Where to begin with a movie like Forbidden Zone? I suppose at the actual beginning. Musician and aspiring filmmaker Richard Elfman started a musical street theatre troupe back in 1972- think James Corden's "Crosswalk Musicals," only more organized and less dangerous, being on the side of the street, not actually in it, lol.
Dubbed The Mystic Knights of the Oingo Boingo, in part after an obscure reference to a secret society on the Amos 'n' Andy TV show called The Mystic Knights of the Sea, the popular revue became known for their raucous performances, which typically featured as many as 15 band members who played up to 30 instruments in a given session, often doing covers of mostly obscure songs ranging from the 1890's to the 1950's.
In addition, the group also performed oddball original tracks composed by Elfman's younger brother, Danny- who would, of course, go on to become one of the most well-regarded composers in Hollywood, best-known for his work with director Tim Burton and Sam Raimi and his TV themes, which include the likes of The Simpsons,Tales from the Crypt and Desperate Housewives.
After a certain point, the troupe became so unwieldy and expensive that the cost of moving it from place to place included the price of renting a semi-truck for costumes and instruments alone, and Elfman threw up his hands in despair because the group was no longer making a profit. To that end, he opted to drop out of the group and instead pursue his love of filmmaking, passing down the reins of the troupe to his younger brother.
Danny transformed them into first, a musical theatre group, and eventually, a more streamlined New Wave rock group, as he, too, realized that the troupe was unable to justify the cost of its performances against the profit they received, even after the band got a bump in popularity after appearing on the popular 70's talent competition TV series The Gong Show.
Danny rechristened the latter incarnation of the group simply Oingo Boingo in 1979, and the downsized band went on to moderate success, perhaps best-known for their association with filmmaker John Hughes, who used their song "Wild Sex (In the Working Class)" in Sixteen Candles and tapped them to compose the theme song for the movie Weird Science, their biggest hit. They also contributed three songs to the Tom Hanks movie Bachelor Party, including the theme song and "Who Do You Want to Be," which was also in Teen Wolf, Too and on the soundtrack of two of Tony Hawk's skateboarding video-games.
Other notable tracks include "Dead Man's Party," featured, along with the band themselves, in the movie Back to School; "Goodbye Goodbye," which plays over the end credits of the classic Fast Times at Ridgemont High; "No One Lives Forever," which was in Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2, "Flesh n' Blood," which was in Ghostbusters II; "Ain't This The Life," from the concert film Urgh! A Music War (which is just fantastic and features a who's who of 80's bands) and the singles "Nothing Bad Ever Happens to Me" and "Just Another Day," the music videos for which were staples in the days of early MTV. "Just Another Day" was also used in Season 2 of Netflix's Stranger Things.
Meanwhile, as the group was transitioning from a theatre troupe to a more traditional band, Richard Elfman tapped them to score and appear in his first film, Forbidden Zone, which also serves as the first proper score for Danny Elfman- thus launching the alternate career for which he is better known- as well as Richard's own film career. Danny himself portrays Satan in the film, who performs a rewritten version of Cab Calloway's "Minnie the Moocher," which some of you probably know better from the movie The Blues Brothers.
The film also features Calloway's "Some of These Days," as well as Josephine Baker's "La Petite Tonkinoise," both of which members of the cast lip-synch to, along with covers of other even more obscure tracks (i.e. "Yiddishe Charleston," "Pleure" and "Pico and Sepulveda"), in addition to the songs Danny Elfman wrote, which include the title track, "The Alphabet Song," which was inspired by "The Swinging Alphabet," from a Three Stooges short; and the Spike Jones-influenced "Bim Bam Boom," based on an old Puerto Rican song by Machito & Miguelito Valdes.
The plotline, such as it is, concerns a house that has a secret doorway into the so-called "Sixth Dimension," an alternate universe ruled by the wily King Fausto (Hervé Villechaize) and his Queen, Doris (Susan Tyrell), who tend to lock up anyone that dares enter their realm. When a drug dealer who runs afoul of it and barely escapes with his life sells the house to another family, the Hercules clan, he warns them never to go into the basement, but, naturally, one of them, daughter Frenchy (Marie-Pascale Elfman, Richard's wife) can't help but take a peek and ends up being held captive by the King, who takes a personal, romantic interest in her, much to the Queen's chagrin.
It's up to son Flash (Phil Gordon), with a little help from Gramps (Hyman Diamond, Richard Elfman's accountant IRL!) and schoolmate Squeezit Henderson (Toshiro Boloney, aka co-screenwriter Matthew Bright) to save Frenchy from the King and Queen's evil clutches, as they also try to evade the likes of Bust Rod (Jan Stuart Schwartz), the King's man-sized frog servant, and Satan himself (Danny Elfman). The gang also gets an assist from the King's ex-wife (Warhol "Superstar" Viva, aka Janet Hoffmann), who, unbeknownst to the King, was overthrown by the current Queen, who had her locked in a dungeon.
Perhaps needless to say, the plot is decidedly not the point in Forbidden Zone. Rather, it's just a loose framework on which the Elfmans use to hang a lot of oddball homages to the things they loved growing up, which include the Fleischer Brothers' 30's-era cartoons (in particular, Betty Boop- notably this one and this one), German Expressionist cinema (particularly The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, which influenced the sets and the overall look of the film, designed and overseen by Marie-Pascale), Laurel & Hardy (the septic tank sequence is a tribute to the short "Busy Bodies"), The Three Stooges (particularly "Violent is the Word for Curly," which features the aforementioned "Swinging Alphabet" bit) and old-school swing, French and Latin music. The then-popular 70's nightclub comedy act The Kipper Kids also appear as themselves.
The end result is like nothing you've ever seen before, to say the least. When I first saw it, via a bootleg VHS my friend (ironically, his nickname was "Flash," so that provided some additional laughs as there was a character by that name in the film as well), I was convinced it was some old Hollywood movie that had been banned for decades until Danny Elfman, who I recognized from Oingo Boingo, showed up.
Although the cursing and copious nudity and the like should have been an early tip-off, as such things weren't allowed back then, but the friend who showed it to me said that was why it had been banned in the first place, so I fell for his misinformation until Elfman cropped up, at which point I called bullshit. Keep in mind, though, that the film was in black and white up until 2008, so it really did look like something that had been attracting dust in a vault somewhere for decades.
For the purposes of this review, I actually watched the colorized version for the first time, which was an all-new experience, if not necessarily a better one. While I get Richard Elfman allowing it to happen, as some people hate black and white films for whatever reason, I must admit I kind of prefer it in its original incarnation. For one thing, it helps to maintain the illusion that one is watching something from a long-ago time and place, but more than that, the B&W helps to cover up the film's low budget limitations more.
The color not only exposes that, it makes the film a different type of experience than it was originally intended. For that reason, I suggest you pick up the Blu-Ray of the "Ultimate Edition," from MVD Entertainment, or the UK Arrow edition, which feature both versions of the film, as well as plenty of cool bonus features, including a commentary from Richard Elfman, deleted scenes, a making-of featurette and more, as well as a copy of the soundtrack.
The movie was a labor of love for all involved. Richard Elfman and his wife, Marie-Pascal, flipped houses to help finance it, and eventually mortgaged their own house, which they ultimately lost. (See more here.) Many of the cast and crew worked for free, and some even invested their own money into the project, including Villechaize, who not only did just that, but was so enamored of the film he would stick around and help paint sets and the like after he was finished shooting!
In the end, Elfman had to sign away the rights to secure the necessary financing to to finish the film, though all's well that ends well, as he eventually got them back in 2015. Not unlike David Lynch's equally weird Eraserhead, the film took years to make, with production stopping and starting up again as Elfman was able to secure more funding. It was completed in 1980, but didn't receive a theatrical release until 1982, hence the multiple dates in the post description.
It ran for years as a midnight movie, but never received a proper home video release for decades. It eventually got a reputation as a cult favorite that was heavily bootlegged on VHS for years, which is how I first saw it, which only added to its mystique as something seemingly beamed in from another planet. (Or another dimension, as it were.)
This renewed appreciation was what later led to its ultimate official release on DVD in 2004. The magazine Film Threat amusingly dubbed it the "Citizen Kane of underground movies" and it was even screened at the Museum of Modern Art in 2010. The colorized version is the more readily available one nowadays, and can be seen on Tubi, Amazon, Fandor and other streaming services, but I really do advise you seek out the original B&W version- it makes all the difference, and is closer to Elfman's original intentions.
Let's take a closer look at some of the cast. The film's undeniable star is the diminutive Hervé Villechaize, who was born in Paris, France, and was an accomplished painter and the youngest artist to ever have his art displayed in the museum of Paris. He moved to New York in 1964 and began to pursue acting, with almost immediate success.
His film debut was in 1966's Chappaqua, another cult classic, this one much more serious, about drug addiction, featuring an impressive cast that includes author William S. Burroughs, poet Allen Ginsberg, Indian musician Ravi Shankar (aka Norah Jones' dad), who also composed the score; jazz musician Ornette Coleman, who composed an alternate score for the film (listen to it here); the band The Fugs and someone named Moondog, a musician and poet that sounds like a real character. I might have to seek that one out.
Other films followed in rapid succession, including The Gang That Couldn't Shoot Straight, Malatesta's Carnival of Blood, Crazy Joe, Oliver Stone's debut Seizure (see my review here) and his big breakthrough film, the James Bond flick The Man with the Golden Gun, in which he played the villainous Christopher Lee's henchman.
After that, he landed the biggest role of his career in the popular TV show Fantasy Island, in which he played Tattoo, the assistant to the suave Mr Roarke, whose memorable declaration of "The plane! The plane!" became a popular catchphrase of the 70's and early 80's. Unfortunately, he was eventually let go from the show after 132 episodes after he unsuccessfully tried to garner the same salary as star Ricardo Montalbán and was summarily dismissed and replaced.
Reportedly, he was also combative with the producers and a handful with any women who appeared on the show, being a hopeless flirt, just as he is in this film. He must have done something right, however, as he ended up marrying one of said actresses. Indeed, he used to date his co-star here, Susan Tyrell, though the two broke up during production and were likewise constantly arguing with one another throughout the shoot.
Villechaize also used to room with Forbidden Zone co-screenwriter and co-star Matthew Bright, which is how he came to be involved with the project in the first place, though he had crossed paths with The Mystic Knights of the Oingo Boingo before when they appeared in his film Hot Tomorrows together.
Sadly, Villechaize's career cooled after Fantasy Island. He appeared in Airplane II: The Sequel, as Rumpelstiltskin in Shelley Duvall's popular Faerie Tale Theatre, and his final role, in 1988's softcore romp, Two Moon Junction, a popular favorite amongst the Sinemax contingent, thanks in no small part to the copious nudity from Twin Peaks siren Sherilyn Fenn, in a rare blonde-haired role.
His last filmed appearance was as himself in an episode of The Ben Stiller Show. After suffering chronic pain for years, he finally killed himself in despair in 1993. Shortly before that, he did an extensive interview with journalist Sacha Gervasi, who said that he realized afterwards that Villechaize clearly intended it as a sort of farewell to his fans, a kind of extended suicide note. Gervasi would later write and direct a film about his experiences with the actor called My Dinner with Hervé, with Game Of Thrones star Peter Dinklage playing Villechaize.
His Queen and former IRL girlfriend Susan Tyrell also led a colorful life, to say the least. She was born in California to a socialite mother and a talent agent father, who represented the likes of Ed Wynn and Carole Lombard, so she often crossed paths with celebrities in her youth. Like Villechaize, she, too, had a run-in with The Mystic Knights of The Oingo Boingo before this film, who appeared in- what else? - a wacky dream sequence in her film I Never Promised You a Rose Garden. She also co-wrote her big number, "The Witches' Egg."
Tyrell started out as a theatre actress before transitioning to film with a role in the Western Shoot Out in 1971. She would return to the stage many times over the course of her career, however. The following year, she garnered an Oscar nomination for her role in legendary director John Huston's boxing drama Fat City, alongside a young Jeff Bridges.
Other notable films include The Killer Inside Me, Andy Warhol's Bad (a pretty crazy one, and the last film Warhol produced), the animated fantasy favorites Wizards (she was the narrator) and Fire & Ice, by the legendary Ralph Bakshi; Islands in the Stream, Loose Shoes, Night Warning (aka Butcher, Baker, Nightmare Maker), Tales of Ordinary Madness, Liar's Moon, the cult favorite Angel and its sequel Avenging Angel, Flesh + Blood, From a Whisper to a Scream, Tapeheads, Big Top Pee Wee (Reubens reportedly cast her because he loved this film so much), Far From Home, Rockula (that one is something, with an interesting rocker cast, including Thomas Dolby, Bo Diddley and Toni Basil), John Waters' Cry Baby, The Demolitionist, Poison Ivy: The New Seduction and Powder.
Finally, the film also features a small role from legendary cult actor Joe Spinell, as a drunken sailor, Mr. Henderson. Spinell is probably best-known as hitman/bodyguard Willi Cicci in The Godfather films, and for his roles in Scorsese's Taxi Driver and Sylvester Stallone's Rocky, Rocky II, Paradise Alley and Nighthawks. However, cult film fans probably know him best for his collaborations with sexy Caroline Munro, including Starcrash, The Last Horror Film (aka Fanatic) and
the notorious Maniac, which he also co-wrote and co-produced.
As I mentioned, the film also stars Matthew Bright, in his only acting roles, as Squeezit Henderson and his missing twin sister, René, which is part of the reason he offers to help Flash by venturing to the Sixth Dimension, as he suspects, because of a dream he had, that she is there as well.
In addition to continuing to work with Richard Elfman over the years as a writer, Bright also wrote and directed the cult hits Freeway (featuring a young Reese Witherspoon) and its sequel Freeway II: Confessions of a Trickbaby (with a young Natasha Lyonne), Guncrazy, the horror biopic Ted Bundy and the truly bonkers Tiptoes, featuring Gary Oldman as a dwarf (!), which is something to see. Bright disowned the film after it was re-edited without his consent, and hasn't worked in the business since.
Meanwhile, his semi-frequent collaborator, Richard Elfman, went on to direct several other cult favorites, including the Bright-scripted horror flicks Shrunken Heads and Modern Vampires, as well as Streets of Rage, a crime drama; four episodes of the kids' horror series Bone Chillers; two documentaries, 28 Days to Vegas and 30 Days to Vegas; and several music videos for Oingo Boingo, including "Little Girls," "Nothing Bad Ever Happens to Me" and "Private Life."
Elfman also occasionally acts, having appeared in George of the Jungle and the horror flick Scarecrow, as the Sheriff, as well as bits parts in his own films, including this one, as a masseuse. He continues to work in musical theatre on the side, and has been trying to get a sequel to this film produced for years called Forbidden Zone 2: The Forbidden Galaxy, a song for which is often performed at the continued screenings of this film, which has taken on a sort of neo-Rocky Horror Picture Show-style following, with interactive elements from the audience, who dress up as the characters and perform alongside the film. (See more, including an excerpt from the song here.)
I suppose a trigger warning of sorts is necessary to modern audiences, who may not take kindly to some elements of the movie, including depictions of blackface, Jewish and African-American stereotypes, some perceived homophobia and what may seem to some as making light of sexual assault. However, it's worth noting on one count that Elfman is Jewish himself, making that particular accusation unlikely, at the very least. (It's also his grandfather playing the Jewish character in question.)
As for the rest, Elfman has long said that the film was intended to have "something to offend everyone," not unlike something like South Park and his intention was to satirize old movie and cartoon tropes, like blackface, not seriously indulge in them. He has expressed regret for the blackface elements, which were clearly done in a tongue-in-cheek manner, but still nonetheless very unfortunate- it doesn't help that one such scene is front and center in the film- but it's pretty obvious nothing was done in a mean-spirited way and, given its continued success on the cult movie circuit, it's clear most fans of the film don't take it too seriously, either.
The movie is basically meant as a live-action cartoon, done in a decidedly retro style that does indeed reflect unfortunate social mores and not-so-latent racism of the times its paying tribute to, but rather than indulge in them, it pokes fun at them and was obviously intended to satirize them, not take them seriously. Still, I can see where some younger viewers might not get the context, so best to warn them and put it in the proper context before screening it for an unwary viewer.
Be all that as it may, I do still love the film- it's hard to shake an affinity for a movie you grew up loving in your youth, and while I was a bit taken aback by these elements myself, now that certain things from the 80's and 90's and so forth have been reassessed and deemed problematic- i.e. certain John Hughes' films, Revenge of the Nerds, Porky's, American Pie, etc.- I do get why that is, and I actually do agree that a lot of the stuff people are complaining about is indeed iffy. But I think that this film is an exception to the rule.
It's just meant to be a fun, silly romp through Elfman's influences, not anything to be taken too seriously, as certain people are too wont to do these days. Elfman is obviously paying homage to the stuff he likes and if some of it is problematic to modern audiences, they probably need to lighten up. Bashing this film is not a hill you want to die on, though.
Forbidden Zone is just too specific in its tone, and, as anyone familiar with Elfman's influences will attest, it's obvious that it's paying homage to those things, not exploiting them, much less trying to "convert" anyone to a certain type of thinking. I say get over it and have fun with the film, as it was meant to be taken in stride and just provide entertainment for certain types of people, which is to say, people who enjoy left-of-center entertainment that isn't always "politically correct." Not everything has to be, for God's sake.
Perhaps needless to say, this is definitely one I think you check out. While I may lean more towards the old-school black & white version, if you can get a hold of it, even Elfman had originally intended to color tint the film eventually, he just didn't have the means or money to do it, so it didn't happen until colorization became a thing. Given that he signed off on the process, I suppose it's debatable as to which the "definitive version" is, but if the color version is the only way for you to see it, or the only way you can get others to watch it, I say go for it, anyway.
Besides, it's also questionable whether people will get all the extremely dated references, anyway, so perhaps the method of presentation is beside the point. But, so long as they aren't easily offended and are able to accept the film for what it is- a madcap fantasy musical meant to entertain, not make a political statement about anything- then I can't imagine open-minded viewers not getting a real kick out it. So, by all means, schedule your trip to the Forbidden Zone ASAP- it's a ride worth taking, trust me. 🐸🎺🎼😈😜
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