Forbidden Zone

Forbidden Zone has quietly become one of the more dependable comedies currently available in the US on YouTube TV and Night Flight Plus. The length is exactly right for the story it is telling — nothing rushed, nothing dragged out. With 110 viewer ratings on TMDB, this is not a title flying under the radar. Hervé Villechaize sets the tone, and the rest of the cast matches it scene for scene. There is no real reason to keep putting it off — it is right there on YouTube TV.

There is a reason Forbidden Zone keeps coming up in conversation. Forbidden Zone gets the fundamentals right first, then finds room to get weird with it. A mysterious door in the basement of the Hercules house leads to the Sixth Dimension by way of a gigantic set of intestine. When Frenchy slips through the door, King Fausto falls in love with her. The jealous Queen Doris takes Frenchy prisoner, and it is up to the Hercules family and friend Squeezit Henderson to rescue her. Hervé Villechaize and Susan Tyrrell lead a cast that brings real weight to the material. It was released in 1982. The timing in Forbidden Zone is precise enough that even the throwaway lines land on a second watch. It delivers reliably on what it promises, which is more than most of its competition manages.

Comedy fans looking for a reliably funny watch will find it in Forbidden Zone. It does not lean on comparisons to make its case. The complete film is available and best experienced without too much prior knowledge of where it goes. Hervé Villechaize anchors an ensemble with real chemistry. Genuinely funny, consistently, across the whole run.