The Forbidden (1978) User Reviews

Plays out like a longer version of Salome

[The_Void · 6/10 · 14 July 2005]

The Forbidden is one of two short films that horror writer Clive Barker made before he went on to create his masterpiece 'Hellraiser'. This film follows along pretty much the same lines as the man's first short, Salome, as it's the atmosphere, music and setting that is the point; with plot, characters and dialogue being completely forsaken. The film reminded me a lot of Luis Bunuel's "Un Chien Andalou", as it's very atmospheric and surreal throughout. While this is pretty much more of the same, I have to say that I slightly preferred Barker's first short film to this one. The Forbidden is overlong by a good ten to twenty minutes, and many of the sequences in the film - while striking and memorable - are simply repeats of things we've already seen, which annoyed me no end. The film also features a sequence that sees a naked man dancing, which I wouldn't be a fan of anyway; but the fact that it goes on for about ten minutes makes the film even less fun. Still, there's lot to like about this film as it shows many things that appear to be blueprints for Hellraiser, and the effects and atmosphere are eerie enough to make sure that the film always succeeds on an aesthetic level. Like Salome; this isn't a masterpiece or a must-see, but if you liked Hellraiser and get a chance to see this - you might as well take it.

Not Doug Bradley! That's Clive.

[klaity · 6 October 2004]

That's Clive himself doing the dance of the happy pizzle -- look closely at the *face* (if you can!) and you'll see it's him. He has been quite proud to take credit for the scene.

Apart from such prurient interests, this precurser to Hellraiser has many fascinating aspects from the skin-peeling scene and the puzzle to the weird shift of light. But only for the real fan or completist, or folks who like to watch Clive dance.

Of course, this film should not be confused with the short story, "The Forbidden" (although we can see how the concept is one Barker turns to again and again) which provided the basis for "Candyman."

Great but boring

[Bored_Dragon · 4/10 · 16 October 2017]

This is Barker's second movie attempt. Like Salome, this is short, black and white silent film, but this time a bit longer, printed in negative and combined with animation. Barker claims it's based on Faust. Technically it's very experimental and inventive, and special effects are fascinating considering almost no budget. Some elements from this film he later incorporates in Hellraiser. Although I'm impressed by results amateur achieved without budget, relying only on his imagination, cleverness and small group of friends, it would be lying to say I liked it. It's so boring that I barely endured till the end. I must admit that skinning scene is unbelievably convincing considering circumstances. When I found out how it's done I was sincerely stunned.

4/10

Appeal of the forbidden not existent in here

[Horst_In_Translation · 4/10 · 7 July 2017]

The plot-less "The Forbidden" is a British 36-minute movie from 1978, so this one will have its 40th anniversary next year. It was written and directed by Clive Barker and it is one of his very early works, his second I believe as he was only in his mid-20s when he made it. Now in his 60s, his most known work is certainly "Hellraiser", but he also worked on many many video games, not just as a movie maker. Back to this one here: This black-and-white film is as experimental as it gets. It features Barker himself as part of the cast too and as the title suggests the focus is on the forbidden here: this includes sexuality, disability and all kinds of other stuff, including some really bizarre creatures. Overall, I did not really like it and I genuinely wonder why such a young man would come up with such a dark film. I mean it would be okay if it somehow made a creative impact, but I must say it did not. At least not for me. This one is shown frequently together with Salome, Barker's very first work and I will check that one out soon as well I guess. As for this one here, I very rarely see quality in here only, so it's a thumbs-down from me. Not recommended.

I have Salome and The Forbidden together

[Dr_Coulardeau · 10/10 · 3 February 2007]

Two short black and white films by Clive Barker from the time when he was a student in Liverpool with a couple of friends who will become associates later on in Hollywood. Salome is a reference to the Bible, John the Baptist and King Herod. John is shown as a young beardless angel who is of course loved and tortured by Salome. The Forbidden is a work that could and should stand all by itself. It does not bring anything to it to say it is an illustration of Faust. In fact it is a revealer about Clive Barker's imagination and interests more than anything else. Both films have in common that they are pocket money films, done with so little budget that they could have been a pure waste of time. But they are not because of Barker's fantastical (as he says) imagination. He is interested in the body, its suffering, its confinement, its torturing, its structure, looks, excitement and excitation, etc. He is particularly fascinated by the male body as a direct representative of human destiny, human lot, man's history. Salome is a great evocation of the Bible playing on essentially shadow and light. Salome's dancing is pure movement amplified by the veils and magnified by the bathing suit she is wearing under the veils. She is supposed to titillate and fascinate, in one word entrap you through your eyes into her own domination. Woman is shown as a temptation that only leads you to enslavement, or even worse if we think of John the Baptist. The Forbidden is another story. This time it is entirely centered on two men, with an accessory woman. The first bearded man is imprisoned behind bars. But here appears the fundamental pattern of Barker's imagination : the square with a window that is cut up into small squares shaped with crossing bars. Then he works on this pattern and turns it into a nail board cut up into square with nails at each corner. To get to this board he has introduced a fast flitting picture of the complete square pattern : a square, the two diagonals and the four nails at each corner. This pattern will be recurrent in Barker's novels and films and will be basic with the famous Pinhead from Hellraiser. But this imprisoned man dreams of the outside world with birds, nature and some kind of masked and heavily dressed figure following a naked young man crawling in grass. The masked figure will undress completely and become the young male figure in the nude. And here the prisoner is kind of rejuvenated by the dancing young man with a powerful and lasting erection. There we can easily see the voyeur in the prisoner who looks at a young man and desires him, to be as young as him, or to be him, or to possess him ? Probably all of them though Barker will not push further this question. The prisoner will not touch the young man. But Barker is going to punish the prisoner for his desire by having him peeled on a table by several pairs of hands, one belonging to a woman. This part is extremely powerful, poignant, impressive. Then the man will stand and dance in his turn, skinless like a live écorché, which he is literally. These old films have to be seen and pondered upon to understand Clive Barker's later art.

Dr Jacques COULARDEAU, University of Paris Dauphine & University of Paris 1 Pantheon Sorbonne

Excellent work of art

[PeterRoeder · 8/10 · 8 June 2004]

I´m very proud to be the first to comment on this film. Clive Barker is a true genius of horror art and all ready as a teenager he had the passion. Some of his unique ideas are shown in this great work of art where he transforms his apartment to something, I don´t know what. I think Salome and the Forbidden should be judged as one and the same film, so this is what my review is about. They are both excellent movies. There is a scene where a man is skinned by demons/angels - a very Barkeresque theme as we know but who had even thought about that before? It is supposedly very liberating to be skinned - I don´t know I wouldn´t try it. I cannot even stand the thought of giving blood. I heard he sent in this idea to a film studio where Clive wrote: "It ends with the sublime and wonderful moment where the main character is skinned alive." They rejected it and wrote back: "What is sublime and wonderful about being skinned alive?" Watch also out for Doug Bradley "pinhead" dancing around naked with a giant erection apparently dressed up like some kind of monster. There are many prequels to "Hellraiser" in these movies.

Excellent Clive Barker short

[Rautus · 10/10 · 12 March 2008]

The Forbidden is a short movie made by horror master Clive Barker when he was young and included his friends Peter Atkins and Doug Bradly, two people who would later get careers in the film business. Peter Atkins would become a screenwriter who wrote Hellbound: Hellraiser II, Hellraiser III: Hell on Earth, Hellrasier: Bloodline, Wishmaster and Fist of the North Star, Doug Brdaley would become an actor who played as the horror icon Pinhead in the Hellraiser movies as well as acting in other things like Pumpkinhead: Ashes to Ashes. The Forbidden is not based on the short story with the same title, the short story called The Forbidden was about the Candyman and in 1992 it was adapted into a film starring Tony Todd and Virgina Madsen. The short movie is completely different, Clive Barker claimed this short film to be based on Faust. The Forbidden is a very creepy and atmospheric film, the music that plays in the background is unnerving. The film has some good imaginative effects and some good camera work, the animation such as the birds flying by the window is impressive and it gives the film a interesting appeal, the skinning scene is pulled off effectively and looks good. An interesting thing is that there are shots of nails which look similar to Pinhead's nails and it was even pointed out in the introduction before the film started.

The Forbidden is a great short film by Clive Barker that's chilling and creepy, can you see it in the special disk in the Region 2 Hellrasier box set or you can buy DVD that has both Clive Barker's short movies Salome and The Forbidden. Check this out. 10/10

The surreal, hallucinatory, bizarre and nightmarish antecedent of Hellraiser

[Elvis-Del-Valle · 8/10 · 14 March 2023]

This film was inspired by the myth of Faust and already presented elements that would later be used in the Hellraiser saga, since the images of the film represent forbidden pleasures, which is a concept that Barker used later in his novel The Hellbound Heart and finally in the film adaptation Hellraiser and that is how one of the most popular sagas of horror cinema was born. The funny thing is that when Barker wrote the Candyman story, he also decided to call it The Forbidden, perhaps because he couldn't think of a better name. The Forbidden has a mix of negative tape with black and white, which makes it look very strange. It is a whole sequence of erotic, dark and nightmarish images which make it a very unusual and curious tape. With this film, Clive already gave a small sample of the chilling world of his works. My rating for this film is 8/10.

Two From Barker

[Michael_Elliott · 30 October 2008]

Forbidden, The (1978)

** 1/2 (out of 4)

Second film from writer/director Barker is somewhat based on the tale of Faust but it certainly goes in its own way. The movie was shot on a 16mm negative, which gives it an overexposed look, which adds to the surreal nature of the film. I'm really not sure what Barker was going for expect to come up with some very strange and he certainly captures that here. The movie has a nice music score to go with it and the film really captures the mood of doom and death. There's an extremely bizarre sex scene and an even stranger scene where a man with an erection dances to something that I'm not quite sure what it is. Pete Atkins and Doug Bradley, both from Barker's Hellraiser appear in the film as well. I doubt horror fans are really going to jump all over this film but if you enjoyed Luis Bunuel's early "art" films then this might be more for you.

Salome (1973)

* (out of 4)

Early film from Barker tells the story of a beardless John who is loved and tortured by the mysterious Salome. At least I think this film is trying to tell the story from the Bible as it's rather hard to tell because I had a really hard time following the film. I think it's very safe to say that Barker hadn't yet gained his talent for constructing a story that the viewer is able to follow but I guess you can't really blame him considering how young he was. The film was shot on 8mm, which makes the visual look of the film very grainy but this actually works well and leads to some fairly well crafted scenes. Some of the lighting effects are also well handled but in the end the film is still a major drag to get through.