Forbidden Zone
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Movie Reviews of Forbidden Zone
Movie Review: Into the Sixth Dimension...
Summary: 5 Stars
The Elfmans really outdid themselves with this wonderfully weird nascent-Boingo {introduced as 'The Mystic Knights of The Oingo Boingo' at the time} film about members of a stereotypical Jewish family who go searching for their sister "Frenchy" {Marie-Pascale Elfman, Richard Elfman's wife} into the Sixth Dimension via a mysterious door opening up in the basement of their home, displaying a hellmouth entrance through which one must travel down an intestinal tract finally exiting the other end...
Little King Fausto {played by Herve Villachaize of Fantasy Island fame} falls in lust with Frenchy to the jealous ire of Evil Queen Doris {Susan Tyrrell}, who was hatched from a "witch's egg" {great song, by the way}, and sets out to torture the combativaly-resistant girl. She realizes this infatuation when Fausto moans her name after intimacy. Chained to a rack, the session ends with a glowing rod inserted in a spot best left to the imagination. I thought it amusing contemplating the suspended human chandelier grasping two candles, which retains its skeletal arousal even after excarnation!
Grampa and Flash Hercules go searching down the twisting entrails to the 6th dimension to find Frenchy and come upon an old Yiddish man operating an information stand exchanging sheckles for clues. Oi Vey! Along the way, they enact dorsal coitus with every female they see, until the criminally-insane Rasputin-lookalike Grampa Hercules wrestles a gorilla to an overkill.
High weirdness typifies "Bim Bam Boom" in which two singing boxers are joined by a strange doughy crooner in a Spanish diddy, about "dark girls in the sun" while wearing, of all things, a Mickey Mouse hat. Bust Rod The Frog joins in dancing with Frenchy... wow...
Amusing scenes include a school house rendition of The Three Stooges' "Swinging the Alphabet" {from 'Violent Is The Word For Curly', circa 1938 c.e.} with various students' performances including The Kipper Kids {as two Heidi-like characters}, Squeezit {gay "Chicken boy" who flaps his bended arms like wings}, a troupe of pimpish negro dancers {who perform, among other things, the "robot", "locking", and "break dancing"}, and a older Jewish gentleman in a propeller hat.
Most notable is "Red Wolf" Danny Elfman as a white-clad Devil performing a modified 'Minnie The Moocher' while striking a deal with Squeezit for sexual gratification with The Princess {Gisele Lindley}. Squeezit is captured by 'Bust Rod' the servant Frog and turned over to The Devil's black robed and faced Minions. On the way to Hades, one of them informs Squeezit "The Master's been dying to stick his pitchfork in that there tomato!", referring to The Princess. He delivers, and saves his friends from certain doom, at the cost of his head, which then begins flying around on angel wings.
Another memorable scene includes the song "Pico and Sepulveda" {performed by Felix Figueroa and his Orchestra, which this writer recalls being played on The Dr. Demento Show a few times}, which is a sarcastic tribute to that Los Angeles intersection, featuring gridlock and pumping smoke stacks with trapezoid towers.
The former queen comes back for revenge and does battle with Queen Doris, who employs a very surprising distraction, landing the ex-queen, and eventually herself, impaled at the bottom of The Pit. The film concludes with a cast closing number featuring all the delightfully odd characters in a rousing finale.
With avant-garde sets, demented dialogue, hilariously unorthodox loony tunes, playing on stereotypes, dare take an exciting journey into the fun comedic insanity of The Forbidden Zone. In many ways, it seems that this film served as a zietgeist contributing greatly to the 80's aesthetic, in all of its uniquely bizarre glory.
Movie Review: Let Me Explain This Movie
Summary: 5 Stars
This movie has been described as bizarre, racist, sexist and pornographic, and there is a reason for all of that - it is based on cartoons and movies from the early, pre-Hayes Act, 1930s when such features were commonplace. The most obvious connections, of course, are to the old music, lip-synced to performances by Cab Calloway, Josephine Baker, and the Gilt Edged Four (Yiddisher Charleston), to name a few. In the early Betty Boop cartoons, Max Fleischer experimented around with a form of cartoon lip- (and body-)syncing, in which cartoon characters were drawn over actual film footage of performers such as Cab Calloway, a process called "rotoscoping." You can see this in such Betty Boop cartoons as "Minnie the Moocher," "Old Man of the Mountain," and "Betty Boop's Bamboo Isle." Also, the Fleischer brothers were the first animators to concentrate on making accurate mouth movements to coordinate with speech in their cartoons. The Elfman Brothers do the same thing, with live action instead of rotoscoping. The Elfman brothers have generally adopted the mood and many of the visuals from the Betty Boop cartoon "Bimbo's Initiation," one of the most bizarre cartoons ever made. In particular, the scene where characters have to select one of three doors comes straight out of this cartoon. The peculiar frog, the strange people, the cruel queen, the hideous children, the gruesome teacher, all have their parallels in the old cartoons. The weird old grandfather, a horny, mumbling, bearded fellow, is another early Betty-Boop stand-by. See, for example, the cartoon "Mask-A-Raid." Betty Boop spends a great deal of her pre-Hayes cartoon time being pawed by males. Sometimes this attention is welcome and sometimes not. The Elfman Brothers carry this behavior to an amusing extreme, but it is just an exaggeration of what is already in these cartoons. In the Betty Boop cartoons, one gets to see a lot of glimpses and hints of the nude Betty (see, for reference, "Red Hot Mamma.") Again, this is exaggerated for humorous effect by the Elfman brothers. The racism, too, is a take-off of the over-the-top stereotyping typical of cartoons of the 1930s. See, for example, the Betty Boop cartoon, "I'll Be Glad When You're Dead," in which Louis Armstrong is animated as an African cannibal. As for the "anti-Semitism," that is a tip of the hat to the genre of Yiddish humor and to the Jewish Fleischer brothers from the Jewish Elfman brothers. Another homage by the Elfman Brothers can be found in the name of Squeezit. This comes from an old Cary Grant movie called "When You're In Love," in which there is a dog named Squeezit. In this movie, Grace Moore (an opera singer) sings "Minnie the Moocher." Hence, "Squeezit the Moocher." For the hell scene, again refer to "Red Hot Mamma," in which Betty Boop visits hell and meets Satan.Movie Review: Forbidden Zone - A Disturbing Yet Comforting Fairy Tale
Summary: 5 Stars
I just got done watching Forbidden Zone and It was quite the experience.
First off, It's probably the most unique and original film I've ever seen in my life.
It's got an identity all of its own and a lot of personality that just shines right through.
The anti-PC'ness of the film, the blatant sexuality, nudity, anything that you could possibly find vulgar or offensive you just need to shrug off because once things happen in the Sixth Dimension, Your own natural logic does NOT apply.
The Sixth Dimension is a living, breathing surreal nightmare of disturbing characters doing disturbing things and the animation and cinematography, the fact that the characters seem to be playing themselves just for you - It's all too much, It feels like you are in the audience watching your own nightmares come to life, but you can't take your eyes away and your mind and heart are completely consumed in this world.
The music has to be my favorite part of the film, The music is so unique and original and has a lot of class and soul. It's beautiful and I'm very eager to be hearing the soundtrack again soon.
The sets are amazing, the attention to detail is fantastic and sets the whole vibe of the film as being an intricate fantasy-land.
The Actors are very talented and very convincing as the characters they portray; My favorite being Susan Tyrrell, There's too much to be said about this woman; She's amazing, She's a true performer and gives so much energy and spirit in film it's hard not to keep your attention focused on her. The characters are all very great and have a very good chemistry with one another and work very well in the environment of the Sixth Dimension.
The story itself unfolds like a fairy-tale; Watching this movie I felt like I was being told a bed-time story by my shell-shocked senile aunt with absolutely no tact or awareness of the story itself having such disturbing elements, Because while the material can be offensive; It can come off very strongly and very intensely, The softness of the characters, The Beauty of the background and the Amazing music sets you off into a very deep and very lucid sleep and You don't want to be turning away from this world that has been unraveled for you.
With a deep appreciation for John Waters films, Fleischer animation, Contagious Music and Characters and Surreal things in general; I urge you to give this movie a chance, with an open mind and an open heart because it has truly given me a new found appreciation and enthusiasm for entertainment that is a harsh commodity with the pretentiousness and 'weird or obscure for the sake of it' going on.
Movie Review: Insanity
Summary: 5 Stars
First off, the copy I rented was defective. The movie played fine but the special features are inaccessible. That's a shame, because I would love to see the documentary. So, while I appreciate Fantoma releasing this impressive cult classic on DVD, I am somewhat disappointed with the actual product and more than a little hesitant to purchase it. I see where it was avered in another review that Amazon's copies are not defective. I am crossing my fingers.
I was first intoduced to The Forbidden Zone by a friend who had rented it from Blockbuster and loved it so much he never returned it. I watched it with a group of friends and we were all immediately amazed and enchanted. I have owned a couple of copies on VHS and have worn them both out with repeated viewings.
The most striking thing about the movie is the brilliant expressionistic set design reminiscent of Weine's The Cabinet of Dr. Caligeri and, to a lesser degree, Charles Laughton's Night of the Hunter. This marvelous scenic art is blended seamlessly with animation that only seems to expand the expressionist aesthetic of the film.
Then there is the wild, lurching plot-line, a perfect marriage of classic absurdism and Sci-fi B-movie exploitation: There is a door to the sixth dimension in the basement of the Hercules abode. One day, Frenchy Hercules, despite the warning of her father(given in the film's first astounding musical sequence,)decides to check it out. She is taken prisoner by the King and Queen and put in cell 63, the cell where the King keeps his favorite concubines. He has taken a fancy to Frenchy because of their shared nationality. His infatuation has driven the Queen into a jealous rage. Will Flash and Gramps Hercules find her before she exacts her revenge? There are other zaney characters like Sqeezit the chicken boy and Bust Rod, the giant frog henchman of the Queen.
Danny Elfman's (Oingo Boingo) score is fantastic. The musical numbers really shine. He even makes an appearance in one of them as the Devil (cum Cab Calloway) himself! Danny hamms it up nicely for his brother.
I cannot say enough good things about this peerless, visionary film. If you have never seen it, it is worth the purchase even if the special features don't work.
Movie Review: My Favorite Cult Film!
Summary: 5 Stars
Well maybe cult film doesn't quite cover it. This movie is so unique!
A few nights ago I was watching the Marx Bros. Cocoanuts followed by some Blackhawk items from the Slapstick Encyclopedia (Recommended!!) and the origins of much of this utterly wacked film were obvious. Forbidden Zone is adult, totally filthy at times, and very over-the-top but in many ways it's a loving tribute to a lot of old films, cartoons, Yiddish theater, Cab Calloway, and other charming things from the past. The character of Froggie is based on a 50s children's TV show character, for example.
It can be edgy and uncomfortable (not in a bad way!) but it's largely a heck of a lot of fun. The musical numbers--often characters lip-synching to great old tunes--are another memorable aspect to this film. The cast is fantastic. For a bottom-of-the-barrel budget movie the overall look and feel is spectacular and there are surprisingly few awkward moments.
I've seen a lot of underground movies, especially from this era, and I'd say, although many are good to great this is the only one that shows genuine genius. I often lose track of the amazing number of truly original and unforgettable moments in this film.
STERN WARNING! This film is not for pink-cheeked youngsters who are Politically Correct. Back in the 70s and 80s we crusty old anarcho-libertarian types found racial, cultural, and sexual stereotypes hysterically funny because they were so utterly stupid. This movie is full of them for exactly that reason. It's called "irony"--look it up in the dictionary if you haven't already burned your copy because it contains words you don't like. The younger generations can be pretty humorless and incapable of understanding what I'm writing about and that's exactly why many of you kittens remind us old-timers of the miserable, narrow-minded, hung-up, fascists we were fighting way back then. You act like our parents. So stay away from this movie! We fans (who are so danged happy to see this thing available again!) will get really annoyed if we find whiny critical reviews here by people who DON'T GET IT.