Mousai Industries
Richard Elfman's
By Leslie Skellington
This year the 15th Annual Valley Film Festival paid a tribute to producer Jack F. Murphy by showing Richard Elfman’s original movie “Forbidden Zone”. The Annual Valley Film Festival takes place in North Hollywood
As I entered the theatre, I knew I was going to taken into the sixth dimension of the Forbidden Zone. I could hardly wait to see the movie on a big screen. As I waited, the theatre rolled a clip “Minnie the Moocher,” performed by Cab Calloway. After that clip they played a clip of Betty Boop with the song “Minnie the Moocher,” too. I turn and all of a sudden I see a woman by the name of Dahlia Dimont holding a lantern. I then saw another beautiful woman, Penny Starr Jr. After walking down the stairs of the theater in a performance, they break out into a burlesque performance. It was sexy and funny. They did a complete strip tease looking back at each other as though they had forgotten what the choreography was. They had me laughing and wanting more.
After their tease was over, a band of drummers, cowbells and a trombone came out. Who was leading the band? None other than Richard Elfman of course. I was so excited. This is the man that started the Mystic Knights of Oingo Boingo with his brother, Danny Elfman. Their entrance felt like a flashback of the original band with a mix of the Forbidden Zone movie’s famous scores.
This movie is about a horny little king that falls in love with a French girl that trespassed through his dimension. His queen becomes insanely jealous and wants to kill the French girl. Flash, Frenchy’s brother, and her grandfather try to save her but face many obstacles. Squeezit Henderson, a schoolboy, comes to the rescue and ends up saving all three of them. On the way, Henderson meets Satan played by Danny Elfman. Henderson was forced to make a deal with the devil in order to save his friends. This movie is hilarious, has amazing music by Elfman and this movie is down-right weird enough to enjoy. You can buy the movie on DVD or Blu-Ray on Amazon.com.
Click the Image above for the movie link.
When the movie was over, Richard Elfman went to the front of the theater and took questions from fans. There we learned what it was like to work with some of the actors and how the film was developed. He mentioned that he shot the film originally on a 16mm and in black in white. He wanted to get each frame colored by hand, but sadly didn’t have enough funds to do it in the end. A couple of years ago someone offered to colorize the film and he said he likes it better in color.
I had the opportunity to meet him after the movie. He was so kind to his fans and I wish more celebrities were like him. He really lights up a room and makes you laugh so hard. Thank you Mr. Elfman for sharing your creative and wild imagination with the world. Good luck working on Forbidden Zone 2! I can’t wait to see it.
