"Where are you taking me? Where's Renee? Where's Frenchy? I demand an answer! OWW!
    Yoo-hoo, well if it ain't the little princess
Slpppppt.
  C'mon on there boy, hey-hey
gee that girl was beautiful
  you said it, brother--my boss is just dying to stick his fork in that there tomato
is your boss the ruler of the six dimension?
  no, that be the little midget king!"

I can still remember how it was that I first was treated to a viewing of Richard Elfman's the Forbidden Zone. As a freshman and sophmore in high school I was a totally rabid Oingo Boingo fan. This was back in the mid-1990s, so they were well past their heyday then. I'd finally gotten to see them on their last-ever tour, and a while after knew the editor of the live video footage--anyway, I was up in Hollywood to possibly meet Danny Elfman through him while sitting and watching what went into editing my (then) favorite bands' concert video. While hanging around his (and also one of my brothers') house one of those days I found they had a copy of Forbidden Zone. For an insane period of time my world was changed on a small television set.

A midget wih a big personality                                Hervé Villechaize as King Fausto of the 6th Dimension
and his EDIBLE queenie                                         Susan Tyrrell as Queen Doris
preside over a tangent reality accessible via a hole in the Hercules' home.

One day, the Hercules' adopted foreign-exchange student daughter, Susan B. "Frenchy" Hercules (played by Marie-Pascale Elfman, Richard Elfman's wife) is captured. Squeezit Henderson has telepathic communication with his transvestite sister/brother, Renee, who also has been captured by the Forbidden Zone.

"The queen promised she'd ream us with 20-inch cattle prods... and I'm still waiting!" Renee says to her/his brother. Did I fail to mention that Squeezit thinks he is a chicken and walks around with his hands in his armpits?

Because to attempt provide any more information about the movie in a formally coherent way, I offer the following blabs by which one could bring a general understanding of desire to participate with this film. Black and White. Checkerboard patterns. Danny Elfman as a Cab Colloway-appropriating Devil. Midgets. Naked girls. Implied sodomy. Single actors playing multiple roles. Hanging people holding candles above romantic candle-lit dinners. Gun fighting gangsta's in high school dance sequence. Kipper Kids! Sugar Bear.

Going down, down, down 
How far can you go
You might fall into the Forbidden Zone 
Going down, down, down 
'Cross the border line 
The guards look scary but the girls are pretty fine 

Going round, round, round 
Driving me insane 
Everything looks different 
But nothing has changed. 
The Soundtrack
The soundtrack is schizophrenic. There's bits and pieces of early Oingo Boingo songs throughout, as well as a Cab Calloway sung song, a tribute to him, the Kipper Kids, and great instrumentals. Danny Elfman's first score & only before Pee-Wee's Big Adventure. People with papier-mâché frog heads.

Trackist: (Varese Sarabande records)

  1. Forbidden Zone
  2. "Hercules" Family Theme
  3. Some of These Days
  4. Journey Through the Intestines
  5. Squeezit's Vision of his "Sister"
  6. Queen's Revenge
  7. Factory
  8. Love Theme - Squeezit and the Chickens
  9. Flash and Gramps
  10. Squeezit the Moocher (Minnie the Moocher)
  11. Alphabet Song
  12. Cell 63
  13. Witch's Egg
  14. Yiddishe Charleston
  15. Bim Bam Boom
  16. Chamber Music
  17. Pleure
  18. Battle of the Queens
  19. Love Theme - King and Queen
  20. Finale

In conclusion, it must be said that this movie is somewhat difficult to locate. I recommend it to anyone. As of the time of this noding, it is available at http://www.richardelfman.com


sources: http://us.imdb.com/Title?0080752 (forbidden zone)

bim bam boom, bim bam boom... la la la