Cry-Baby (1990)

 Admittedly, "Cry-Baby" is a very silly movie, and that silliness may not appeal to everyone. I for one found myself consistently bored by the campy goings-on, and found little to like about delinquent greaser 'Cry-Baby' (Johnny Depp) and his redneck family, when the movie insists we cheer on their successes and 'gee-whiz' at their failures.

   It's 1960's Baltimore, and prim, perfect Allison (Amy Locane) has it all- social status, wealth, and a dapper boyfriend (Stephen Mailer.) But, gee, the 'Drapes' from the wrong side of the tracks seem to be having more fun, and Allison is doomed to be a 'Square,' destined for a life of courteousness and decency.  Or is she?

    Everything changes when Allison meets Wade 'Cry-Baby' Walker (Depp,) a singing, dancing, rocking Drape bad boy who wins her heart. But a series of rivalries and misunderstandings strive to keep Cry-Baby and Allison apart. There will be a lot of music and a lot of fights before a customary happy ending, and for me they couldn't get there fast enough.

Forbidden Zone (1982)

"The Forbidden Zone" takes place in a world entirely unlike our own. From the bizarre recreation of California to the freaky-deaky "Forbidden Zone" of the title, nothing looks the way it should look and none of the characters act the way a normal person would act under any given circumstances.

   This is absolutely one of the weirdest movies I have seen in my life. If this intrigues you, this may be the movie for you. If not, maybe not. This bizarre surrealist musical follows Susan B. "Frenchy" Hercules (Marie-Pascale Elfman), a Californian with a pretentious French accent, who passes through a door in her parents' basement to the "Sixth Dimension" a bizarre world ruled by a jealous queen (Susan Tyrrell) and amorous dwarf king (Hervé Villechaize,)

   Frenchy quite willingly becomes the dwarf's sex slave, but the queen, Doris, becomes determined to destroy her. Meanwhile, Frenchy's dunderhead brother Flash and Grandpa enter the Sixth Dimension, hoping to rescue her.

Gypsy (1993)

The first part of this film, led by a manic Bette Midler, plays like "Toddlers & Tiaras" for the Great Depression era. Mama Rose (Midler) spends so much time immersing her daughters in showbiz and sick infantilism, insisting on making them wear little girl's clothes well into puberty, that she forgets what is best for her girls altogether.

   Though not as dark a musical as Tim Burton's "Sweeney Todd" or Lars Von Trier's "Dancer in the Dark," "Gypsy" emanates a diseased kind of wistfulness, marked by broken dreams and shattered egos. Meanwhile Bette Midler plays Mama Rose as if it was her last performance on earth, but backed up by the stagy sets and old-timey attitude, her performance is actually a strength, not a deterrent.