The Forbidden Zone (1980)

[Guybrush]

Fellow movie enthusiasts!

The next movie up in the SCD Films Club is Forbidden Zone. When suggested, it was described thusly:

In the hopes of getting some more eyes and ears on this beautiful, extravagant piece of art, I'd like to suggest Forbidden Zone.

Yes, yes, you're probably tired of my raving about it. But really, watching it is an experience and let's face it. It's probably healthy too.



The movie was made by Richard Elfman, brother of Danny Elfman, who just went and made a movie without knowing much about anything about how to get that done. It apparently cost him his house, but what is a house compared to the genius that is Forbidden Zone? The ultimate cult movie, it is funny, controversial, crazy and made with passion and vision. Everyone who likes weird things should watch it at least once.

Edit:

It should come with a disclaimer warning that it contains some extremely outdated and offensive jokes.

I highly recommend this trip to the 6th dimension and hope you'll join me in sharing some thoughts on it here 🙂

[jadis]

We'll watch it, I think it's the type of weird my gf tends to enjoy

[Guybrush]

We'll watch it, I think it's the type of weird my gf tends to enjoy

Glad to hear it! She must have impeccable taste 😁 I'm sure you'll enjoy it and it should be seen in any case!

If you like to watch out for director cameos, watch out for a certain annoying male masseuse singing The Yiddishe Charleston.

Susan Tyrrell of course plays in this. I'm reading John Waters book Mr. Know It All and he describes her as a talented drunk that was hard to work with 😄

[jadis]

Not sure she does, she watches a huge amount of anime. But I can get her to watch some cool things with me like John Waters. As long as it's not slow paced and European 

I've seen The Forbidden Zone once but long, long ago. Liked it a lot   

[Guybrush]

I love it, but people must be getting tired of me yapping.

I watched it back in, like, 2007 or so and rewatched it in 2014, I believe. I've been watching clips now and then on YouTube, but rewatched it again properly with my kid a couple of months ago? God damnit, it's so brilliantly funny. Will she be slightly traumatized as an adult? Probably. Will it have been worth it? Of course!

Since then, we've rewatched it several times and I am also enjoying some of the related rabbit holes. I fell in love with Squeezit (played by later director Matthew Bright) and watched some of his movies (Freeway & the ridiculous Tiptoes) and am also really enjoying the soundtrack.

The kids enjoy it too! How great is that? 30s jazz with Cab Calloway and Oingo Boingo. We're singing Pico & Sepulveda and the Yiddishe Charleston.

I'm dipping my toes more into Oingo Boingo. This song slaps a bit and Danny looks good in singlet and suspenders 🙂

[DJChameleon]

I didn't realize this dedicated thread existed for the movie so I'll just re-post what I said in the other thread about it.

I gave Forbidden Zone a shot. Went in kind of blind not knowing what to expect. It felt like a fever dream, but I guess that was the intention. It also felt like I was watching something from the late-night hours of Adult Swim. I can tell Adult Swim creators definitely took inspiration from this movie. I swore I was watching like Tim and Eric Awesome show at one point. My wife got sucked into it 10 minutes in and she's game to watch it again because of how absurd it is. I'm surprised honestly because she doesn't like musicals and there were a number of scenes where they broke out into song.