"Are you okay?"
"I'm disgusted and repulsed and ... I can't look away."

--Clerks II

After watching Harold and Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay with me, my husband remarked, "That may be the most deliberately offensive film I've seen." However, he also pointed out that he'd been laughing his head off most of the time. My first thought was that if the Harold and Kumar sequel was the most offensive thing he'd seen in awhile, maybe he needed to go to QT Fest with me next time, or watch some of those bizarre midnight movies at Alamo Drafthouse. (And what, did he forget we saw Borat together last year?)

But afterwards, I started wondering ... how many intentionally offensive comedies have we seen and loved? I'm not thinking about provocative or transgressive films that try to make you stop and think about your life. I'm talking about movies that, when they succeed, evoke that amazing moment in which your jaw has plummeted to the floor in disbelief as a bubble of laughter starts to force its way out of you and will send you to the floor along with your dropped jaw, in hysteria. I'll put up with revolting, sacrilegious, and downright repellent content in a film if it makes me laugh hard enough. Can I think of seven movies that meet such a high standard for offensive comedy? It's more like seven times seven, and difficult to pick only a few of my favorites. Feel free to share any movies that you think I neglected to include -- bear in mind that in some cases, I simply didn't like the movie enough to get past the offensive bits (the Jackass films), or although I liked the movie, wasn't offended (The Aristocrats).

Today (March 6) is Richard Elfman's birthday. If your immediate response is "Is he related to Danny?" then obviously you have never experienced one of the weirdest movies ever: Forbidden Zone. Richard Elfman directed this 1980 black-and-white festival of grunge, which has picked up quite the cult following over the years. I first saw this ultra-low-budget movie on video at LSU in my undergrad days with a bunch of friends, and we were so proud to have discovered an unusual, obscure film that didn't look like any other movie we knew. (When I took my boyfriend to a screening at Alamo Drafthouse last year, he pointed out that the overall look of the movie must have been inspired by underground comics of the time.)

Several members of the Elfman family appear in Forbidden Zone, including Richard and his then-wife Marie-Pascale Elfman. I couldn't find a good still of Richard from the film, but I found one of his little brother, who plays Satan: yep, that's Danny Elfman above. Danny appears in only one scene but he's fabulous.

The cast also includes Herve Villechaize, Susan Tyrrell, and Viva. The soundtrack is a lot of fun and includes some bizarre reworkings of old Cab Calloway songs. The plot ... well, it would take me a while to explain and wouldn't make much sense, anyway. You'd have to see for yourself.

Forbidden Zone is truly a unique film, but if you're thinking of renting it, bear in mind that it does include partial nudity, excremental and sexual humor, and possibly offensive manipulation of racial stereotypes.