Hi! Richard Elfman here. And that devil in the picture is my brother Danny Elfman.

My background is both musical, as a professional Afro-Latin percussionist, and theatrical—I spent my formative years in a Paris-based theatre company, Le Grand Magic Circus.  My mentors were the troupe’s director, Jerome Savary, later to become director of the French National Theatre, and his mentor, our executive producer, Peter Brook, acclaimed director of the Royal Shakespeare Company.

Eventually I came back to the states, and with Danny, formed an “arty” but wildly entertaining musical-theatrical troupe, the Mystic Knights of the Oingo Boingo.  We performed older musical gems, both known and forgotten, as well as original creations by my musically gifted brother. The shows were fun, fast-paced and outrageous, laced with dance and comedy.

As time went on, the quirky thirteen-member troupe evolved under my brother’s direction into a “tour friendly” eight-piece rock band, simply called Oingo Boingo. I wished to preserve on screen what we had been doing on stage, so I embarked on my first film, Forbidden Zone—a micro-budget labor of love that encapsulated the spirit of the Mystic Knights.  The film did a summer of midnight shows in 1982, caused a minor stir and poof—it was gone. Or so I thought…

About twenty years ago when I put up my first website, I was surprised to get tens of thousands of hits from Forbidden Zone fans all around the world. Then Rocky Horror troupes started shadow-casting Forbidden Zone at midnight shows with lines around the block. A top company even offered to colorize the black & white film–a costly process—something that I had always wanted to do.  But why the success and longevity of this forty-five year-old, micro-budget little movie?

Along with some outrageous humor and fun characters, Forbidden Zone has memorable music—both forgotten classics as well as great original material. The audience takes it home in their heads, they enjoy hearing it again.  Or more fun, seeing the film again… and again. Well, now it’s time for Forbidden Zone 2. Between my library and my legacy, we definitely have the music, as well as the stars, dancers and designers. 

And I guarantee you something bigger, badder, bolder and even more damned fun than the original— FORBIDDEN ZONE 2!

(And check out my current band, Mambo Diabolico.)

Original Mystic Knights of the Oingo Boingo (Danny left, Richard right).