Forbidden Zone
Forbidden Zone is a 1980 American absurdist musical fantasy comedy film written and directed by Richard Elfman, featuring surreal animation, vaudeville-style performances, and original songs performed by the New Wave band Oingo Boingo, fronted by Elfman's brother Danny Elfman.[1][2] The plot centers on teenager Frenchy Hercules, who discovers a hidden door in her family's basement leading to the Sixth Dimension, a bizarre underworld ruled by a diminutive king (played by Herve Villechaize) and his tyrannical queen (Susan Tyrrell), populated by grotesque creatures and cabaret acts.[1][3] Produced on a low budget using a mix of live-action, hand-drawn animation, and stage-like sets, the film premiered at the Los Angeles Filmex festival and gained a dedicated cult following through midnight screenings at venues like the New Beverly Cinema, celebrated for its unhinged energy and boundary-pushing eccentricity akin to early MTV visuals.[4][5] Notable for launching Elfman's directing career and showcasing Oingo Boingo's music before Danny Elfman's mainstream success in film scoring, it has endured as a midnight movie staple despite limited initial distribution.[6][7] The film includes controversial elements such as racial caricatures and a blackface sequence, which director Richard Elfman later digitally altered in a 2020 restoration to remove the latter, citing no intent to offend but adapting to contemporary sensitivities while preserving the original's provocative spirit.[8][9]Narrative and Style
Plot Summary
Forbidden Zone follows the eccentric Hercules family, residing in a Los Angeles home with a basement containing a concealed door to the Sixth Dimension, a surreal alternate realm accessed via a passage resembling human intestines.[10] [11] The story begins with local figures, including a pimp named Grunchio, interacting with the property before the family's discovery.[12] Discontented high school student Frenchy Hercules, seeking escape from her mundane life and a troubling relationship with teacher Mr. Biggs, enters the door out of curiosity.[13] [14] Upon arrival in the Sixth Dimension, Frenchy is captured by its rulers: the diminutive King Fausto, who develops an immediate infatuation with her, and his domineering wife, Queen Doris, who imprisons Frenchy in a dungeon alongside other captives.[10] [11] Frenchy's brother Jason and eccentric grandfather attempt a rescue, navigating the dimension's chaotic inhabitants, including the skeletal Squeezit the Moocher and a devilish figure named Satan.[13] [14] Interspersed musical sequences featuring vaudeville-style performances advance the narrative, culminating in confrontations involving royal intrigue, magical elements, and the family's efforts to return home, resolving with Frenchy's liberation and the dimension's internal power struggles.[10] [11]Musical Sequences
The musical sequences in Forbidden Zone constitute the film's primary structural element, originally conceived as twelve standalone performances by the Mystic Knights of the Oingo Boingo before being linked by a loose narrative framework. These numbers draw from diverse influences, including 1920s-1930s jazz standards, calypso, vaudeville, and proto-rap, often integrated with live-action animation and exaggerated choreography to amplify the film's grotesque surrealism. Danny Elfman composed the majority of original songs, performed by band members and cast, while select covers evoke Prohibition-era cabaret and Harlem Renaissance scat styles, underscoring the troupe's roots in musical theater experimentation.[15][16] The sequence "Some of These Days," a cover of Shelton Brooks' 1910 vaudeville standard, opens the domestic subplot with the Hercules family—portrayed by H. Michael Elizer, Cassandra Peterson, and Phil Gordon—lip-syncing in a cramped living room talent show parody, complete with top hats and synchronized taps mimicking Busby Berkeley precision amid chaotic family dynamics.[17][16] In the Sixth Dimension, "Yubba Gabba You Two" unfolds as a calypso-infused hallucination during King Fausto's feast, with Elfman and the Knights delivering rhythmic pleas laced with nonsense syllables, accompanied by rotoscoped visuals of writhing characters to heighten the disorienting eroticism.[6] "Squeezit the Moocher," an original Elfman track echoing Cab Calloway's scat innovations, animates the diminutive Squeezit's feverish visions of his sister, blending jazzy improvisation with grotesque puppetry and underscoring themes of forbidden desire through improvised vocal flourishes.[6][16] "Pico and Sepulveda" emerges as a pioneering rap-like interlude, where Elfman and ensemble members chant interlocking Los Angeles street names—"Pico and Sepulveda, Washington and La Cienega"—over a percussive beat, functioning as both navigational absurdity and meta-commentary on urban sprawl, performed in a factory-set production number with mechanical dances.[18][15] Queen Doris, played by Susan Tyrrell, dominates her "Queen's Revenge" aria with theatrical venom, an original Elfman piece in mock-operatic style that propels her pursuit of Grampa Hercules, featuring orchestral swells and Tyrrell's rasping delivery amid throne-room pageantry.[16] Additional sequences like "Witch's Egg," a percussive incantation by the Pimp (Gene Cunningham) invoking dark rituals, and the closing "Finale" medley reprise motifs from prior numbers, reinforcing the film's cyclical descent into madness with full-cast choral escalation.[17][19]Personnel
Cast
The principal cast of Forbidden Zone (1980) features performers primarily drawn from the Mystic Knights of the Oingo Boingo troupe, supplemented by character actors. Hervé Villechaize portrays King Fausto, the diminutive ruler of the Sixth Dimension.[20][21] Susan Tyrrell plays the dual role of Queen Doris, Fausto's domineering consort, and the Henderson family matriarch Ruth.[20][21] Marie-Pascale Elfman appears as Frenchy, the teenage protagonist who discovers the forbidden realm.[20][22]| Actor | Role |
|---|---|
| Hervé Villechaize | King Fausto of the Sixth Dimension |
| Susan Tyrrell | Queen Doris of the Sixth Dimension / Ruth Henderson |
| Matthew Bright | Squeezit the dwarf / René Henderson |
| Marie-Pascale Elfman | Frenchy (Susan) |
| Gisele Lindley | The Gimp |
| Virginia Rose | Ma Hercules |
| Phil Gordon | Flash Hercules |
| Hyman Diamond | Gramps Hercules |