Forbidden World is due out on two-disc special edition DVD and Blu-ray (content is identical across releases, including the ‘director’s cut’ of the film on a separate DVD) on July 20th, and is currently up for pre-order in both formats through Amazon.com and other online retailers.

A cheapie like few others in New World Picture’s extensive and budget conscious library, Allan Holzman’s Forbidden World (also known under its working title Mutant) is a nasty bit of gross-out science fiction horror that offers some serious bang for its meager buck.  Pushed into production by an ever-opportunistic Roger Corman as a means of getting an extra day out of a pricey set constructed for Galaxy of Terror, Forbidden World is never much more than a seedy exploitation of the monumental success of Ridley Scott’s Alien, but that doesn’t keep it from being a hell of a lot of fun.

Space-bound troubleshooter Mike Colby (Jesse Vint) is awakened from cryogenic sleep just in time to find that he’s been ordered to a far away planet to solve a problem affecting an isolated research post there.  With the entire galaxy facing a food shortage of epic proportions, a team of brilliant scientists was gathered to produce new organic food substitutes.  An unfortunate off-shoot of their research is Subject 20, a metamorphic mutant whose genetic structure is constantly changing, and who has, naturally, escaped.  It isn’t long before the clever creature has turned the outpost’s research on its head, attacking its occupants one by one and rendering them into a goopy self-perpetuating food-stuff for itself.

Working with none of the vision or budget of the box office smash it sought to emulate, Forbidden World keeps audiences entertained the good old fashioned way – with graphic violence and lots of exposed skin.  Star Dawn Dunlap, perhaps best known for her turn in David Hamilton’s Laura, spends the majority of the first half of her role either disrobed or disrobing, something you won’t hear me complaining about.  Co-star June Chadwick (Lydia in the television series V) takes every opportunity to bare her assets as well, making Forbidden World as much a nude-fest as anything else.  I doubt that its intended audience demographic minded in the least.

The real star of Forbidden World remains its bloody effects work, which hold up quite well in spite of obvious budgetary constraint.  The mutant is an interesting if often uninspired creation, ranging from a slippery face-hugging rhombus to a hefty ultimate form that pays due respect to Giger’s phallic alien.  The carnage the monster wreaks is where the joy really lies.  Audiences are treated to bodies in various stages of gooey decay, gaping head wounds, melted faces and even an impaling.  Most memorable of all is a crude surgery performed on a man who is very much awake.  I don’t find myself cringing at much these days, but that really got to me.

In other areas the film readily shows its financial limitations.  Several sets, in particular a hallway that’s seen again and again, are made of styrofoam food packaging, egg flat and milk crate with little done to conceal the identity of any of it.  A scene that called for loads of dead lab animals was accomplished with the real things, with many of the freeze-dried critters originating from a local pound!  Still, Holzman’s direction and editing transcends it all, keeping events moving at a good clip and finding time for some inspired flutter cut montage.  It’s unfortunate that so many of his comedic touches, frowned upon by Corman (who took audience reception at early screenings in a bad way), ended up on the cutting room floor, as they lend the original Mutant cut of the picture far more in the way of personality than can be found in the shorter, straighter Forbidden World.

Corman always had a knack for finding good talent to handle cheap exploitation vehicles, something that separates so much of his product from that of his contemporary independents.  Forbidden World is a far cry from classic (just the way I like ‘em), but it offers more in originality than it does in derivation and remains an entertaining diversion nearly thirty years on.

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Previously unrepresented in the States (an awful German edition was released to DVD in 2002 under the alternate Mutant title), Forbidden World finally makes its way to digital courtesy of Shout! Factory’s Roger Corman’s Cult Classics line.  This is another loaded special edition, offering plenty of goodies for fans to sink their proverbial teeth into.

The film is offered in two variants across two discs, the Forbidden World theatrical release version (77 minutes) and a longer director’s cut (82′) under the original title of Mutant.  The former is transferred from a brand new high definition master with excellent results, looking at least as good (or bad, depending on your perspective) as when the film was in theaters.  The 1.78:1 anamorphic transfer gets a solid encode, with strong color and decent detail.  The low budget production values are perfectly preserved, the styrofoam packing sticking out like sore thumbs and the image alive with grain.  This is most emphatically not demonstration level material, but it is a fine representation of the film at hand with nothing in the way of undue digital manipulation, and that’s all I’ll ever ask for.

Dwelling on its own single-layered disc is a previously unseen and unrated director’s cut, for which film elements apparently no longer exist (correction: the master print for this cut is stored at UCLA according to Holzman’s commentary, though it was not sourced for this release).  Sourced from a vintage ’80s video master, Mutant is presented in an open matte 4:3 transfer replete with bothersome interlacing and video artifacts (including infrequent image jumps and audio dropouts).  One need only compare the title screens to see the overwhelming superiority of the theatrical cut’s presentation, with the director’s cut appearing dark and dull in comparison.  As one who still clings to a rare few (hundred) titles on VHS I was unphased by Mutant‘s condition, especially with the excellent theatrical presentation to fall back on, but your mileage may vary.

Supplements are once again stacked.  First up is a 34 minute Making of . . . documentary, with input from director / editor Allan Holzman, effects men Robert Skotak, Dennis Skotak, Tony Randal and R. Christopher Biggs, production manager and second unit director Aaron Lipstadt, star Jesse Vint and composer Susan Justin.  The docu covers all the usual areas with a strong focus on the special effects design, and makes Forbidden World out to be another fun Corman production.  Next up are a pair of interviews, one with producer Roger Corman (6 minutes), who never seems at a loss for fond recollections, and another with effects artist John Carl Buechler (14 minutes), who offers a great Corman impersonation along with his production memories.  Rounding out disc one are galleries of behind-the-scenes production photos and publicity stuffs and a collection of trailers (Forbidden World, Galaxy of Terror, Battle Beyond the Stars and Humanoids From the Deep).

Disc two comes with only one supplement, but it’s a biggy – a feature commentary with director and editor Allan Holzman moderated by Mondo Digital’s Nathanial Thompson.  This is an active track with nothing in the way of dead air.  It’s nice to see that Holzman’s memories are sharp even after all these years.  The discs are housed in a nice clear standard DVD case with an awesome reversible insert based on the original Mutant poster art and the later Forbidden World re-title.  An attractive booklet with notes by Shout! Factory’s Dana MacMillan and loads of film stills rounds out the package.

Forbidden World won’t be for everyone, with its rampant nudity and graphic violence, but cult aficionados will find much to love.  Shout! Factory’s DVD package is another winner all around, only helping to cement their position as one of my new favorite video labels.  Recommended.

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