Forbidden World

Forbidden World (1982)

Runtime: 77 minutes

Directed by: Allan Holzman

Starring: Jesse Vint, Dawn Dunlap, June Chadwick, Linden Chiles, Fox Harris

From: New World Pictures

What a Roger Corman production this is:

Of course the movie isn't incredible like its poster art is... that does not mean Forbidden World is not schlocky fan, as it is. To steal a thought from someone else, how appropriate that Roger Corman was ripping off Alien considering that among Alien's inspiration were old Corman films like Planet of the Vampires.

As I have done in previous years, when it is time for “Hoop-tober” around Letterboxd I don't officially participate, although it is nice to look at the lists of those that do. I instead watch whatever the hell I want and thus I know there will be a wide variety from many decades; I just have no idea now what those motion pictures will be. The main reasons why I chose this to see last night was its length (77 minutes) & seeing praise for it here and elsewhere.

Jesse Vint is Mike Colby, a troubleshooter who has a robot that is amusingly sometimes ineffectual... he is tasked with going to a remote planet to try and stop a monster; it was created by scientists during experiments to try and solve a food crisis. They do some unholy things so this creature is not only pretty horrific but also pretty hard to stop. Naturally for the producer this is low-budget and the characters typically make really stupid decisions.

Yet, I enjoyed this goofy film. At least the practical sets looked nice for the budget even if they were reused. I was never bored by the story or annoyed by the stereotypical characters. Jim Wynorski was one of the two who came up with the story and fitting for something with his involvement, there is plenty of nudity with the two women in the cast; I guffawed at their version of a gratuitous shower scene. And very important for a sci-fi/horror, there is no shortage of gore and not only is it gooey, but all of it is effective; among those who worked on that was veteran John Carl Buechler. Very important for me, there is a synth score and it delivered.

For those that love B movies such as this, the movie is available on Prime if you have the service, and is otherwise easy to track down. Oh, and the creature is informally known as the DING-WOPPER. Come to think of it, Mike Colby used his ding-wopper on one of the women and would have done the same to the other if it wasn't for that darn mutant...