There are cult classics that, though loved, are decidedly products of the time and place of their creation. There are those that have timeless, transcendent qualities of panache and chutzpah — and then there's Forbidden Zone, Richard Elfman's 1980 musical/fantasy/freak show — an almost inexplicable epic of oddity influenced by big-band swing and Max Fleischer cartoons, based on the cabaret performances of the Mystic Knights of the Oingo Boingo, featuring, among many loopy players, his brother Danny as Satan and Hervé Villechaize as the wee king of a parallel universe. The work is so stylish, so willfully weird that it authentically feels like a product of the alterna-world depicted in the film. It's had its share of retrospective screenings in recent years, but on Sunday, Cinefamily's Forbidden Zone 30th Anniversary event will be a prime opportunity to grok the madness with Elfman in attendance for a Q&A. Hopefully, someone will get him to respond definitively to those sequel rumors that have been making the rounds for years.

Sat., April 3, 10:30 p.m., 2010

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