Review of Forbidden Zone (1982) by Simon P — 06 Nov 2009

"Come with us to the land of sin and pleasure. You'll be surprised by the things that you will see." - The cast of Forbidden Zone.

Now I'm not what you would call a fan of musicals. The idea of people bursting into sudden fits of song, unless used for comic effect or in a cartoon, will usually turn me off immediately (I think the only serious musicals that I love are The Wizard Of Oz and Dancer In The Dark). That's not to say that musicals are bad movies, they're just not my cup of tea. Now, having said that, I'd like to talk about this twisted, hallucinatory, and hilarious example of the genre. Until about three years ago, my favorite musical was The Rocky Horror Picture Show (which should come as no surprise to those of you familiar with my taste in movies), but then, one day, a friend of mine stumbled upon this gem. He bought it two weeks later, and once I got a chance to see it for myself I was hooked. Rocky Horror had to take a backseat. There is no way to explain this movie to someone. It's like an acid trip set to Cab Calloway. The music (an odd mixture of French songs, rumba, Jewish songs, Cab Calloway [with some humorously altered lyrics] and some original Danny Elfman creations) is fucking awesome. Every time I watch it the entire soundtrack gets stuck in my head for about a week. It stars Herve Villechaize (Tattoo from Fantasy Island) as the horn dog king of the sixth dimension, Susan Tyrell (Wizards, Andy Warhol's Bad) as the sadistic queen, Matthew Bright (director of Freeway and one of Forbidden Zone's co-writers) as the chicken loving Squeezit and his gender confused twin brother/sister Rene, and Danny Elfman (if you don't know who he is then you must be living under a rock) as Satan. The set design (done by Marie-Pascale Elfman who also stars as Frenchy) is unforgettably weird, and the integration of animation is pretty amazing for a film with such a low budget. This movie was made as a way of capturing the insanity of The Mystic Knights Of The Oingo Boingo, and in my opinion it was a total success. If you're a fan of strange, offbeat and purposely offensive movies then buy this right now. I can almost guarantee your total satisfaction.