Forbidden Zone
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Movie Reviews of Forbidden Zone
Movie Review: Danny Elfman as Satan Singing Cab Calloway: Crazy Cult Classic
Summary: 4 Stars
Five years after 'The Rocky Horror Picture Show,' (1975) brothers Danny and Richard Elfman made this cult film, partly in order to record on screen the performance of Oingo Boingo (then called Mystic Knights of the Oingo-Boingo). The results became 'Forbidden Zone' this crazy, but strangely attrative no-budget musical.
The film is about the king and the queen of the World of the Sixth Dimention, where insanity and craziness rule. Susan Tyrrell is the jealous Queen Doris with a beehive hair; Hervé Villechaize ('Nick Nack' in 'The Man with a Golden Gun' beside Christopher Lee) is the King Fausto. There is a butler with a frog's head. There is a French girl named Frenchy (played by Marie-Pascale Elfman, then married to Richard Elfman) who unwisely strays into the underworld. And Danny Elfman himself appears as The Satan, who sings a spoof song of Cab Calloway. In other words, no one makes a film like this today.
To me, the most impressive part is its songs (largely based on old 30s-type numbers) plus Oingo Boingo's own numbers, and the animation in the vein of Max Fleischer cartoons. If you find the rest of the film too ugly for your taste, you will admit that these parts are curiously attractive, like the score of Danny Elfman who is to be more famous with his works in 'Batman.'
Some parts of the film might no longer appeal to us as they did in the 80s. The intentionally stereotyped characters (black people in the classroom, for example) are not surprising today, but within the context of the political correctness in the 80s, we can easily imagine that they were surprsing, and shocking, to some then. Interestingly, Matthew Bright (then credited as Toshiro Baloni) contributed to the zany screenplay, and Bright himself is to make films with different taste like 'Freeway' of which music is by Danny Elfman again.
Shot in black and white, and made with painted cardboards as backdrops, 'Forbidden Zone' has been a favorite choice for cult film fans. Looking back from now, the film's uneven quality cannot be denied, but for some of the deliciously odd moments, 'Forbidden Zone' attracted, and will attract many cult film fans forever.
Movie Review: Extremely Original
Summary: 4 Stars
Danny Elfman's outlandish 1980 film "Forbidden Zone" has to be seen to be believed, and if you are not at least slightly demented you should probably pass on the seeing part. Imagine a cross between "Alice in Wonderland" and "The Rocky Horror Picture Show", with lots of animation in the style Monty Python's Flying Circus and the rubbery Max Fleischer cartoons of the 1930's (which probably inspired much of the original Monty Python stuff anyway). Also deserving mention is the fact that this relatively low budget black and white film is a musical.
There are a lot of characters and the story is somewhat hard to follow so here is what I hope is a helpful summary. The Hercules family (father, mother, son, daughter, and grandfather) live in a house with a door to the Sixth Dimension a/k/a The Forbidden Zone (think Wonderland). Their daughter Frenchy (think Alice) and son Flash (who looks like third stooge Joe Besser in a cub scout uniform) go to school one day. When a gunfight erupts in the classroom Frenchy runs home.
Tripping on a roller skate she tumbles through the door into a large intestine and ends up in the sixth dimension, which is ruled by a King and Queen of dice-used instead of playing cards. There are a lot of half-dressed wonderland type characters down there although only the Frog Footman looks the same. There is a shapely princess who runs around topless, a living chandelier that eventually decays into just a skeleton, a devil (played by Elfman) who is like Cab Calloway playing the Cheshire Cat, and a rival queen.
Frenchy's family and one of her classmates go into the Forbidden Zone to attempt a rescue. The film is a mix of live action and animation. The editor deserves a lot of credit because the whole thing is sequenced quite well and even has a strange unity. There are racist stereotypes (generally too silly to be offensive), lively swing music, and sets that look to have been painted and constructed by a third grade art class.
If this whole wacky concept sounds interesting you should check it out.
Movie Review: Hold On To Your Hats Coz This One's Strange!
Summary: 4 Stars
It's fairly easy to describe the plot to Forbidden Zone in general terms: The Hercules family have a portal in their basement to the Sixth Dimension, and daughter, Frenchy, falls through. She becomes the object of obsession for the king of the Sixth Dimension, Fausto. Frenchy's brother and uncle come to the Sixth Dimension to rescue her. That's the plot in a very general way, but what's not so easy is trying to describe practically anything else about the movie. It's such a constant bombardment of bizarre and zany characters and situations that it makes my head hurt just thinking of how to begin to describe it all. You remember those old cartoons from the 30s like Betty Boop or Bosco? Any of those old cartoons that feature a cast of odd characters doing musical numbers and a bunch of other nonsensical stuff? Forbidden Zone is like an R rated live action version of one of those cartoons. Folks have compared it to Eraserhead, and I suppose that's fair to a certain degree considering both are bizarre and in B&W, but that's where all comparisons end. It's really nothing like Eraserhead, maybe Eraserhead by way of Terry Gilliam at his craziest. The movie was directed by Richard Elfman and includes more or less the whole Mystic Knights of Oingo Boingo(a musical theater group that would evolve into the rock band, Oingo Boingo) as writers and performers. The songs were done by Danny Elfman and Danny turnes up himself in a small role as the Devil where he does a great job singing a Cab Calloway tune.
Forbidden Zone is anything but mainstream material and will only appeal to us weirdos who get a kick out of this kind of stuff.
Movie Review: -
Summary: 4 Stars
It's a rare opportunity to enjoy a film this creative. The music is really great and keeps your attention and helps with rewatchability. This is not a heavy-plot movie, but it's great to watch when you want to have a good time. The special effects are really amazing and could teach a few things to today's movie makers who are obsessed with CG. They laugh about how low-budget and cheesy some of the effects look, but really I don't see it that way. The movie is a live action cartoon, therefore it only makes sense to have cartoon effects. The music is a mix between classic tunes from the 30's era and early 80s new wave so it's a very interesting mix. The movie is based somewhat on the cartoons of the 30s as well. Rarely does a mix of so many ideas actually work, but everything comes together in this picture and it turned out great. I have only one complaint and that is the sophomoric humor that is prevalent. It was somewhat funny the first time there was a simulated sex act, but around the twenty-first time it got a little old. The gay humor was annoying as well but there wasn't too much, mostly squeezit's brother. Also, the actors seem to be trying too hard to be weird/silly. I did not see anything racist or sexist; sounds like some overly sensitive libs making trouble as usual.Movie Review: Lotsa fun to watch....
Summary: 4 Stars
I saw the Mystic Knights of the Oingo Boingo stage show several times in the later 1970s, and saw Forbidden Zone when it was released. These were distant but fond memories of high energy zaniness, and surprising creativity. Incredible stuff. Forbidden Zone videotape was released, renewing the fun for me and now this great DVD is released. The added features on this DVD, particularly the documentary where Richard Elfman talks about the film and interviews other participants, are appreciated. Clips from Mystic Knights stage performances are shown as well, which whets the appetite. Richard, how about putting out some Mystic Knight shows on DVD!