Post by ronnierocketago on Feb 13, 2009 4:21:18 GMT
FORBIDDEN ZONE (1980) - ***1/2
"What's a nice Jewish boy like you doing in the sixth dimension?"
Oh man, how do I describe this with justice?
A pretentiously serious student-made black & white 16 mm mixed with SOUTH PARK? John Waters tripping on drugs? Troma going to art school? If David Lynch ever shot a comedy? You know if FORBIDDEN ZONE was made today, I could easily label it as a musical cartoon with overt Lynchian influences, what with the nightmarish claustrophobic sets and hallucinatory visuals with no real logical continuity. But the first coastal midnight screenings of ERASERHEAD only started in 1977, when production on ZONE began. Director/co-writer Richard Elfman wanted a vehicle for his musical theatre troupe act The Mystic Knights of the Oingo Boingo (later simply renamed Oingo Boingo), who once actually won the old GONG SHOW:
Yeah.
I remember first reading about ZONE like back in high school, about a decade ago, and since that rare VHS tape never came near East Tennessee, me and my pals actually debated whatever this is a real release, or a very elaborate Internet hoax like that COSMOS PATROL, the fradulent STAR TREK knock-off from the Soviet Union. ZONE was like that mythical picture, the sort in the old days before Netflix or the Internet, when you would hear about some off-beat movie that at times could only be found at a mom & pop video store in ominous packaging void of pictures and Hollywood logos that makes one fear he may have inadvertedly rented a snuff film. I miss those days.
Anyway, the always-fun Badmovies.org website reviewed it in the flesh, and I wanted to see it so badly, especially after they posted this clip. (WARNING: This awesomely unexplainable sequence contains tits. Don't click this at work man! With the economy these days, I would hate to cost you your decent job because of my fault, so you've been warned buddy. Don't blame me if you badly need to jerk off right now, ok?)
A woman enters this underworld by being crapped out, twins babbling nonsense in a boxing ring, a dancing frog, a fat guy with Mickey Mouse Club hat with cheesy superimposition, and a topless Princess with a whip....the greatest movie ever made?!? But because of my (stupid) honor code over illegal downloading, I had to wait a decade to finally check out ZONE. Even after it was finally released on DVD a few years ago, I kept forgetting to actually rent it. Sorry, shit happens. Plus I had this allergy to supposed "cult movies" because...well....
I mean what exactly is a cult movie anyway? Sure we know what that term means, but what truely constitutes one anyway? The only definition I've ever been satisfied with is the notion that a movie is so polarizingly different, there is no middle ground, no centre, no moderates, you're with us or against us, etc. That's why STAR WARS isn't a cult film at all, but BUCKAROO BANZAI is. Which begs the question for those cult pictures who've become mainstream "classics" now like MONTY PYTHON & THE HOLY GRAIL, if they're still "cult."
FORBIDDEN ZONE is definately cult cinema material, because fans and haters all seem to have the same two exact questions come to mind after seeing ZONE:
"What the hell did I just see?!?"
and
"Someone actually made this!?!"
God knows how many would-be "weird" cult classics like JESUS CHRIST VAMPIRE HUNTER fizzle because they try to be weird, and not just be goddamn weird. There is a pristine difference. I especially despite such projects when they try to be hip weird like NAPOLEON DYNAMITE. They all seem to be mere reactionaries or mere one-note riffings without a truely myriad original voice, it's own way or the highway, even if one doesn't truely know what the point of it all is. Why they fail but not ZONE is perhaps helped by Elfman's claim that he shot ZONE for no particular audience at all....and I absolutely believe him. I mean nobody understands ERASERHEAD, and I doubt Lynch had a certain viewer- niche to gun for, but you'll never forget the viewing experience, even if it pissed you off.
I won't bother detailing the plot (what's the point?), but FORBIDDEN ZONE is a live-action/animated/paper cut-out myriad of 1930s MERRY MELODIES cartoons, silent comedies, 1940s teen melodrama fare, THE THREE STOOGES, and German Expressionism with it's own crude touch of topless women, blaxploitation-era black pimps, and....well, sheer randomness, like having Hervé Villechaize (midget from FANTASY ISLAND) as the King, always commanding his imaginary zombie army. The best part of ZONE though is the great memorable music. I mean shoestring budget independent fare are almost never known for their soundtracks, but ZONE's just kicks total ass! Hell that theme song I posted above was later retooled to become the signature tune for the short-lived DILBERT animated series.
Hell it's probably the music why ZONE is mostly noted for these days. While Richard got too busy with ZONE, he passed the Oingo Boingo leadership to his younger brother Danny. Yes folks, that Danny Elfman, who would later earn several Oscar composing nominations, and of course scored most of Tim Burton's stuff like BATMAN. Anyway, ZONE was Danny's first film soundtrack, and he hits a homerun with Richard's....whatever.
The best scene in ZONE is Danny's own cameo as the Devil (based off an Oingo Boingo routine apparently), and unfortunately YouTube doesn't have a clip. But trust me, go watch ZONE just for his show-stealing performance, it's worth it.
What is also nearly as Youtubian is Susan Tyrell's song, which she co-wrote. Such an effortlessly-seeming slick sequence, and plus you get a cool shot of a midget smoking. You don't see that weekly Not that I condone smoking, but remember when Hollywood people weren't so damn squeamish but showing that? Pussies.
Much like BUCKAROO BANZAI, I have no friggin clue if you'll appreciate FORBIDDEN ZONE or be left out in the cold by it's dartboard of a narrative, which even I was starting to tire of by the last few moments. Thankfully its only 73 minutes long, so ZONE is like SHOWDOWN IN LITTLE TOKYO in that both knew their time was up, and got the hell out of there. Imagine if people were always like this at parties? We would be living in a better world.
At least one better than the Sixth Dimension, where apparently blackface is popular. When I go to the movies, I want to temporarily escape East Tennessee, not stay.
"What's a nice Jewish boy like you doing in the sixth dimension?"
Oh man, how do I describe this with justice?
A pretentiously serious student-made black & white 16 mm mixed with SOUTH PARK? John Waters tripping on drugs? Troma going to art school? If David Lynch ever shot a comedy? You know if FORBIDDEN ZONE was made today, I could easily label it as a musical cartoon with overt Lynchian influences, what with the nightmarish claustrophobic sets and hallucinatory visuals with no real logical continuity. But the first coastal midnight screenings of ERASERHEAD only started in 1977, when production on ZONE began. Director/co-writer Richard Elfman wanted a vehicle for his musical theatre troupe act The Mystic Knights of the Oingo Boingo (later simply renamed Oingo Boingo), who once actually won the old GONG SHOW:
Yeah.
I remember first reading about ZONE like back in high school, about a decade ago, and since that rare VHS tape never came near East Tennessee, me and my pals actually debated whatever this is a real release, or a very elaborate Internet hoax like that COSMOS PATROL, the fradulent STAR TREK knock-off from the Soviet Union. ZONE was like that mythical picture, the sort in the old days before Netflix or the Internet, when you would hear about some off-beat movie that at times could only be found at a mom & pop video store in ominous packaging void of pictures and Hollywood logos that makes one fear he may have inadvertedly rented a snuff film. I miss those days.
Anyway, the always-fun Badmovies.org website reviewed it in the flesh, and I wanted to see it so badly, especially after they posted this clip. (WARNING: This awesomely unexplainable sequence contains tits. Don't click this at work man! With the economy these days, I would hate to cost you your decent job because of my fault, so you've been warned buddy. Don't blame me if you badly need to jerk off right now, ok?)
A woman enters this underworld by being crapped out, twins babbling nonsense in a boxing ring, a dancing frog, a fat guy with Mickey Mouse Club hat with cheesy superimposition, and a topless Princess with a whip....the greatest movie ever made?!? But because of my (stupid) honor code over illegal downloading, I had to wait a decade to finally check out ZONE. Even after it was finally released on DVD a few years ago, I kept forgetting to actually rent it. Sorry, shit happens. Plus I had this allergy to supposed "cult movies" because...well....
I mean what exactly is a cult movie anyway? Sure we know what that term means, but what truely constitutes one anyway? The only definition I've ever been satisfied with is the notion that a movie is so polarizingly different, there is no middle ground, no centre, no moderates, you're with us or against us, etc. That's why STAR WARS isn't a cult film at all, but BUCKAROO BANZAI is. Which begs the question for those cult pictures who've become mainstream "classics" now like MONTY PYTHON & THE HOLY GRAIL, if they're still "cult."
FORBIDDEN ZONE is definately cult cinema material, because fans and haters all seem to have the same two exact questions come to mind after seeing ZONE:
"What the hell did I just see?!?"
and
"Someone actually made this!?!"
God knows how many would-be "weird" cult classics like JESUS CHRIST VAMPIRE HUNTER fizzle because they try to be weird, and not just be goddamn weird. There is a pristine difference. I especially despite such projects when they try to be hip weird like NAPOLEON DYNAMITE. They all seem to be mere reactionaries or mere one-note riffings without a truely myriad original voice, it's own way or the highway, even if one doesn't truely know what the point of it all is. Why they fail but not ZONE is perhaps helped by Elfman's claim that he shot ZONE for no particular audience at all....and I absolutely believe him. I mean nobody understands ERASERHEAD, and I doubt Lynch had a certain viewer- niche to gun for, but you'll never forget the viewing experience, even if it pissed you off.
I won't bother detailing the plot (what's the point?), but FORBIDDEN ZONE is a live-action/animated/paper cut-out myriad of 1930s MERRY MELODIES cartoons, silent comedies, 1940s teen melodrama fare, THE THREE STOOGES, and German Expressionism with it's own crude touch of topless women, blaxploitation-era black pimps, and....well, sheer randomness, like having Hervé Villechaize (midget from FANTASY ISLAND) as the King, always commanding his imaginary zombie army. The best part of ZONE though is the great memorable music. I mean shoestring budget independent fare are almost never known for their soundtracks, but ZONE's just kicks total ass! Hell that theme song I posted above was later retooled to become the signature tune for the short-lived DILBERT animated series.
Hell it's probably the music why ZONE is mostly noted for these days. While Richard got too busy with ZONE, he passed the Oingo Boingo leadership to his younger brother Danny. Yes folks, that Danny Elfman, who would later earn several Oscar composing nominations, and of course scored most of Tim Burton's stuff like BATMAN. Anyway, ZONE was Danny's first film soundtrack, and he hits a homerun with Richard's....whatever.
The best scene in ZONE is Danny's own cameo as the Devil (based off an Oingo Boingo routine apparently), and unfortunately YouTube doesn't have a clip. But trust me, go watch ZONE just for his show-stealing performance, it's worth it.
What is also nearly as Youtubian is Susan Tyrell's song, which she co-wrote. Such an effortlessly-seeming slick sequence, and plus you get a cool shot of a midget smoking. You don't see that weekly Not that I condone smoking, but remember when Hollywood people weren't so damn squeamish but showing that? Pussies.
Much like BUCKAROO BANZAI, I have no friggin clue if you'll appreciate FORBIDDEN ZONE or be left out in the cold by it's dartboard of a narrative, which even I was starting to tire of by the last few moments. Thankfully its only 73 minutes long, so ZONE is like SHOWDOWN IN LITTLE TOKYO in that both knew their time was up, and got the hell out of there. Imagine if people were always like this at parties? We would be living in a better world.
At least one better than the Sixth Dimension, where apparently blackface is popular. When I go to the movies, I want to temporarily escape East Tennessee, not stay.