Sunday Streaming:: Forbidden World (1982)

You've got to love ALIEN(1979), not only was it generous enough to gift the world with its incredible self, it thoughtfully left the door open for so many lovable wannabes to charge through. Case in point, the ROGER CORMAN produced, ALLAN HOLZMAN directed FORBIDDEN WORLD (1982)! If you sometimes get this one confused with the previous year's GALAXY OF TERROR (yay! Also on Netflix Streaming!), you're just like me! Don't sweat it! I've invented an easy way to remember which is which. FORBIDDEN WORLD's initials "F.B." reversed are W.F. which stands for "worm free", meaning this is not the movie where a giant worm rapes a woman. GALAXY OF TERROR'S initials form the acronym "GOT" which signifies that it has "got" the giant heinous rape worm in it (not to mention ERIN MORAN). Capiche?

Worm rape-free though it may be, FORBIDDEN WORLD has plenty of other idiosyncrasies that you might find worth your while, most notably a robot that sounds exactly like Marcie from THE PEANUTS. Who doesn't want one of those? Also FORBIDDEN WORLD has my favorite sex scene outside of MADMAN(1982). It's not explicit; it's just an orchestra of huh? Our hero Mike Colby (seventies staple JESSE VINT of BUG, SILENT RUNNING & DEATHSPORT) is the new rooster in the space hen house and therefore is hurriedly propositioned by Dr. Barbara Glaser (eighties staple JUNE CHADWICK of THIS IS SPINAL TAPP & V). As they make the vaguely shot intergalactic whoopee, we are privy to flash cuts of a coworker watching it all unfold on a security monitor while he intently pulls on a light up yo-yo toy and another space ship denizen wistfully playing a (space?) flute in his bunk… somehow in unison to the greatest new wave-y synth score you ever heard. Please either have a great sound system set up or just go the cheap route like I did and wear the headphones you bought at FIVE BELOW.

Oh, and the monster! Sometimes he looks like a giant wad of gum, sometimes he looks like a pile of trash and sometimes he looks like a pile of trash being pushed around on a shopping cart. He's not that impressive looking but who cares? He does a lot of damage and he has a lot of teeth!