Blu-ray Review: FORBIDDEN ZONE (Arrow Video)
I feel very fortunate that in the next few days I get to review two films that have very special meaning for me. The first is Dan O'Bannon's The Return of the Living Dead, which I'll be reviewing this weekend, and the second is Richard Elfman's Forbidden Zone. It isn't often enough that I get to write about films that truly changed me, either as a cinephile or as a human, and Forbidden Zone did a little bit of both.
The film first came into my life through my obsession with The Psychotronic Video Guide, that would have been around 1999 or so. I had just moved out of my parent's house and was living in Santa Cruz, California, crashing on the couch of some high school friends who were getting sick of my freeloading. Eventually, I was kicked out of their place (with good reason, I contributed nothing) and found myself living in a ramshackle studio apartment down by the beach. I wasn't much of a social butterfly, even though I had plenty of friends, so most of my down time was spent in front of my 15" TV watching movies. There was a Blockbuster within a few blocks of my place, but it didn't take too long before I wore out their selection, and I had to go hunting for stranger game...
That's when I found East Cliff Video. East Cliff Video was about a 4 or 5 mile walk from my apartment over many hills, but man, was it ever worth it. It was a genuine, old school Mom & Pop video store. This place was heaven for a introverted movie geek like me. They had a cult movie section in the store that was like Candyland, it is where I first picked up things like Jodorowsky's El Topo, Chris Marker's La jetee, and, of course, Richard Elfman's Forbidden Zone. I practically lived there for the 18 months that I called Santa Cruz home, and I was probably just as sad to say goodbye to that store as I was to any friends when I left.
On the surface, there's not much about the film that relates directly to my life, although, I would wager that that is the case for any sane person out there. However, the stylistic choices made by Richard Elfman and the music and performance pieces by brother, Danny, completely changed my idea of what cinema could be. This is a rare occurrence, though not unique, I had the same experience when I first saw Santa Sangre in high school, and I've had it several times since, but each time it happens, it breathes new life into my love of films. Sure, Forbidden Zone seems to be little more than a community theatre geek's fever dream, but there is so much going on and such wonderful insanity to the whole thing that it has gone down in cult film history as one of the craziest films ever made, and with good reason.
This is yet another time when I will not bother writing a synopsis of the plot, because it doesn't really matter. The film is all about style, and it has that to spare. The Elfmans' musical theatre group, The Mystic Knights of the Oingo Boingo wrote and performed most of the film's musical numbers and created the sets, costumes, and dialogue. There are a few ringers in the cast, though, including a pair of fantastic over-the-top performances from Susan Tyrell (Fat City, Cry-Baby) and her ex-lover Herve Villechaise (Fantasy Island). Combine those pros with the musical theatre geeks from the Mystic Knights, and you've got something pretty unforgettable.
Since this Blu-ray release has hit store shelves, the film has gained new attention among movie geeks, many of whom are either seeing it for the first time, or at least for the first time in a long time. Reactions to the film are typically pretty sharply divided, it's a love/hate kind of film. It is stylized in production design and performance in such a way that will either appeal to a person, or drive them completely up a wall, and I can see definite reasoning behind either reaction. I, obviously, fall firmly on the side of fandom. This film hit me at a formative age, and has helped to shape my idea of what films can be, and has also helped me to appreciate camp in a way that is only rivaled by the early films of the great John Waters. You may hate it, you may love it, but you'll react to it, I'm fairly certain of that.
The film is shot much like a vaudeville theater troupe performance. Scenes of dialogue give way to musical numbers every few minutes, except that Elfman's script is significantly bawdier than any vaudeville I'm aware of. The context of the film is contemporary to 1982, though it takes older Hollywood tropes and uses them to create a sort of living, breathing Max Fleischer cartoon, complete with old school racism, which has been the source of much of the criticism pointed at the film over the years. I certainly believe that Elfman's motives were pure, but it was certainly an exercise in bad taste, and one that could certainly be grating if you weren't in the correct state of mind.
I love this fucking movie. Its ambition is admirable, and in execution it is one of the most clear personal visions I've ever seen put on film. Really. I definitely recommend giving it a chance, but this may not be a blind buy, because if you see it and hate it, you'll REALLY hate it.
The Disc:
Arrow Video's Blu-ray disc of Forbidden Zone is quite impressive. The A/V quality of the image is quite extraordinary, with black & white photography that really pops, and some incredible looking animated sequences that really benefit from the resolution boost. This disc also includes the colorized version of the film, prepared by Legend Films, which brings a strange feel to the film that almost feels perfect. The colors are never quite realistic, though if they were it would feel really wrong. The different scenes feel more different now, with a color palette to match the experience. In fact, the only problem I had with the colorization was that the actors were made up like silent film actors, and the harsh contrast in the make up worked really well in b/w, but looks really goofy at times in the colorized version. The audio on the disc is excellent as well. Danny Elfman's film composing for film is in this film, and though much of the soundtrack is ragtime and jazz, you can definitely hear the roots of what would become Oingo Boingo and the Danny Elfman that we know today.
Most of the bonus features on this disc are ported over from Fantoma's fantastic Forbidden Zone DVD from 2004. There is a half hour documentary on the making of the film with Richard and Danny Elfman, as well as Susan Tyrell, writer Matthew Bright, and "Frenchy" Elfman that is very satisfying. One thing that really impressed me about the making of was the amount of enthusiasm that everyone involved still had for the project, even 22 years later. There is a commentary with Richard and Matthew Bright, which is less illuminating and very quickly devolves into Bright talking about which actresses he wanted to "fuck". Beyond that we get deleted scenes and outtakes, complete scenes from an alternate project called The Hercules Family, a music video for Oingo Boingo's early tune Private Life, a theatrical trailer, and a Japanese promo reel in which Richard Elfman pimps his film to the land of the rising sun in a very interesting way. Also included but not available to this reviewer is a booklet, poster, and alternative poster art, if I get those, I will update this section.
For fans of Forbidden Zone, this is a must own, and it's region free! For everyone else, you might want to try before you buy...
The film first came into my life through my obsession with The Psychotronic Video Guide, that would have been around 1999 or so. I had just moved out of my parent's house and was living in Santa Cruz, California, crashing on the couch of some high school friends who were getting sick of my freeloading. Eventually, I was kicked out of their place (with good reason, I contributed nothing) and found myself living in a ramshackle studio apartment down by the beach. I wasn't much of a social butterfly, even though I had plenty of friends, so most of my down time was spent in front of my 15" TV watching movies. There was a Blockbuster within a few blocks of my place, but it didn't take too long before I wore out their selection, and I had to go hunting for stranger game...
That's when I found East Cliff Video. East Cliff Video was about a 4 or 5 mile walk from my apartment over many hills, but man, was it ever worth it. It was a genuine, old school Mom & Pop video store. This place was heaven for a introverted movie geek like me. They had a cult movie section in the store that was like Candyland, it is where I first picked up things like Jodorowsky's El Topo, Chris Marker's La jetee, and, of course, Richard Elfman's Forbidden Zone. I practically lived there for the 18 months that I called Santa Cruz home, and I was probably just as sad to say goodbye to that store as I was to any friends when I left.
On the surface, there's not much about the film that relates directly to my life, although, I would wager that that is the case for any sane person out there. However, the stylistic choices made by Richard Elfman and the music and performance pieces by brother, Danny, completely changed my idea of what cinema could be. This is a rare occurrence, though not unique, I had the same experience when I first saw Santa Sangre in high school, and I've had it several times since, but each time it happens, it breathes new life into my love of films. Sure, Forbidden Zone seems to be little more than a community theatre geek's fever dream, but there is so much going on and such wonderful insanity to the whole thing that it has gone down in cult film history as one of the craziest films ever made, and with good reason.
This is yet another time when I will not bother writing a synopsis of the plot, because it doesn't really matter. The film is all about style, and it has that to spare. The Elfmans' musical theatre group, The Mystic Knights of the Oingo Boingo wrote and performed most of the film's musical numbers and created the sets, costumes, and dialogue. There are a few ringers in the cast, though, including a pair of fantastic over-the-top performances from Susan Tyrell (Fat City, Cry-Baby) and her ex-lover Herve Villechaise (Fantasy Island). Combine those pros with the musical theatre geeks from the Mystic Knights, and you've got something pretty unforgettable.
Since this Blu-ray release has hit store shelves, the film has gained new attention among movie geeks, many of whom are either seeing it for the first time, or at least for the first time in a long time. Reactions to the film are typically pretty sharply divided, it's a love/hate kind of film. It is stylized in production design and performance in such a way that will either appeal to a person, or drive them completely up a wall, and I can see definite reasoning behind either reaction. I, obviously, fall firmly on the side of fandom. This film hit me at a formative age, and has helped to shape my idea of what films can be, and has also helped me to appreciate camp in a way that is only rivaled by the early films of the great John Waters. You may hate it, you may love it, but you'll react to it, I'm fairly certain of that.
The film is shot much like a vaudeville theater troupe performance. Scenes of dialogue give way to musical numbers every few minutes, except that Elfman's script is significantly bawdier than any vaudeville I'm aware of. The context of the film is contemporary to 1982, though it takes older Hollywood tropes and uses them to create a sort of living, breathing Max Fleischer cartoon, complete with old school racism, which has been the source of much of the criticism pointed at the film over the years. I certainly believe that Elfman's motives were pure, but it was certainly an exercise in bad taste, and one that could certainly be grating if you weren't in the correct state of mind.
I love this fucking movie. Its ambition is admirable, and in execution it is one of the most clear personal visions I've ever seen put on film. Really. I definitely recommend giving it a chance, but this may not be a blind buy, because if you see it and hate it, you'll REALLY hate it.
The Disc:
Arrow Video's Blu-ray disc of Forbidden Zone is quite impressive. The A/V quality of the image is quite extraordinary, with black & white photography that really pops, and some incredible looking animated sequences that really benefit from the resolution boost. This disc also includes the colorized version of the film, prepared by Legend Films, which brings a strange feel to the film that almost feels perfect. The colors are never quite realistic, though if they were it would feel really wrong. The different scenes feel more different now, with a color palette to match the experience. In fact, the only problem I had with the colorization was that the actors were made up like silent film actors, and the harsh contrast in the make up worked really well in b/w, but looks really goofy at times in the colorized version. The audio on the disc is excellent as well. Danny Elfman's film composing for film is in this film, and though much of the soundtrack is ragtime and jazz, you can definitely hear the roots of what would become Oingo Boingo and the Danny Elfman that we know today.
Most of the bonus features on this disc are ported over from Fantoma's fantastic Forbidden Zone DVD from 2004. There is a half hour documentary on the making of the film with Richard and Danny Elfman, as well as Susan Tyrell, writer Matthew Bright, and "Frenchy" Elfman that is very satisfying. One thing that really impressed me about the making of was the amount of enthusiasm that everyone involved still had for the project, even 22 years later. There is a commentary with Richard and Matthew Bright, which is less illuminating and very quickly devolves into Bright talking about which actresses he wanted to "fuck". Beyond that we get deleted scenes and outtakes, complete scenes from an alternate project called The Hercules Family, a music video for Oingo Boingo's early tune Private Life, a theatrical trailer, and a Japanese promo reel in which Richard Elfman pimps his film to the land of the rising sun in a very interesting way. Also included but not available to this reviewer is a booklet, poster, and alternative poster art, if I get those, I will update this section.
For fans of Forbidden Zone, this is a must own, and it's region free! For everyone else, you might want to try before you buy...
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