Product Description: A mysterious door leads to the Sixth Dimension--get ready for a wild ride--in the greatest cult classic of all time. Beautiful young "Frenchy" slides through cosmic intestines into a subterranean world ruled by horny midget King Fausto and his jealous Queen Doris. "Chicken-boy" comes to the rescue, only to have his head cut off by the soul-singing Devil himself--played by Danny Elfman and the original Mystic Knights of the Oingo Boingo. Frog butlers, topless princesses, and rioting school kids sing and dance in unforgettable musical numbers by Danny Elfman, Cab Calloway, Josephine Baker and others. An experience guaranteed you will never forget!
Great cult movie now in COLOR!!! A great movie done in the words of Richard Elfman " the way it was always meant to be, In Glorious Color" So if you are a fan of the movie it's like watching it anew.
Forbidden Zone Movie Review from The Massie Twins Wavering on the very border of artistic and vulgar, Richard Elfman's cult classic Forbidden Zone strives to be in the same realm as The Rocky Horror Picture Show. If there is such a genre as "atypic psychosexual horror musical," both films would fall into that category. Forbidden Zone is a collection of shocking oddities, catchy tunes, and eccentric characters all dumped into patchwork sets and spontaneous musical song and dance sequences. Needless to say, you have to know what you're getting into before giving this film a shot.
Huckleberry Jones, a local pimp, narcotics dealer and slum lord stumbles upon a door in his basement that leads to the sixth dimension - the Forbidden Zone - where King Fausto (Hervé Villechaize) and his jealous queen Doris (Susan Tyrrell) rule over an assortment of lunatic minions.
The Hercules family buys the uncanny house and soon curious daughter Frenchy (Marie Pascale-Elfman) wanders into the Forbidden Zone, only to become a prisoner and fancy for the disloyal king. The queen learns of his infatuation with the new concubine and arranges her death - so it's up to Frenchy's family to rescue her. Her brother Flash is a reasoning yet easily sidetracked man-child, Gramps is a speechless, overweight clog that has to be tied down to the dinner table, and Pa is a tar pit worker who no longer values life. Aside from Frenchy's doltish family, abused chicken boy Squeezit also decides to come to her aid.
Forbidden Zone is a movie that must be watched with an open mind, or a hankering for the most bizarre characters and events fused with song and dance ever to jolt the big screen. A frog-headed servant (literally), excessive use of bright colored makeup, drugs, machineguns, blood, transvestites, blackface, talking chickens, constant nudity, a human chandelier, and random aberrant sexual activities comprise this outrageous film. Prisoners in Cell 63 are forced to wear Mickey Mouse hats, composer Danny Elfman makes an appearance as Satan, heads are lopped off, ears are sliced off in Reservoir Dogs fashion, and the Princess is always half-naked. "Weird" can't possibly cover all of the peculiarities that frequent the sixth dimension.
Spontaneous dance routines, unruly sound effects, lip-synching, stop motion animation with live action characters, superimposition, fast paced music, traditional animation and painted backgrounds are standard methods of storytelling in Forbidden Zone. Oftentimes the film is so abnormal that it's hilarious, but most of the time it's just plain crass. If you can make it through the opening scene, in which Gramps unexpectedly vomits into the lap of Flash, it's safe to say you'll be prepared for the appalling singularities that follow.
- Mike Massie
A different take on "Forbidden Zone," with pop-up commentary and DTS It's a good day when "Forbidden Zone" gets a DVD release! Better yet, this is a valuable addition to the Fantoma disc, and not really a substitution.
I don't normally purchase or even watch colorized versions of black and white films, but Richard Elfman seemed to make a compelling case that he intended "Forbidden Zone" to be released in color. I certainly do not begrudge the man for making a living, and he honors our pocketbooks by making the new release different enough to warrant a look.
In the color version, one notices details that aren't as readily apparent as in the original black and white version. The sets seem to be made of cardboard and butcher block paper - that is clear in the original version, but is blazingly obvious in the colorized version.
Colorization aside, how is this version different? This DVD is lacking the commentary of the original release, the documentary and the isolated score (this is bad.) On the plus side, the new DVD has a DTS 5.1 track, and a promo for a Japanese audience. However, the deal-maker is the pop-up trivia - that is truly interesting although somewhat redundant of the previous DVD director's commentary.
The colorization is quite good (who knew French's bathrobe was yellow), and adds to the surreal quality of the picture instead of being a distraction.
I don't normally like double DVD releases, but in this case I will make a strong exception. Recommended!
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