(1980)
1
Donald Guarisco
Midnight movies can get pretty crazy but they rarely ever get as far out on a limb as Forbidden Zone does. Anyone expecting consistence of style or thought from this film will be left dumbstruck. Simply put, director/co-writer Richard Elfman and his band of collaborators just allow their imaginations to run wild, creating a fever-dream that mixes a visual design out of a Max Fleischer cartoon, Three Stooges-style slapstick humor and John Waters-esque depictions of fetishistic sex and violence. The actors are pretty much left to their own devices but everyone brings something interesting to the proceedings: Susan Tyrell devours the scenery with her high-energy turn as the tyrannical queen of the titular area, Herve Villechaize offsets her manic energy by playing his role as her amour-crazed king in a straight-faced style and co-writer Matthew Bright (using the pseudonym Toshiro Boloney) brings a combination of deadpan wit and sleazy glee to his dual role as a troubled brother and sister duo. The element that keeps this crazy-quilt of sensations together is the music, which combines everything from 1930's jazz to angular new wave. Said music is performed with gusto by Oingo Boingo and stylishly composed and arranged by future soundtrack kingpin Danny Elfman, who also performs a delightful tribute to Cab Calloway as the film's incarnation of the Devil. The end result might lack focus but it is genuinely unpredictable and offers some bizarre new sight or idea around every corner. In short, Forbidden Zone represents the midnight movie at its delirious, anarchistic peak. It's not for all tastes but, then again, it wouldn't be true cult fare if it was.
Forbidden Zone on AllMovie
Forbidden Zone (1980)
