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Forbidden World
R1 - America - Shout! Factory Review written by and copyright: Ethan Stevenson (20th August 2010). |
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The Film
 Shot fast and cheap with a cast of mostly unknown B-movie actors, “Forbidden World” was never a prestige picture – it never aimed to be. That’s because, it was after all, produced by the infamous Roger Corman, who’s made, I think, not a single prestigious film to date (and hey, that’s not a knock against him; just a statement of borderline fact). Hell, I don’t think the film actually even tries to be anything special – it doesn’t present itself to be the psychosexual mind-fuck that “Galaxy of Terror” (1981) at least pretended to be, nor does it really excel in any regard or is it all that original. At it’s best “Forbidden World” is a lesser film, overshadowed by better – if technically still awful things; namely Corman’s previous space-horror, “Galaxy of Terror” – but better things nonetheless. In short: if “Galaxy of Terror” has gone down in history as the “Alien” (1979) rip-off in which a woman gets raped by a giant worm, “Forbidden World” will certainly go down, if it hasn’t already, as the other “Alien” rip-off, produced by Roger Corman, that was shot on the same soundstages and used the same sets as the film which features a woman getting raped by a giant worm. The plot of “Forbidden World” is simple enough, but that’s only because it’s so blatantly paper-thin, mostly pointless, and exists only as an excuse to have topless women shower in groups and so that underdeveloped characters can be decapitated in awesomely grotesque detail. High above the planet Xarbia in a space station, a group of scientists have created a terrible monster – code-named Subject 20. This creature quickly turns against them, killing each member of the team in the most gruesome ways. The hideous being takes on many shapes, mutating (which is where the original title, “Mutant”, comes from) into as many awful looking things imaginable, just so that it can terrorize the crew of the orbiting laboratory. (Not only does the film steal from “Alien”, it even borrows heavily from its predecessor – “Galaxy of Terror” – which also had a monster that was a terrifying shape-shifter.) When pre-production of the film originally started, according to director Allan Holzman in the supplements included on this disc, Forbidden World” was a proposed “Lawrence of Arabia” (1962)-in-space (meaning an epic, of epic proportions). However, “Forbidden World” quickly and succinctly devolved into a cheap knock off. The idea to let Holzman, who previously edited New World Pictures’ “Battle Beyond the Stars” (1980), write and direct his grand spectacle was shelved after the thrifty Corman realized he was hemorrhaging money into pictures like Galaxy of Terror”, which reportedly cost somewhere on the plus-side of $4,000,000, but never reused the elaborate sets, costumes or props ever again. So “Forbidden World” was born from Roger Corman’s declaration to just rip-off “Alien” – again – and Holzman was instead charged with making something quickly, that could credibly reuse most of sets and costumes from Bruce D. Clark’s film. From then on the movie would be nothing more; nothing worthwhile, or original, and would probably never be remembered outside of it’s cult status, which, coincidentally it probably only has because of Corman’s involvement, and the dogmatically loyal fan base the man possesses. I seriously doubt many people would truly remember this film, if it weren’t for Corman’s name in the credits, or the fact that it was tied to another film in the most obscure way. But that’s not to say that “Forbidden World” isn’t worth watching. It totally is, for that same reason that “Galaxy of Terror”, and indeed most of Corman’s films are – because it’s a lot of poorly made, incredibly hammy fun. The film has all of the Corman and drive-in staples: ozy, gooey, gore? Check. Gratuitous nudity and plenty of boobs? Of course. And dreadfully serious, poorly trained actors in overly dramatic situations, delivering cringe-worthy dialogue, all wrapped in nonsensical edits and pointless montages? Well, yeah… but, there is a bright side to this horrifically messy, and patently bad film. At 78 mercifully short minutes, “Forbidden World” just flies by and does so without a whole lot of truly unentertaining moments. If the film lasted much longer – perhaps 90 or 120 minutes – it could be a miserable experience. But it’s not. For one, the film ripples with seemingly unintentional humor, found in scenes that logically exist for no rhyme or reason, except maybe as an excuse to add some of the Corman-ness to the whole thing, like a nude sauna break that some of the crew take in the middle of a bloody massacre, are totally absurd… and totally worth it. The real draw to this new Shout! DVD is not that it marks the first time in nearly two decades that “Forbidden World” has been officially available domestically on home video (like it’s forebear the film has had a few bootleg releases in the US, and a number of real DVD releases from various distributors in foreign countries) – not only. It’s not even the fact that the film-proper has had been laboriously remastered, or that Shout! produced a number of excellent supplements to accent the package. No, the real draw, I think, is that for the first time ever, having never before been seen in public, Holzman’s original 82-minute Unrated Director’s Cut, titled “Mutant”, is available on the second platter of this two disc set. Long thought lost, and the stuff of legend for many cult collectors of New World product, Holzman’s preferred cut was delivered to Roger Corman in a short order, but after a disastrous test screening in which the audience laughed at scenes that Corman took to be serious, the man recut the film himself, stripping the movie of most, but not all of it’s pithy humor. Now, fans can see the director’s original vision, which reinstates the five or so minutes missing from the theatrical version of the film. Honestly, and much to my surprise, the two cuts aren’t that different. The Director’s Cut is perhaps slightly more consistent in tone, sure, but both versions, no matter if Holzman or Corman cut the film, suffer from the same “issues”: an extremely low budget, terrible dialogue and bad acting. Little variations aside, the story is largely unchanged. In short, both cuts are lovingly awful in equal regard in almost every sense. Still, it’s nice to have the option to see Holzman’s finished film, and not just the one that Corman sent to theaters – even if at the end of the day, the unrated cut is a curiosity at best. Given the choice, I would have probably recommended the Director’s Cut for posterities sake, but because it comes at a cost (see below for details on that, in the video and audio sections of the review), I think the Theatrical cut probably offers the best value.
Video
The Theatrical Cut of “Forbidden World” is sourced from an all-new high definition master created from the restored 35mm interpositive (film elements). The film has been granted a 1.78:1 anamorphic widescreen transfer, slightly opened up from the films original theatrical ratio of 1.85:1. The differences between the two aspect ratios are negligible at best, but I wanted to note the discrepancy for the tedious reason that that the DVD case incorrectly lists the slightly wider fraction. While the film still looks like the ultra-low budget cheese-fest that it is – there’s no escaping the original limitations of the production – I’ll admit that the film looks much better than expected, with well rendered grain, decent detail and, at times, a bright, lively color palette. Shout! Factory hasn’t added any unneeded DNR or edge enhancement and I see no signs of other tinkering, such as contrast boosting, or transfer defects like incessant banding, blocking or aliasing. Is the disc perfect? No, blacks are, at times, inconsistent, ranging from inky and deep, to weak and grayish, and shadow delineation is pretty awful (although perhaps intentionally). There’s some softness too, and some infrequent print damage – nothing too terrible, but more noticeable than “Galaxy of Terror” which is overall far cleaner and more satisfying (then again, “Galaxy”, while still shot on the cheap, had a far bigger budget). All things considered, “Forbidden World” – at least the theatrical cut – looks generally solid. That said; the included “Mutant” cut does not. How many ways can you say “f**king terrible?” I won’t count them or list them, but I imagine each one, however many there are, could be accurately slung at the second disc’s 1.33:1 full-frame video presentation. I also won’t elaborate much on what’s wrong with it, because, well the easy answer is that everything is wrong with the way the “Mutant” cut looks. Colors are washed out. Blacks are poorly resolved. Print damage is heavy in spots and heavier in others. In short, the transfer suffers from massive amounts of aliasing, a genuine lack of detail, and frequently horrendous bouts of noise, blocking and artifacts. To be fair, the “Mutant” cut was long thought lost to the annals of time, and the transfer is obviously based off of somebody’s (Holzman’s?) VHS tape, so I guess fans are lucky to even have the alternate version of the film included at all, and it’s sort of a supplement anyway… but still, I reiterate, “Mutant” looks dreadful, especially next to the not too terrible remaster of the Theatrical Cut.
Audio
Again the two cuts are of vastly different quality. “Forbidden World” includes an English Dolby Digital 2.0 dual mono track that offers a passable, at times decent experience without any real problems. Typical of a low budget monster film, the sound design is fairly limited and gimmicky, but, at the very least, I didn’t notice any pops or hiss and dialogue was always discernable. The same can’t be said for “Mutant’s” audio, which does suffer from a very noticeable amount of hiss, frequent pops and, yes, even audio drops out on numerous occasions. Not only that but the overall source material is in much worse shape than the theatrical, with thinner dialogue, weaker dynamics and, oh hell, “Mutant” just sounds beyond appalling – it’s basically too far-gone for words to even describe. No subtitles are included on either version.
Extras
Shout! Factory has produced an overall satisfying Special Edition of “Forbidden World” under their “Roger Corman Cult Classics” label. The 2-disc release includes the 78-minute theatrical cut, plus Allan Holzman’s preferred 82-minute Unrated Director’s Cut of the film (titled “Mutant”), each on separate discs. The package also includes a making-of featurette, additional interviews with Roger Corman and special effects and makeup artist John Carl Beuchler, photo galleries, an audio commentary, and a series of theatrical trailers. A majority of the video based extras are presented in 1.78:1 anamorphic widescreen, unless otherwise noted. DISC ONE: The remastered "Theatrical Cut." “The Making of ‘Forbidden World’” (34 minutes 14 seconds) is a featurette with interviews from the cast and crew including director Allan Holzman, composer Susan Justin, actor Jesse Vint, and special effects technician John Carl Beuchler. It isn’t as revealing or detailed as the hour-long documentary included on the “Galaxy of Terror” DVD, but this featuette is still surprisingly in-depth, covering the original concept and Holzman’s bigger-than-the-budget ambitions, the score, casting, the effects – all the usual talk-points for a retrospective like this. Next, Roger Corman discusses his feelings on the production in an interview, running 6 minutes 25 seconds, recorded exclusively for Shout! in 2009. He talks about his decision to reuse the sets from “Galaxy of Terror” (1981) on this film, the eventual recut, and the differences between his version of the film (which was show theatrically) and Holzman’s more darkly comedic “Mutant.” There’s a bit of overlap between this interview, the above featurette and Holzman’s audio commentary (discussed below on the second disc), but nevertheless, it’s informative. In this second interview, special effects makeup artist John Carl Beuchler talks about how he came to work at New World Pictures, his subsequent career, and offers his thoughts on “Forbidden World” as a film, and it’s place in his body of work. At 14 minutes 20 seconds this is a bit long and superfluous, but, hey, the guy wanted to talk and Shout! didn’t have a problem letting him, so, give it a watch. The first disc also includes two photo galleries. “The Skotak Gallery” (17 images), a collection of photos taken by Robert and Dennis Skotak, includes rare production photos of the crew working on the special effects sequences, their creature sketches and original storyboards; the self-explanatory “Poster & Stills Gallery” (45 images) contains theatrical one-sheets from around the globe, lobby cards, and photos from the set. Finally, fans are greeted to a group of trailers for many of the other recently released Roger Corman Cult Classics, as well as a theatrical trailer for the feature film. These include the red band theatrical Trailer for “Forbidden World” (2 minutes 33 seconds, in 1.33:1). bonus trailers are for: - “Galaxy of Terror” (1981)which runs 1 minute 54 seconds. - “Humanoids from the Deep” (1980) running 1 minute 48 seconds. - “Battle Beyond the Stars” (1980) which runs 2 minutes 29 seconds. DISC TWO: “Mutant” – The Director’s Cut The only supplement included on the second disc, if you don’t count the Unrated Director’s Cut as an extra, is an audio commentary with director Allan Holzman, moderated by Nathaniel Thompson. It’s a solid commentary in which Holzman discusses his preference for this version of the film; the somewhat troubled production, miniscule budget, and how he came to work at New World Pictures. The director shares his thoughts and stories pertaining to both of the cuts, and the production as a whole, not keeping his comments exclusively confined to the alternate version. Moderator Thompson keeps Holzman in check and on topic, making sure there isn’t too much silence here.
Packaging
“Forbidden Planet” arrives on DVD (the same day as a blu-ray edition) from Shout! Factory under the distributors “Roger Corman’s Cult Classics” line. The two-disc release is packaged inside a clear Amaray keepcase, and includes a 12-page paper booklet filled with an essay titled “How to Make an Alien in 20 Days”, photos and disc production credits. The cover art is reversible with alternate artwork promoting “Mutant”, the Unrated Director’s Cut.
Overall
So far Shout! Factory’s “Roger Corman Cult Classics” is two for two; of the releases I’ve seen anyway. Their two-disc release of “Forbidden World” includes a remastered widescreen presentation of the theatrical version of the film, plus over three hours of extra content including the long-thought-lost, never-before-released “Mutant” cut with optional commentary from director Allan Holzman. The quality of the alternate cut is questionable to say the least, and the film is little more than gory, violent, boob-filled trash – but it’s enjoyable trash nonetheless… at least if you can appreciate the Corman-ness of it all, and just go with the flow. Recommended for the inclined collector. Individual breakdown of scores for video/audio (The ratings are "overall" scores): Video: - "Forbidden World" C+ - "Mutant" F Audio: - "Forbidden World" C- - "Mutant" F
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