Totaler Sperrbezirk

Dr. Hunter S. Thompson once said, "It never got weird enough for me." With all respect and love to that late-great Gonzo God, I wonder if he would eat those words following a viewing of this. This is truly one of the weirdest movies ever conceived, shot, executed, whatever-ed. But it's brilliance is in the fact that amid its chaos and delirious mayhem is that it's not really all that incoherent. It may not be any more or less crazy a piece of avant-garde experimentation than a super-obscure picture like Pussbucket.

The difference, I think, lies in professionalism. In a small way I'm reminded of Russ Meyer; Richard Elfman is a very careful director with his camera, never making a shot unintentionally out of focus or deranged in masturbatory terms, and with his production designer (if maybe it was just him and his wife who also financed the picture) create madness that can't exactly be called shoddy in production value. Like it or not, and I can imagine people definitely NOT liking this, there's some art going on here.

It's also the kind of movie you can't peg down. I was laughing mad throughout, almost convulsively at one other step after another in the 'plot' (and yes, there is one, once checked into the 'Zone' and the 6th dimension and the annals of the Queen and the family going through the zone), but is it entirely a comedy? Actually - yes, it is. But what kind of comedy? There's a sensibility that borrows heavily at times from those delightfully insane cartoons from the 1920s and 1930s (Un Iwerks' obscurer shorts come to mind), but only at times like bits in that classroom singing old songs.

There's also characters in black-face (yes, black-face), obvious caricatures of black people and Jews, a little person (the actor from Man with the Golden Gun), a guy with a giant frog head and a suit, and Satan. Did I mention it's a musical shot in black and white and that it's also like if Rocky Horror Picture Show wasn't likable for its badness but was genuinely f***ed-up as a true cult hit?

Enough trying to explain it- this is cult in the sense of Eraserhead or Ichi the Killer, or even one of the real old-school guards of the avant-garde like Jack SMith. You really do have to see it to believe it, and understand how much of a mix of forms and styles work its way into it, of the obvious and joyfully exaggerated "characters" (just between that one Queen with the hair and the little guy it could be enough, but then what about the little guy's new French mistress?), of the sudden title-cards, of the animations from time to time with most prominent example a travel down an intestine.

Not to mention the music, which is some of the purest genius in the picture (this and Blues Brothers, both good for a double feature not too oddly enough considering one specific song I need not mention here, are great wacky musicals of 1980). There's two facets: the usage of old blues and show-tunes of the 30s, almost like speakeasy songs, and then the songs of Oingo Boingo, Danny Elfman's equally weird band he had before becoming a composer. Needless to say he composes his first time here, and it's a great training ground for the likes of other great scores in Tim Burton's pictures; his one appearance as Satan is a howler, though overall he matches up to what his brother has to offer as a filmmaker of verve and daring.

How much you might respond positively to the daring of Forbidden Zone will depend on how seriously you take it. I don't think I got any profound life lessons, but if you can tap into the vibe of the picture then you got it made. It doesn't get much weirder than this, and I love it for it on whatever terms it makes as imaginative low-budget gonzo comedy.

I LOVE this movie. Sometimes I get nostalgic for it - on occasion, I actually cry. Because I no longer have a copy, I played it so many times, the tape just wore itself out. My first viewing stands next to a weekend-long John Waters marathon as cherished memory of being punked into the magical world of what gets termed as "cult."

The sights, sounds and actions are too just impossible to put into words, wildly creative, yet the whole thing is actually put together pretty tight, considering the clearly low budget and that you imagine the Elfmans were just like bribing their pals to show up and do stuff. The soundtrack, obviously, is the most fabuloso thing about it, but it works on lots of levels. If you have a copy, try playing it on MUTE and see what you think. If you've only seen it with recreational aids, you should try seeing it straight.

Come the revolution, this should be required viewing for all nine-year-olds and/or aspiring filmmakers. It's that good.

I was so excited that this finally came out on DVD. My dad took us to see it ages ago when it first came out in theaters and it became an instant family favorite. That might sound weird since it's a bit on the racy side, but most of the sexuality is done in a very silly and, I think, innocent way, so it never made me feel awkward showing it to anyone.

I think it's the best musical ever and the low budget production works perfectly into the surreal plot. The actors are brilliant, a crazy cast that makes me laugh until it hurts.

Rent it! Buy it! Give a copy to a friend and blow their mind!

"Forbidden Zone" is an utterly certifiable fantasy-musical that unsurprisingly has picked up a cult following in the 40 plus years since its release. It deals with a young woman, "Frenchy" (Marie-Pascale Elfman), who disappears into the title dimension through a door in her houses' basement. Her brother Flash (Phil Gordon) and grandfather (Hyman Diamond) embark on a quest to rescue her. Presiding over this dimension are diminutive king Fausto (Herve Villechaize) and his tyrannical queen (Susan Tyrrell).

The talented Richard Elfman co-wrote this with Martin Nicholson, Nicholas James, and another under-appreciated talent, Matthew Bright (who also appears on screen as Squeezit and Rene), and Richards' younger brother, pop star turned film composer Danny Elfman, wrote the tuneful soundtrack. Elfman, too, acts in front of the camera as Satan, and Marie-Pascale, to whom Richard was married at the time, served as production designer.

They clearly put a fair amount of effort into this genuinely strange feature that is packed to the brim with assorted, inspired bits of random weirdness (like a butler with a frogs' head named Bust Rod). The whole look of the film, in fact, has a really appreciable visual tackiness about it. This viewer saw the black & white theatrical version, and it's rich the way that it combines its outre sets with animation. All the performances tend towards the utterly flamboyant, but they definitely fit this material. Appearing in cameos are Warhol Factory veteran Viva (as the former queen) and the great character actor Joe Spinell (as a lusty sailor).

All in all, "Forbidden Zone" is truly like nothing else that this viewer has seen before. It actually outdoes films like "Phantom of the Paradise" and "The Rocky Horror Picture Show" in terms of utter zaniness (however low-budget it may be).

Six out of 10.

No live-action movie has ever captured the anarchic feel of the rubbery Max Fleischer cartoons of the 1930s better than "Forbidden Zone." It's an LSD-fueled Betty Boop picture mixed with "Alice in Wonderland" and "The Inferno," all filtered through David Lynch's kaleidoscope (or run through R. Crumb's Cuisinart).

The story, such as it is, deals with the adventures of Frenchy Hercules, who lives over a doorway to the "Sixth Dimension," which is ruled by King Fausto (Herve Villechaize) and Queen Doris (Susan Tyrrell) with sadomasochistic glee. The whole flick really fits the Betty Boop formula perfectly--a shapely heroine (who loves to rumba) falls from her own bizarre "reality" into an even stranger one. Much mayhem and cool swing music ensue, as Frenchy's brother and grandfather (playing the roles of Bimbo and Koko the Clown from the old Fleischer cartoons) try to rescue the unfortunate girl.

This strange mix of animation and live action really has to be seen to be believed--all very low budget and very imaginative (a quality sorely lacking in movies lately). Fans of Oingo Boingo won't want to miss this one (especially group leader Danny Elfman's Cab Calloway-like turn as Satan in the flick's best scene). There are racial and ethnic stereotypes galore, but since this movie seems to exist in an entirely different universe, it doesn't come across as offensive.

Not for everyone--but a "can't miss" for some. Worth seeing just for the musical numbers alone.