Contamination [2 Discs] [Blu-ray/DVD]

Overview

Following the surprising success of his cheapjack Star Wars knockoff, Star Crash, Italian director Luigi Cozzi was given the helm of this cheapjack Alien knockoff. An alien cyclops causes a man to cover the Earth with nasty eggs (sometimes made of silicone, sometimes close-ups of common olives). The eggs release gelatinous gunk which makes people explode, and it's all part of the alien's plan to take over the world. Cozzi, a less-talented prot?g? of Dario Argento, at least gets a good soundtrack by using his mentor's house band, Goblin, but delivers a bad film nonetheless. The director admits that the ludicrous monster was made of badly painted papier-mache, requiring 96 separate cuts to look convincing in its big scene. It didn't work.

Product Details

Release Date:	07/07/2015
UPC:	0760137736899
Original Release:	1981
Rating:	NR
Source:	Arrow Video
Region Code:	1
Presentation:	[Wide Screen]
Sound:	[Dolby Digital Mono, Dolby Digital Stereo]
Language:	English
Time:	1:35:00
Sales rank:	22,606

Special Features

Brand new audio commentary by filmmaker, Fangoria editor and Contamination super-fan Chris Alexander; Notes on Science-Fiction Cinema - an archive documentary featuring behind-the-scenes footage and director Luigi Cozzi on the birth of Contamination; 2014 Q&A with Cozzi and star Ian McCulloch; Sound of the Cyclops: Maurizio Guarini on the music of Contamination-the Goblin keyboardist discusses Contamination's dark, progressive rock score and a lifetime of making music for Italian terror; Luigi Cozzi vs. Lewis Coates- a brand new interview with the director in which he discusses his filmmaking career from past to present; Imitation Is The Sincerest Form of Flattery: A Critical Analysis of the Italian Cash-In-a brand new featurette looking at the Italian genre movies which sought to cash-in on popular Hollywood blockbusters; Theatrical trailer; Graphic novel based on the original Contamination screenplay

Cast & Crew

Performance Credits

Ian McCulloch	Commander Ian Hubbard
Louise Monroe	Col. Holmes
Martin Mase	Actor,Actor
Siegfried Rauch	Hamilton
Louise Marleau	Colonel Stella Holmes
Gisela Hahn	Perla de la Cruz,Actor
Ian McCullough	Hubert
Marino Masé	Lt. Tony Aris
Lisa Hahn	Hamilton's ass't
Samuel Rauch	Actor
Al Cliver	Actor
Carlo De Mejo	Actor
Carlo Monni	Actor
Martin Sorrentino	Actor
Brigitte Wagner	Actor
Goblin	Composer

Technical Credits

Erich Tomek

Luigi Cozzi	Director
Claudio Mancini	Producer
Ugo Valenti	Producer
Giovanni Corridori	Special Effects
Erich Tomek	Screenwriter

Editorial Reviews

This ambitious but threadbare exploitation opus does its best to combine modern gore and old-fashioned sci-fi elements but the end results are far from impressive. Writer/director Luigi Cozzi's approach is agreeably unpretentious, stitching together ideas from worthy sources as diverse as Alien, Invasion Of The Body Snatchers and Zombie, but his combination of these elements lacks the inspiration and craftsmanship to make this patchwork approach work. Even at a 90-minute length, Alien Contamination drags interminably due to Cozzi's poor pacing. Some horror fans might find themselves drawn in by the film's array of gruesome makeup effects scenes but even these moments aren't terribly impressive due to poor editing and staging that makes them look unintentionally silly. The script's ham-handed dialogue doesn't help things, veering between phony science jargon that makes Ed Wood's scripts sound like Shakespearean works and groan-inducing romantic banter that fail to spark any interest in the colorless leads. The performances are the final nail in the coffin: genre vet Ian MacCullough acquits himself well but the other performances are either inert (Louise Marleau) or amateurish (Marino Mase). To sum up, Alien Contamination fails to deliver even by exploitation film standards and is likely to disappoint even the most patient viewers.