Forbidden Zone
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- For the Forbidden Zone appearing in Planet of the Apes and its sequels, see Forbidden Zone (Planet of the Apes).
| Forbidden Zone | |
|---|---|
 Poster image. |
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| Directed by | Richard Elfman |
| Produced by | Marie-Pascale Elfman Richard Elfman Nick James |
| Written by | Story: Richard Elfman Screenplay: Matthew Bright Richard Elfman Nick James Nick L. Martinson |
| Starring | Hervé Villechaize Susan Tyrrell Gisele Lindley Jan Stuart Schwartz Marie-Pascale Elfman Virginia Rose Ugh-Fudge Bwana Phil Gordon Hyman Diamond Toshiro Boloney Danny Elfman Viva Joe Spinell The Kipper Kids |
| Music by | Danny Elfman |
| Cinematography | Gregory Sandor |
| Editing by | Nicholas James Martin Nicholson |
| Distributed by | Samuel Goldwyn Company (1982) |
| Release date(s) | March 21, 1980 |
| Running time | 73 min. |
| Country | USA |
| Language | English |
| IMDb profile | |
Forbidden Zone is a 1980 black-and-white cult film co-written and directed by Richard Elfman, the older brother of Danny Elfman, who composed the film's score, performed by the Mystic Knights of the Oingo Boingo. The film was made as an attempt to capture the essence of the stage group's live shows on film.[1] The film received little notice when it was originally released, and attacked by some who found it offensive.[2]
However, the film has since gained a cult following. 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. The film was released on DVD by Fantoma in 2004 for Region 1 viewers,[3] and in 2006 for Region 2 by Fremantle Home Entertainment.[4]
Contents |
[edit] Plot
The film begins on "Friday, April 17" at 4 P.M. in Venice, California. Huckleberry P. Jones, local pimp, narcotics peddler, and slumlord, enters a vacant house that he owns. While stashing heroin in the basement, he stumbles upon a mysterious door, and enters it, falling into the Sixth Dimension, before quickly running out. He immediately sells the house to the Hercules family. Ma Hercules is old enough to be a grandmother, Pa Hercules sports a Swedish accent, Susan B. 'Frenchy' Hercules appears to be French, her twelve-year-old brother Flash is played by an actor well into his sixties, and her grandfather, appears sprite and spry with nary a gray hair.
On their way to school, Frenchy and Flash have a conversation with Squeezit Henderson, who tells them that after being violently beaten by his mother, he had a vision of his "sister," René, who had fallen into the Sixth Dimension. At the school, we see frequent gunfights in the classroom—sometimes between the students and the obviously transsexual teacher. Bored and disgusted with school, Frenchy returns home to confide in her mother, finding her face-down on the floor after being smacked by Pa earlier. Frenchy decides to ignore the warnings she's received to avoid the door in the basement, and falls through large intestines and out a giant anus into the Sixth Dimension, ruled by midget King Fausto and his queen, Doris.
When the king falls for Frenchy, Queen Doris orders their frog servant to lock her up. In order to make sure that Frenchy is not harmed, King Fausto tells the frog to take Frenchy to Cell 63, where the King keeps his favorite concubines. There, Frenchy meets René, who tells Frenchy how lucky she is that the king has fallen for her. At home, the family panics when they discover Frenchy is missing. Flash and Gramps go into the Sixth Dimension in order to save Frenchy. Once there, they speak to an old Jewish man who tells them a way to help Frenchy escape.
Captured by the frog-servant, Flash and Gramps are tortured and lowered into a large septic tank by the Queen, who plots her revenge against Frenchy. The Princess oversees Frenchy's torture. After escaping, Flash and Gramps come across a woman who tells them that she was once happily married to the king, until Doris stole the throne by seducing her, "even though she's not my type." The ex-queen has been sitting in her cell for 1,000 years, and has been writing a screenplay in order to keep her sanity.
During the cigarette break at his job at a tar factory, Pa is blasted through the Hercules family basement and into the Sixth Dimension, where he is imprisoned. When Flash and Gramps come across him, Pa tells them to leave him alone. "In the real world up there, I was just another rat," he laments. "And down here, I also live like a rat. So what's the difference?" Finally, Squeezit is persuaded to go into the Sixth Dimension to rescue Frenchy and René. There, he is captured by Satan, who tells Squeezit that if he brings him the Princess, Squeezit will be let go. Squeezit does so, and is decapitated by one of Satan's minions (although his separated head and body remain alive during the final act of the film).
King Fausto frees Frenchy and René. En route to safety, René is stricken with pseudo-menstrual cramps, and Frenchy is captured again. While preparing to kill her, Doris is confronted by the ex-queen, and the two engage in a cat-fight, with Doris coming out as the victor. Ready to kill Frenchy, King Fausto stops her, explaining to her that if Frenchy dies, the Mystic Knights of the Oingo Boingo will kill the Princess. Ma Hercules enters. Seeing a seemingly dead Flash, she shoots Queen Doris. King Fausto replaces Doris with Frenchy, with everyone still alive looking toward a great future as they plan to take over everyone and everything in the Galaxy.
[edit] History
The Mystic Knights of the Oingo Boingo were formed in late 1972 by Richard Elfman, as a musical theatre troupe in the tradition of Spike Jones and Frank Zappa's Mothers of Invention, performing an eclectic repertoire ranging from Cab Calloway covers to instrumentals in the style of Balinese Gamelan and Russian ballet music. As Richard's interest shifted to filmmaking, he passed leadership of the band to younger brother Danny Elfman, who had begun to lose interest in musical theatre, and had gained interest in other musical styles such as ska, and had become "sick of lugging around so much stuff with the theatre troupe. Towards the end," Elfman remembers, "it was a big production...there was, like a semi 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."[1]
Production on Forbidden Zone began during a transitional period when the group was moving from its cabaret style towards a more pop/rock format, and, when the film was completed, the band had shortened its name to Oingo Boingo. Actor and former Mystic Knight Gene Cunningham helped fund the film. When Cunningham and Elfman ran out of money while making the film, Richard and Marie-Pascale Elfman helped finance the movie by selling houses, before Carl Borack put money into the production in order for Elfman to complete the film.[1]
The film was originally conceived as The Hercules Family, a 16mm musical that consisted of 12 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.[2] 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 tunes like St. James Infirmary Blues in the same costumes.[1]
[edit] Production
Forbidden Zone featured Matthew Bright's first work on film, and his only work as an actor. A founding member of the Mystic Knights, Bright later became a screenwriter and director in his own right. Bright's credits include Freeway, Ted Bundy, 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. 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."[1]
Richard Elfman had never gone to film school when production on the film started, and "I didn't know what I was getting into." The production, from its original 16mm roots to its finish, took three years to make. Cast and crewmembers would sleep on the film's stage, wearing spare gorilla suits to stay warm.[1] The film was a completely nepotistic affair. 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. Susan Tyrrell was dating Hervé Villechaize, who was also a former roommate of co-writer and co-star Matthew Bright. 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.[2]
Others who worked on the film include The Kipper Kids (Brian Routh and Martin von Haselberg), former Warhol superstar Viva and then-unknown animator John Muto. Because of the film's low budget, Muto drew all of the film's animation sequences himself. For sequences in which live-action and animation were combined, the actors were photographed in profile, and the photos were cut out and pasted into the animation in a style recalling Terry Gilliam's work on Monty Python's Flying Circus.[1]
Forbidden Zone was the first film scored by Danny Elfman, who would eventually score, among other films, Batman, The Nightmare Before Christmas, and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. The song Witch's Egg was written by Georg Michalski and Susan Tyrrell.[2] Among the film's artistic influences included 1940s big band and jazz music (characters lip synch to Cab Calloway, Josephine Baker and others) and Max Fleischer cartoons of the 1930s (such as Betty Boop).
[edit] Response
The film was given limited distribution during its initial theatrical release, and not well-received by critics. Some of the film's sequences and characters led to director Richard Elfman being accused of racism and anti-Semitism (even though Elfman himself is Jewish).[2] However, the film has since been rediscovered, and has gained new life as a cult film.
