''Forbidden Zone'' is an American
absurdist musical
Musical is the adjective of music.
Musical may also refer to:
* Musical theatre, a performance art that combines songs, spoken dialogue, acting and dance
* Musical film
Musical film is a film genre in which songs by the Character (arts), charac ...
fantasy
Fantasy is a genre of speculative fiction that involves supernatural or Magic (supernatural), magical elements, often including Fictional universe, imaginary places and Legendary creature, creatures.
The genre's roots lie in oral traditions, ...
comedy film
The comedy film is a film genre that emphasizes humor. These films are designed to amuse audiences and make them laugh. Films in this genre typically have a happy ending, with dark comedy being an exception to this rule. Comedy is one of the o ...
produced and directed by
independent filmmaker Richard Elfman, and co-written by Elfman and
Matthew Bright. Shot in 1977 and 1978, the film premiered in 1980 and was distributed in 1982.
Originally shot on
black-and-white film
Black-and-white (B&W or B/W) images combine black and white to produce a range of achromatic brightnesses of grey. It is also known as greyscale in technical settings.
Media
The history of various visual media began with black and white, a ...
, ''Forbidden Zone'' is based upon the stage performances of the Los Angeles theater troupe
The Mystic Knights of the Oingo Boingo, of which Elfman, Bright and many of the cast and crew were a part, and revolves around an
alternate universe accessed through a door in the house of the Hercules family.
The
composing debut of
Danny Elfman
Daniel Robert Elfman (born May 29, 1953) is an American film composer, singer, songwriter, and musician. He came to prominence as the lead vocalist and primary songwriter for the new wave band Oingo Boingo in the early 1980s. Since scoring his ...
, it stars
Hervé Villechaize
Hervé Jean-Pierre Villechaize (; April 23, 1943 – September 4, 1993) was a French actor. He is best known for his roles as the evil henchman Nick Nack in the 1974 James Bond film '' The Man with the Golden Gun'' and as Mr. Roarke's assistant ...
,
Susan Tyrrell and members of the Mystic Knights, with appearances by
Warhol superstar Viva,
Joe Spinell and
The Kipper Kids. Villechaize kicked his cheque back into production and even painted sets on weekends. The only paid actor was Phil Gordon, who played Flash; all the other
SAG
SAG, SAg or sag may refer to:
Land formations
* Sag (geology), or ''trough'', a depressed, persistent, low area
* Sag pond, a body of water collected in the lowest parts of a depression
People
* Ivan Sag (1949–2013), American linguist
...
actors put their money back into the show.
The film was made as an attempt to capture the essence of The Mystic Knights of the Oingo Boingo's live performances in a cinematic sense, and also as a means for both director Elfman to retire from music to work on film projects, and to serve as a transition between the group's former cabaret style and a
new wave-based style.
Amid negative reactions to content in the film that had been perceived as being offensive, ''Forbidden Zone'' was screened as a
midnight movie
A midnight movie is a low-budget genre picture or distinctly nonmainstream film programmed for late-night screening or broadcast. The term is rooted in the practice that emerged in the 1950s of local television stations around the United Sta ...
, where it was met with positive notices, and developed a large and eventually worldwide
cult following
A cult following is a group of fans who are highly dedicated to a person, idea, object, movement, or work, often an artist, in particular a performing artist, or an artwork in some medium. The latter is often called a cult classic. A film, boo ...
.
In 2004, the film was digitally restored and released on
DVD
The DVD (common abbreviation for digital video disc or digital versatile disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any ki ...
, and in 2008, the film was
colorized
Film colorization (American English; or colourisation/colorisation [both British English], or colourization [Canadian English and Oxford English]) is any process that adds color to black-and-white, sepia, or other monochrome m ...
.
Said Elfman, "Doing anything original is taking a chance. Financially it bankrupted me and we lost our house. But I'm still glad I did it (although I'd change a few things if I had a time machine, of course)."
A prospective sequel, entitled ''Forbidden Zone 2: The Forbidden Galaxy'', has long been in development by Elfman, who launched a successful crowdfunding campaign in 2014 to raise an initial sum. As of 2019, the sequel is still in the stages of development but regularly updated and discussed by Elfman.
Elfman has also licensed ''Forbidden Zone'' as an intellectual property for manufacturers to produce collectibles based on the film's characters.
Plot
On "Friday, April 17" at 4 p.m. in
Venice, California
Venice is a neighborhood of the City of Los Angeles within the Westside region of Los Angeles County, California, United States.
Venice was founded by Abbot Kinney in 1905 as a seaside resort town. It was an independent city until 1926, whe ...
, Huckleberry P. Jones (pimp, narcotics peddler, and slumlord) enters a vacant house that he owns. While stashing
heroin
Heroin, also known as diacetylmorphine and diamorphine among other names, is a morphinan opioid substance synthesized from the Opium, dried latex of the Papaver somniferum, opium poppy; it is mainly used as a recreational drug for its eupho ...
in the basement, he stumbles upon a mysterious door and enters it, falling into the Sixth Dimension, from which he promptly escapes. After retrieving the heroin, he sells the house to the Hercules family. On their way to school, Frenchy Hercules and her brother Flash talk with Squeezit Henderson, who says that, while being beaten by his mother, he has a vision of his transgender sister René, who had fallen into the Sixth Dimension through the door in the Hercules' basement.
Frenchy returns home to confide in her mother, and decides to take a "little peek" behind the basement's forbidden door. There, she is captured by the perpetually topless Princess, who brings Frenchy to the rulers of the Sixth Dimension, the midget King Fausto and his queen, Doris. When the king falls for Frenchy, Doris orders their frog servant, Bust Rod, to lock her up. To make sure that Frenchy is not harmed, Fausto tells Bust Rod to take Frenchy to Cell 63, where the king keeps his favorite concubines (as well as René).
The next day at school, Flash tries to convince Squeezit to help him rescue René and Frenchy. When Squeezit refuses, Flash enlists the help of Gramps instead. In the Sixth Dimension, they speak to an old
Jew
Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, religion, and community are highly inte ...
ish man who reveals how to help Frenchy escape, but they soon are captured by Bust Rod. Doris interrogates Flash and Gramps before lowering them into a septic tank. She then plots her revenge against Frenchy, relocating all the denizens of Cell 63 to a torture chamber. She leaves the Princess to oversee Frenchy's torture and execution. However, when a fuse is blown, the torture is put on hold and the prisoners from Cell 63 are relocated to keep the King from finding them.
After escaping the tank, Flash and Gramps come across a woman who says that she was once happily married to the king, until Doris stole the throne by seducing her. The ex-queen has been sitting in her cell for 1,000 years, and has been writing a screenplay to keep her sanity. Meanwhile, Pa Hercules is blasted through the stratosphere by an explosion caused by improperly extinguishing his cigarette in a vat of flammable tar during his work break at the
La Brea Tar Pit Factory. After re-entry, Pa falls through the basement and into the Sixth Dimension, where he is imprisoned.
Finding a phone, Flash calls Squeezit and again asks for his help. Squeezit agrees to help rescue Frenchy and René. In the Sixth Dimension, he is captured by
Satan
Satan, also known as the Devil, is a devilish entity in Abrahamic religions who seduces humans into sin (or falsehood). In Judaism, Satan is seen as an agent subservient to God, typically regarded as a metaphor for the '' yetzer hara'', or ' ...
, with whom he makes a deal to bring him the Princess in exchange for Satan's help freeing René and Frenchy. Squeezit accomplishes this task, but failed to include himself in the deal to rescue his friends, and the devil has him decapitated. Queen Doris sends Bust Rod to keep an eye on the king, and to ensure he does not find out where she has hidden Frenchy.
Fausto catches Bust Rod and forces him to lead him to Frenchy and René, whom he orders to leave the Sixth Dimension to avoid the Queen's wrath. However, en route to safety, René is stricken with pseudo-menstrual cramps, and they are again captured by the frog. Squeezit's head, which has now sprouted chicken wings, finds the king and reveals what has happened.
While preparing to kill Frenchy, Doris is confronted by the ex-queen, and the two engage in a cat-fight; Doris eventually coming out as the victor. Just as she is about to kill Frenchy, Fausto stops her, explaining that Satan's Mystic Knights of the Oingo Boingo are holding the Princess hostage, and will kill her should anything befall Frenchy. Flash and Gramps arrive, and Flash is knocked down by Gramps. Ma Hercules enters and, seeing a seemingly dead Flash, shoots Doris. Fausto mourns Doris, then marries Frenchy.
The surviving characters later plan to take over everyone and everything in the Galaxy.
Cast
*
Hervé Villechaize
Hervé Jean-Pierre Villechaize (; April 23, 1943 – September 4, 1993) was a French actor. He is best known for his roles as the evil henchman Nick Nack in the 1974 James Bond film '' The Man with the Golden Gun'' and as Mr. Roarke's assistant ...
as King Fausto of the Sixth Dimension
*
Susan Tyrrell as Queen Doris of the Sixth Dimension / Ruth Henderson
* Gisele Lindley as The Princess
* Jan Stuart Schwartz as Bust Rod
* Marie-Pascale Elfman as Susan B. "Frenchy" Hercules.
* Virginia Rose as Ma Hercules
*
Ugh-Fudge Bwana (Gene Cunningham) as Huckleberry P. Jones / Pa Hercules
* Phil Gordon as Flash Hercules
* Hyman Diamond as Gramps Hercules
*
Toshiro Boloney as Squeezit Henderson / René Henderson
*
Danny Elfman
Daniel Robert Elfman (born May 29, 1953) is an American film composer, singer, songwriter, and musician. He came to prominence as the lead vocalist and primary songwriter for the new wave band Oingo Boingo in the early 1980s. Since scoring his ...
as
Satan
Satan, also known as the Devil, is a devilish entity in Abrahamic religions who seduces humans into sin (or falsehood). In Judaism, Satan is seen as an agent subservient to God, typically regarded as a metaphor for the '' yetzer hara'', or ' ...
*
Viva as The Ex-Queen
*
Joe Spinell as Mr. Henderson
*
The Kipper Kids as Themselves
* Kedric Wolfe as Miss Feldman / Human Chandelier
* Herman Bernstein as Mr. Bernstein, the Old Yiddish Man
* Richard Elfman as a masseuse and a prisoner
Musical numbers
# "Forbidden Zone" (Danny Elfman) – Danny Elfman and The Mystic Knights of the Oingo Boingo
# "
Some of These Days" (
Shelton Brooks) – Pa Hercules, Frenchy and Ma Hercules
# "
Beautiful Dreamer" (excerpt) (
Stephen Foster
Stephen Collins Foster (July 4, 1826January 13, 1864), known as "the father of American music", was an American composer known primarily for his parlour music, parlour and Folk music, folk music during the Romantic music, Romantic period. He wr ...
) – Ma Hercules
# "La Petite Tonkinoise" (
Vincent Scotto,
Henri Christiné, Georges Villard) - Frenchy (voice of
Josephine Baker
Freda Josephine Baker (; June 3, 1906 – April 12, 1975), naturalized as Joséphine Baker, was an American and French dancer, singer, and actress. Her career was centered primarily in Europe, mostly in France. She was the first Black woman to s ...
)
# "Bim Bam Boom" (
Noro Morales, Johnny Camacho) - The Kipper Kids and
Miguelito Valdés
# "Witch's Egg" (Susan Tyrrell, Georg Michalski) – Doris
# "Pleure" (
Jérôme Savary) – Frenchy (voice of Josephine Baker)
# "
Alphabet Song" (D. Elfman) – Miss Feldman, Flash, Squeezit and Schoolkids
# "Queen's Revenge" (D. Elfman) – Doris, Frenchy, Princess, René and Prisoners
# "
Pico and Sepulveda" (Eddie Maxwell,
Jule Styne
Jule Styne ( ; born Julius Kerwin Stein; December 31, 1905 – September 20, 1994) was an English-American songwriter and composer widely known for a series of Broadway theatre, Broadway musical theatre, musicals, including several famous frequ ...
) – Pa Hercules and Chorus (voices of
Felix Figueroa & His Orchestra)
# "
Squeezit the Moocher" (
Cab Calloway
Cabell "Cab" Calloway III (December 25, 1907 – November 18, 1994) was an American jazz singer and bandleader. He was a regular performer at the Cotton Club in Harlem, where he became a popular vocalist of the Swing music, swing era. His niche ...
,
Irving Mills
Irving Harold Mills (born Isadore Minsky; January 18, 1894 Odessa, Ukraine – April 21, 1985) was a music publisher, musician, lyricist, and jazz promoter. He often used the pseudonyms Goody Goodwin and Joe Primrose.
Personal life
Mills ...
, D. Elfman) – Squeezit, The Princess, Satan and The Mystic Knights of the Oingo Boingo
# "Yiddishe Charleston" (
Billy Rose
Billy Rose (born William Samuel Rosenberg; September 6, 1899 – February 10, 1966) was an American impresario, theatrical showman, lyricist and columnist. For years both before and after World War II, Billy Rose was a major force in entertainm ...
,
Fred Fisher
Fred Fisher (born Alfred Breitenbach; September 30, 1875 – January 14, 1942) was a German-born American songwriter and Tin Pan Alley music publisher.
Biography
Fisher was born in Cologne, Germany. His parents were Max and Theodora Breitenbach ...
) – Mr. Bernstein and Doris
# "Finale" (D. Elfman, R. Elfman, Nicholas James) – Frenchy, Fausto, Princess, Doris, Ex-Queen, The Kipper Kids, The Mystic Knights of the Oingo Boingo, Flash, Gramps, René, Squeezit, Huckleberry and Company
Production
Development
The Mystic Knights of the Oingo Boingo were formed in late 1972 by Richard Elfman, as a musical theatre troupe.
As Richard's interest shifted to filmmaking, he passed leadership of the band to younger brother Danny Elfman. Danny, who had begun to lose interest in musical theatre, had gained interest in other musical styles such as
ska
Ska (; , ) is a music genre that originated in Jamaica in the late 1950s and was the precursor to rocksteady and reggae. It combined elements of Caribbean mento and calypso with American jazz and rhythm and blues. Ska is characterized by a w ...
, and had become "sick of lugging around so much stuff with the theatre troupe. Towards the end", he remembers, "it was a big production... there was, like a
semi
SEMI is an industry association comprising companies involved in the electronics design and manufacturing supply chain. They provide equipment, materials and services for the manufacture of semiconductors, photovoltaic panels, LED and flat pan ...
full of stuff. And that was becoming burdensome. So, for me, the idea of being a band that can fit all their gear into a van and set up in a club, and an hour later be playing, became a goal."
Production began during a transitional period when the group was moving from its cabaret style towards a more pop/rock format; by the time the film was completed, the band had shortened its name to Oingo Boingo.
The film was originally conceived as ''The Hercules Family'', a
16mm
16 mm film is a historically popular and economical gauge of film. 16 mm refers to the width of the film (about inch); other common film gauges include 8 mm and 35 mm. It is generally used for non-theatrical (e.g., industrial, ...
musical that consisted of twelve musical numbers and a story loosely constructed around them. But as the project grew to
35mm and the storyline evolved, Richard Elfman found himself re-shooting many of the original scenes to fit the new film.
Two sequences from the original 16mm footage were featured on the 2004 DVD release: one of Danny Elfman, as Satan, performing "
Minnie the Moocher" (later reshot with visual elements borrowed from the original 16mm sequence and alternate lyrics), and another of Marie-Pascale Elfman, singing "Johnny". The sequence with Elfman as Satan, and members of the Oingo Boingo as his minions, came from live shows, in which the band would perform
Cab Calloway
Cabell "Cab" Calloway III (December 25, 1907 – November 18, 1994) was an American jazz singer and bandleader. He was a regular performer at the Cotton Club in Harlem, where he became a popular vocalist of the Swing music, swing era. His niche ...
tunes like "
St. James Infirmary Blues" in the same costumes.
Marie-Pascale Elfman, at the time of shooting, was married to director Richard Elfman. She designed the film's
expressionistic sets and starred in the film. Actor and former Mystic Knight
Gene Cunningham helped fund the film. When Cunningham and Elfman ran out of money during production, Richard and Marie-Pascale Elfman helped finance by selling houses, before Carl Borack put money into the production in order for Elfman to complete the film.
According to Elfman, he had originally intended the film to be screened in color, stating that the original plan was to ship the film to China, where each frame would be
hand-tinted, but that this plan was not practical within the production costs. Elfman ultimately went bankrupt during the production of ''Forbidden Zone'' and had to assign the rights away in order to finish the film; in 2015, Elfman regained the full rights to ''Forbidden Zone''.
Casting
Actor
Hervé Villechaize
Hervé Jean-Pierre Villechaize (; April 23, 1943 – September 4, 1993) was a French actor. He is best known for his roles as the evil henchman Nick Nack in the 1974 James Bond film '' The Man with the Golden Gun'' and as Mr. Roarke's assistant ...
was a former roommate of co-writer and co-star
Matthew Bright;
Villechaize had previously dated co-star
Susan Tyrrell.
The Elfmans' grandfather, Herman Bernstein, also appeared in the film, and Richard Elfman's accountant appeared under the name "Hyman Diamond" because Elfman had no idea whether or not he wanted to be credited.
Others who worked on the film include
The Kipper Kids (
Brian Routh and Martin von Haselberg),
Joe Spinell, and former
Warhol superstar Viva.
Writing
''Forbidden Zone'' featured Bright's first work on film, and his only work as an actor (under the name "Toshiro Baloney"). A founding member of the Mystic Knights, Bright later became a screenwriter and director in his own right. Bright's credits include ''
Freeway
A controlled-access highway is a type of highway that has been designed for high-speed vehicular traffic, with all traffic flow—ingress and egress—regulated. Common English terms are freeway, motorway, and expressway. Other similar terms ...
'', ''
Ted Bundy
Theodore Robert Bundy (; November 24, 1946 – January 24, 1989), known colloquially as Ted Bundy, was an American serial killer who kidnapping, abducted, raped and murdered dozens of young women and girls between 1974 and 1978. His ''modus ...
'', and ''
Tiptoes''. Bright and director Richard Elfman's only dispute during the screenwriting process was over a scene in which his character, Squeezit, was originally to have been beaten up for eight minutes and having the walls wiped with his blood.
Another scene cut from the script would have had Squeezit being castrated.
According to Bright, "I didn't have any sense of limits or balance then, at the time, I... you know, I was just, didn't know what I was doing. I needed reining in."
During filming, Bright was sitting on the set in costume when a lighting stand fell onto his head, cracking his skull, and he had to be rushed to the hospital. When Bright returned to work the next day, he had a mild
concussion
A concussion, also known as a mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI), is a head injury that temporarily affects brain functioning. Symptoms may include headache, dizziness, difficulty with thinking and concentration, sleep disturbances, a brief ...
and
whiplash, but he continued with filming.
Directing
Richard Elfman had never gone to film school when production started, and "I didn't know what I was getting into."
The production, from its original 16mm roots to its finish, took three years. Cast and crew members would sleep on the film's stage, wearing spare gorilla suits to stay warm.
Among the film's artistic influences included 1940s
big band
A big band or jazz orchestra is a type of musical ensemble of jazz music that usually consists of ten or more musicians with four sections: saxophones, trumpets, trombones, and a rhythm section. Big bands originated during the early 1910s and ...
and
jazz
Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Its roots are in blues, ragtime, European harmony, African rhythmic rituals, spirituals, h ...
music and
Max Fleischer
Max Fleischer (born Majer Fleischer ; July 19, 1883 – September 11, 1972) was an American animator and studio owner. Born in Kraków, in Austrian Poland, Fleischer immigrated to the United States where he became a pioneer in the development ...
cartoons of the 1930s (such as
Betty Boop
Betty Boop is a cartoon character designed by Grim Natwick at the request of Max Fleischer. She originally appeared in the '' Talkartoon'' and ''Betty Boop'' film series, which were produced by Fleischer Studios and released by Paramount Pic ...
).
Some of the film's cast was made up of non-professionals cast off the street. In one scene, Richard Elfman brought in a young man to mouth the words of "Bim Bam Boom", but when he was put in front of the camera, he stood there as the scene was shot. Elfman left the scene in the film by editing in Bright's lips over the actor's face.
Another scene featured homeless men.
Animation
The film's animation was created by then-unknown animator John Muto. Because of the film's low budget, Muto created all of the film's animation sequences himself.
Muto made frequent use of airbrush techniques to establish for himself a distinctive style.
For sequences in which live-action and animation were
combined, the actors were photographed in tight head-on and profile shots, and the photos were cut out and pasted into the animation in a style recalling
Terry Gilliam
Terrence Vance Gilliam ( ; born 22 November 1940) is an American-British filmmaker, comedian, collage film, collage animator, and actor. He gained stardom as a member of the Monty Python comedy troupe alongside John Cleese, Eric Idle, Michael Pa ...
's work on ''
Monty Python's Flying Circus
''Monty Python's Flying Circus'' (also known as simply ''Monty Python'') is a British surreal humour, surreal sketch comedy series created by and starring Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Eric Idle, Terry Jones, Michael Palin, and Terry Gilliam, w ...
''.
Muto also credits the
Fleischer Brothers as another inspiration.
Music
''Forbidden Zone'' was the first film scored by Danny Elfman, who would eventually score, among other films, ''
Batman
Batman is a superhero who appears in American comic books published by DC Comics. Batman was created by the artist Bob Kane and writer Bill Finger, and debuted in Detective Comics 27, the 27th issue of the comic book ''Detective Comics'' on M ...
'', ''
The Nightmare Before Christmas
''The Nightmare Before Christmas'' (formerly known as ''Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas'') is a 1993 American stop motion Animation, animated Gothic film, gothic musical film, musical fantasy film directed by Henry Selick in his f ...
'', and ''
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
''Charlie and the Chocolate Factory'' is a 1964 children's novel by British author Roald Dahl. The story features the adventures of young Charlie Bucket inside the chocolate factory of eccentric chocolatier Willy Wonka.
The story was origina ...
''. The song ''Witch's Egg'' was written by
Georg Michalski and Tyrrell.
In some scenes, characters
lip synch to old records, including recordings by Cab Calloway,
Josephine Baker
Freda Josephine Baker (; June 3, 1906 – April 12, 1975), naturalized as Joséphine Baker, was an American and French dancer, singer, and actress. Her career was centered primarily in Europe, mostly in France. She was the first Black woman to s ...
, and others.
The alphabet song performed in a classroom scene was inspired by the "
Swinging the Alphabet" song from
The Three Stooges
The Three Stooges were an American vaudeville and comedy team active from 1922 until 1970, best remembered for their 190 short-subject films by Columbia Pictures. Their hallmark styles were physical, farce, and slapstick comedy. Six total ...
short ''
Violent Is the Word for Curly
''Violent Is the Word for Curly'' is a 1938 short film, short subject directed by Charley Chase starring American slapstick comedy team The Three Stooges (Moe Howard, Larry Fine and Curly Howard). It is the 32nd entry in the series released by C ...
''.
For the "Yiddishe Charleston" scene, Richard Elfman had shot the sequence with him lip-syncing to an old recording of the song, but was later unable to acquire the rights to the recording, and had to record a new version of the song while attempting to sync the new recording with the footage.
The film's soundtrack has also become popular, and its theme song was eventually reused by Danny Elfman, who rearranged it as ''The Dilbert Zone'' for use as the theme for the television series ''
Dilbert
''Dilbert'' is an American comic strip written and illustrated by Scott Adams, first published on April 16, 1989. It is known for its satire, satirical office humor about a White-collar worker, white-collar, micromanagement, micromanaged offic ...
''.
Release and reception
''Forbidden Zone'' premiered at the Los Angeles
Filmex film festival in 1980. The film played at the
New Beverly Cinema
The New Beverly Cinema is a historic movie theater located in Los Angeles, California. Housed in a building that dates back to the 1920s, it is one of the oldest revival houses in the region. Since 2007, it has been owned by the filmmaker Quentin ...
as a
midnight movie
A midnight movie is a low-budget genre picture or distinctly nonmainstream film programmed for late-night screening or broadcast. The term is rooted in the practice that emerged in the 1950s of local television stations around the United Sta ...
beginning March 28, and added three theatres in San Francisco, Seattle, and
Columbus in May. The film received another
limited theatrical release
__FORCETOC__
Limited theatrical release is a film distribution strategy of releasing a new film in a few cinemas across a country, typically art house theaters in major metropolitan markets. Since 1994, a limited theatrical release in the Unite ...
through
The Samuel Goldwyn Company
The Samuel Goldwyn Company, later known as Samuel Goldwyn Entertainment, Goldwyn Entertainment Company, Goldwyn Films, and G2 Films, was an American independent film company founded by Samuel Goldwyn Jr., the son of the famous Cinema of the Unit ...
in 1982.
Following its theatrical run, ''Forbidden Zone'' fell out of circulation for roughly twenty years, though
bootleg recording
A bootleg recording is an audio or video recording of a performance not officially released by the artist or under other legal authority. Making and distributing such recordings is known as ''bootlegging''. Recordings may be copied and traded ...
s helped find the film new life as a highly sought-after and well-regarded
cult film
A cult film, also commonly referred to as a cult classic, is a film that has acquired a cult following. Cult films are known for their dedicated, passionate fanbase, which forms an elaborate subculture, members of which engage in repeated ...
.
In 2004, ''
Film Threat
''Film Threat'' is an American online film review publication, and earlier, a national magazine that focused primarily on independent film, although it also reviewed videos and DVDs of mainstream films, as well as Hollywood movies in theaters. ...
'' magazine dubbed ''Forbidden Zone'' "the ''
Citizen Kane
''Citizen Kane'' is a 1941 American Drama (film and television), drama film directed by, produced by and starring Orson Welles and co-written by Welles and Herman J. Mankiewicz. It was Welles's List of directorial debuts, first feature film. ...
'' of
underground movies". the film has a score of 83% on
review aggregator
A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews and ratings of products and services, such as films, books, video games, music, software, hardware, or cars. This system then stores the reviews to be used for supporting a website where user ...
website
Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is an American review aggregator, review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee ...
, with an average rating of 6.6/10.
Home media
The film was digitally restored and released on
Region 1 DVD by Fantoma in 2004, receiving a Region 2 release by
Arrow Film Distributors Ltd. in 2006.
In 2008, with Elfman's blessing and input, a
colorized
Film colorization (American English; or colourisation/colorisation [both British English], or colourization [Canadian English and Oxford English]) is any process that adds color to black-and-white, sepia, or other monochrome m ...
version of ''Forbidden Zone'' was issued on DVD by
Legend Films, and was later screened in exhibition at the New York
Museum of Modern Art
The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is an art museum located in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, on 53rd Street (Manhattan), 53rd Street between Fifth Avenue, Fifth and Sixth Avenues. MoMA's collection spans the late 19th century to the present, a ...
in 2010.
Arrow released a Blu-Ray edition in the UK in 2012, followed by "Ultimate Edition" North American Blu-Ray and DVD releases by
MVD Entertainment Group in 2015; all contained both the black-and-white and color versions.
Controversies
Upon its original release, ''Forbidden Zone'' was singled out for criticism for its use of broadly-drawn
racist
Racism is the belief that groups of humans possess different behavioral traits corresponding to inherited attributes and can be divided based on the superiority of one Race (human categorization), race or ethnicity over another. It may also me ...
,
homophobic
Homophobia encompasses a range of negative attitudes and feelings toward homosexuality or people who identify or are perceived as being lesbian, Gay men, gay or bisexual. It has been defined as contempt, prejudice, aversion, hatred, or ant ...
,
antisemitic
Antisemitism or Jew-hatred is hostility to, prejudice towards, or discrimination against Jews. A person who harbours it is called an antisemite. Whether antisemitism is considered a form of racism depends on the school of thought. Antisemi ...
and
anti-Christian visuals and characters.
Elfman, himself of Jewish heritage, has disputed many of these accusations, noting that elements seen as homophobic were inspired by his time as a director and occasional performer in the San Francisco avant-garde
drag troupe
The Cockettes, while the character of "Mr. Bernstein", accused of being an exaggerated Jewish stereotype, was played by Elfman's Jewish grandfather Herman Bernstein, of whom Elfman wryly asserted "wasn't acting".
In particular, ''Forbidden Zone'' has been criticized for its brief use of surreal
blackface
Blackface is the practice of performers using burned cork, shoe polish, or theatrical makeup to portray a caricature of black people on stage or in entertainment. Scholarship on the origins or definition of blackface vary with some taking a glo ...
. In 2020, Elfman digitally removed the blackface images and replaced them with "clown-face". In an interview with
Dread Central
Dread Central is an American website founded in 2006 that is dedicated to horror news, interviews, and reviews. It covers horror films, comics, novels, and toys. Dread Central has won the Rondo Hatton Classic Horror Award for Best Website f ...
, he explained "Going back to our very first test screening in 1980, there were a few things that really bugged me. The film is an absurdist fever-dream with hundreds of crazy, cartoonish images. I regretted the few seconds of
Max Fleischer
Max Fleischer (born Majer Fleischer ; July 19, 1883 – September 11, 1972) was an American animator and studio owner. Born in Kraków, in Austrian Poland, Fleischer immigrated to the United States where he became a pioneer in the development ...
-era black-face and wanted to change it to 'clown-face'. But the film hadliterallybankrupted me, I had lost control and couldn't complete it exactly the way I wanted. Well, forty years later, I fucking can!". Elfman's director's cut was released in early 2021.
Legacy
Sequel
In June 2009, it was revealed through an entry on
IMDb
IMDb, historically known as the Internet Movie Database, is an online database of information related to films, television series, podcasts, home videos, video games, and streaming content online – including cast, production crew and biograp ...
that Elfman had been developing a sequel to ''Forbidden Zone'' entitled ''Forbidden Zone 2: The Forbidden Galaxy''. The prospective project was more formally detailed in March 2014 when Elfman launched a successful crowdfunding campaign on
IndieGoGo
Indiegogo is an American crowdfunding website founded in 2008 by Danae Ringelmann, Slava Rubin, and Eric Schell. Its headquarters are in San Francisco, California. The site is one of the first sites to offer crowd funding. Indiegogo allows peo ...
to raise part of the film's financing. As of the campaign's most recent update in May 2023, Elfman confirmed the project is "still alive" and noting that he "will not give up on FZ2", describing ''Forbidden Zone 2'' as "number one on his ." "As long as I am breathing, I will do Forbidden Zone 2!"
Stage show
In 2010, ''Forbidden Zone'' was performed as a live stage show with the support of Richard Elfman. It is a production of the
Sacred Fools Theater Company, and premiered there in Los Angeles on Friday, May 21, 2010.
Mixed media
Richard Elfman entered into a licensing deal with the creative resource company,
PANGEA
Pangaea or Pangea ( ) was a supercontinent that existed during the late Paleozoic and early Mesozoic eras. It assembled from the earlier continental units of Gondwana, Euramerica and Siberia (continent), Siberia during the Carboniferous period ...
, to provide licensees with the opportunity to create merchandise based on the cult film. According to articles that appeared in the media on May 3, 2016, the arrangement calls for content to be created that will include a Storyboard Book of the original film, featuring commentary and anecdotal notes from director. Shot glasses and sculpted pieces were among the list of immediate items that would be released. A fantasy novella series was also noted as being under development.
''
Rocky Horror Rocky Horror is the title character from ''The Rocky Horror Show''. It may also refer to
* The Rocky Horror Show (franchise)
* '' The Rocky Horror Show'', a stage musical from 1973
* '' The Rocky Horror Picture Show'', 1975 film adaptation of the ...
'' "shadow cast" companies have begun performing screenings of the film. Elfman sometimes participates in these live performances. He enters in a clown suit and beats a big bass drum that is accompanied by a Brazilian percussion ensemble—reminiscent of his former group, the
Mystic Knights of the Oingo Boingo.
The Syfy Channel has run a teaser piece musical number, "Princess Polly" from ''Forbidden Zone 2: The Forbidden Galaxy'' on its show ''
The Monster Man,'' starring
Cleve Hall. Elfman opens the Forbidden Zone shadow cast shows (after the march in) with Erin Holt singing Princess Polly live in front of her screened “monster” image on stage.
References
External links
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{{good article
1980 films
1980 comedy films
1980 directorial debut films
1980 independent films
1980 LGBTQ-related films
1980s American films
1980s English-language films
1980s fantasy comedy films
1980s musical comedy films
1980s musical fantasy films
1980s science fiction comedy films