Mundo prohibido

FORBIDDEN WORLD shows us what Ridley Scott's ALIEN could have been, if only it had included: #1- A robot named Sam! #2- STAR WARS-like space dogfights! #3- Blazing hot, female space scientists! In dangerously tight pants and high heels! #4- A wacky, chain-smoking mad scientist in a perpetually bloody lab coat! #5- A maniacally mutating metamorph, spreading goo and strawberry jam! #6- Idiot victims! #7- Blazing hot, female scientists who decide that their clothing is far too confining! Except for sunglasses! #8- Monster attacks intercut with love scenes! #9- Blazing hot, female scientists brushing each other's hair! In a super-mod shower! #10- Heaps of pulsating glop! #11- Meatball surgery! #12- Sizzling hot, female scientists in mini-bathrobes!

Yes, if only ALIEN had used cool gimmicks like this, then it would have been..., well, this movie!

EXTRA POINTS FOR: #1- Slimy, dripping practical effects! #2- Tracy Baxter's (Dawn Dunlap) incessant screaming! No, really! Once she gets going, she wails on and on like a tea kettle on the boil!...

Take note all you horrible makers of today's movies. This is how you make a bad movie. You do not bring in a stupid 80's mall queen, make a film with monsters that are clearly not there, and you do not skimp on the gore and nudity! No, you make a monster out of stuff just laying around, you have young gals that look like they would be more at home in an adult film, and you have lots of gore and nudity like this film does! Is it a good movie, absolutely not, but it is certainly very enjoyable to watch. Though saying this one is absolutely not good may be being a bit to harsh as I actually enjoyed the story here a bit more than other "Alien" knock off movies of this era. Heck, I enjoyed watching his film more than "Alien 3", though that film was clearly better done this one was more entertaining and I was never bored. The film starts out kind of weakly though as dude and his robot pal have a pointless space battle. I do not know who or why they are fighting these people, I don't think it is our business. Once they go to the planet of Xarbia though things really pick up. The guy in the ship is some sort of problem solver and the problem they are having on this planet is that an experiment has gotten a bit out of hand. Killed a bunch of animals and has now retreated to a cocoon. Well it is not to long before it gets out and of course some idiot could have easily ended the entire movie by being a bit more careful, but then the movie would have ended even sooner than its very short running time of 77 minutes. Lots of gore ensues as the creature mutates forms from time to time and its purpose is soon to be known. During this time you get the typical scientist that does not want to harm the creature, but capture it and an even more laughable attempt at communicating with the beast. You also get lots of boobies from the two females at this little research place. Like I said it was a fun watch, the monster looks okay in some scenes and in others it looks bad, kind of like a blown up garbage bag. However, even when it looks bad it is there unlike so many computer generated monsters of today. The film could actually use a bit more time as they could have added ten minutes and had even more deaths and the death of the one guy trying to fix something was weak compared to others. The cast is all right, the lead guy being rather good. One of the females was super hot, the other with the more blond hair was just okay. Just wished they would make cheap movies like this instead of the boring stuff they do now. I am betting this is actually cheaper to make and a lot more fun to watch.

I first saw this in the late 80s on a vhs.

Revisited it recently on a fast forward mode.

The movie has a lousy sex scene mixed with a lousy 'cannot make out wots going on' kill scene.

Dawn Dunlap's nudity is the only saving grace. She looks more like a younger Denise Richards.

The fight towards the end with the alien looks as if the guy is fighting a bull or something but that too is ruined with shaky cam n reddish flickering lights.

Were the end flashback scenes required?

Yet another cheap 'n cheesy early 80's "Alien" rip-off produced by Roger "King of the B's" Corman! This given alone is more than enough reason to proceed with caution and keep your expectations to a minimum. Then, during the opening credits sequence, your first impressions are most likely to seep to an even deeper level, as the first five minutes are a headache-inducing and utterly pointless compilation of confusing and hectic images that make no sense at all. But please do your best to struggle yourself through this crappy opening, because "Forbidden World" does eventually get interesting and worthwhile. Well, in all honesty … it's crap from start to finish! But hey, at least it's tremendously entertaining crap! We're in the darkest regions of outer space, somewhere in a distant future, but there's no menace of aliens this time. The cool-looking monster on the VHS cover is mankind's own little mistake-creation, spawned on a spaceship where the crew was actually trying to discover new types of food sources. Now they're up against a continuously growing monster that somehow understands English, yet dramatically misinterprets the meaning of the verb "co-exist". Lone space ranger Mike Colby (Jesse Vint) is called to the rescue, but he doesn't really contribute anything, except having sex with the female crew members on board. What a guy! Another scientist member of the expedition eventually comes up with an admittedly creative (but totally ludicrous) plan to destroy the monster. Naturally, I can't reveal anything about the denouement, but rest assured it's 100% original and hilarious. The cinematography is dreadfully dark and unclear, presumably to camouflage the ultra-cheap and tacky set pieces and make-up effects. The monster is very cool, though, and the killings are amusingly gross and bloody. The aforementioned "co-exist" scene truly priceless and any horror fan with a slight sense of humor will LOVE that moment. Alan Holzman didn't have any experience directing movies back in 1982, but he does a fairly adequate job and admirably prevents his cast from going over the top. Following good old Roger Corman traditions, there's some great sleaze and nudity to enjoy and also the dialogs are imbecilic but fun. Highly recommended in case you can tolerate B-movie cheapness.

Forbidden World isn't exactly a stellar film, but it sure is an entertaining one! This shameless Alien rip-off is packed to the brim with gore and nudity and never pretends to be more than just an hour and seventeen minutes of pure escapism.

For a low-budget movie, the research station set doesn't look bad at all. There might not be much more than a few corridors, some sleeping quarters, a sauna (yes, a sauna, guess why) and a laboratory, but it's quite an atmospheric place. Also, the practical effects are rather good, with bloody corpses that ooze slime from every pore and a shape-shifting monster (bearing more than a passing resemblance to Alien's Xenomorph) to admire. The catchy synth soundtrack is also worth mentioning.

If you're looking for a serious sci-fi horror movie, steer well clear of this film, but if you're in the mood for a bit of trashy fun, you could do a lot worse than Forbidden World!