Forbidden World: The Roger Corman Collection

If there's one thing that Roger Corman and his New World Studios did well, it was highlighting which films were popular at the time and basically plagiarising them in their own low budget B-movies. Very early on in Forbidden World (aka Mutant), there is a completely unnecessary and out of place intergalactic fight between two spaceships, clearly designed to play to the Star Wars crowd and then, as the film develops, there are obvious references to alien. To claim this is a rip-off of Ridley Scott's classic horror film would be to state the obvious and Roger Corman would probably say that he didn't so much as rip-off the film was pay homage to it.

The movie begins when federal marshal commander Mike Colby is awoken from deep and sent, via hyperdrive, by his androgynous robot sidekick to a desert planet many light years away where experiments have been carried out using human cells and have, inevitably, gone wrong and have created a monster. Being an exploitation movie, it isn't long before Colby's arrival signals copious female flesh when one of his new companions has to take a shower -- no ordinary shower, but a strange cleansing by light beams -- and another decides to sleep with someone else on the base.

You then have the obligatory explanation as to what has been going on and what is now happening by a doctor, replete with pince nez spectacles, who informs the audience, sorry Mike Colby and the rest of the crew, that one of their experiments has developed artificial intelligence and is now mutating, killing crew members as food as it goes.

When you watch films like this, you have to realise that they were made for very little money and all they wanted was to, at the least, break even and give members of the cast and crew valuable experience on the way. It is in this respect that Roger Corman is one of the most important figures in film history as he gave directors like Francis Ford Coppola, Peter Bogdanovich and James Cameron lessons on how to make movies before they went out on their own to Hollywood. Without Corman, who knows how many A-list directors would never have gone beyond making films in their own backyards. However, I digress, so back to the film.

If there is one word that sums up Forbidden World, it is 'cheese'. The monster is one of the most unconvincing and rubbery creations outside a movie made by Ed Wood! The dialogue is so corny, tacky and clichéd and the characters are very much cardboard cut outs. That being said, there are something innately enjoyable and fun about movies like these and though I should really know better, I found this good fun to watch to the extent that I watched it once and then put the disc in the next day for a repeated viewing. If you want a proper claustrophobic and paranoid filled monster film watch Alien or The Thing but, if you just want to turn your brain off and enjoy some gratuitous nudity and gory imagery, pop this in and have a good laugh.

The Disc

The Picture
There isn't anything particularly special about the cinematography of the transfer as this looks like a very good VHS picture is made its way onto DVD and some of the effects are laughable but there is something about the film that suits a full frame picture with colour bleeding, lack of clarity and far too vibrant colours.

The Sound
The stereo soundtrack is perfectly serviceable with clear dialogue and appropriately ropey sound effects for the equally unconvincing visuals. The score sounds equally cheap but this fits in perfectly with the dodgy effects.


Final Thoughts
As part of the first batch of The Roger Corman Collection, it fits in very well as the film tells you everything you need to know about what Roger Corman was like and what he did -- cheap, cheerful and full of unapologetic citations. Anyone buying this disc and expecting quality will be left disappointed as Forbidden World is one of Corman's cheap and cheerful movies and the disc matches the content with a decent picture and soundtrack but absolutely no extra features, not even a menu.

If you are, like me, a sucker for slightly crappy B-movies then this is worth a punt.