Forbidden Zone: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack

(Varèse Sarabande)

I saw Forbidden Zone on Night Flight as a kid, and it deeply fucked with my Catholic-schooled head. A sci-fi musical? Animated art porn? Frog people? Only years later did I come to appreciate its low-budget genius and black humor, but it was the score to the film’s savage Sixth Dimension, where Hervé Villechaize’s the king and Susan Tyrrell his dirty-dealing queen, that turned the black-and-white film neon. His first soundtrack, assisted by the Mystic Knights of the Oingo Boingo, Danny Elfman did most of the scoring, aside from a few Cab Calloway and Josephine Baker tunes. The Knights’ mesmerizing reworking of “Minnie the Moocher,” crooned by Danny Elfman as the devil; “Love Theme,” a duet between Villechaize and Marie-Pascale Elfman; and the loopy, foreboding synth of the theme song all gel together to define a truly damaged work of science friction.

***

This article appears in July 25 • 2008.

A note to readers: Bold and uncensored, The Austin Chronicle has been Austin’s independent news source for over 40 years, expressing the community’s political and environmental concerns and supporting its active cultural scene. Now more than ever, we need your support to continue supplying Austin with independent, free press. If real news is important to you, please consider making a donation of $5, $10 or whatever you can afford, to help keep our journalism on stands.

SUPPORT US