down when compared to the original book and stage production, but those two aforementioned scenes were much more than I expected.
Sure, there’s no blood, dismemberment, or people getting their hearts pulled from their chests, but watching two characters go through excruciating transformations was something fierce.
Wicked: For Good is currently playing in theaters, and I cannot wait to see what other people have to say about the body horror found in these two transformation scenes.