Contamination (1980, Luigi Cozzi)

"What else do you want to know about me? How many times a week I screw?"

Just released from Arrow Films is the low budget Italian sci fi film Contamination (aka Alien Contamination, Toxic Spawn or the director's choice Alien Arrives on Earth) directed by Luigi Cozzi, who previously helmed Star Crash with Caroline Munro (Maniac), Joe Spinell and a 26 year old David Hasselhoff. He also directed the giallo The Killer Must Kill Again and a couple Lou Ferrigno Hercules films! I had seen this film a couple times before and each time I liked it a little more so I definitely wanted to give it another shot.

Contamination begins with a bunch of eggs from outer space that mysteriously appear on a ship with a dead crew. These aren't just any eggs though! Oh no! These suckers pulsate until they pop and spray liquid which causes its victim's chests to explode. Ian McCulloch (the one from Zombi Holocaust and Fulci's Zombie, not the one from Echo and the Bunnymen) plays Commander Ian Hubbard, an ex-Astronaut who might know the secret to these eggs. He joins one of the men who found the eggs and a correspondent from the White House to stop whomever is behind the deadly plot to use these eggs to destroy the human race...or whatever.

Contamination is an unashamed Alien ripoff that moves the setting (due to budget restraints) to Earth. What the film didnt skimp on though is gore. Believe me when I tell you the exploding people in this film are INCREDIBLE!!! So nasty and gory. The story is silly, acting and dubbing appropriately hammy and the "reveal" at the end of the film is laugh out loud absurd. With all that said I Loved this film! I can't think of a movie that I've watched recently that was more watchable and entertaining. Though definitely not for everyone, Italian horror and cheesy B Movie fans should definitely have fun with this film. I must also note that the artwork on the cover of Arrow's new Blu Ray/DVD combo is probably the greatest cover I have seen in a long time. Reminds me of Tron meets 50's Sci Fi. Arrow's release itself is amazing and contains literally EVERYTHING you could want included. See the full specs below:

-High Definition Blu-ray (1080p) and Standard Definition DVD presentation
-Optional English SDH subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
-Feature Commentary by filmmaker, Fangoria editor and Contamination super-fan Chris Alexander
- Luigi Cozzi on the Creation of Contamination – an archive documentary hosted by the director and including behind-the-scenes footage
- 2014 Q&A with Cozzi and star Ian McCulloch
- Sound of the Cyclops: Goblin’s 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
- Imitation Is The Sincerest Form of Flattery – A critical analysis of the Italian “Mockbusters” trend of filmmaking which sought to capitalize on the success of Hollywood blockbusters
- Theatrical Trailer
- Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Gary Pullin
- Collector’s booklet featuring new writing on the film by Chris Alexander, illustrated with original archive stills and posters

Purchase this DVD/Blu Ray combo directly from MVD HERE

Contamination (1980, Luigi Cozzi)

Another review, you say? But Mr. Starmummy Sir, it's only been a day since your last review? Don't fret, son. I plan on delivering a poopload of reviews as quickly as possible. I wonder what the metric conversion would be for a poopload?

For my second review, I have chosen the low budget Italian sci fi film Contamination (aka Alien Contamination, Toxic Spawn or the director's choice Alien Arrives on Earth) directed by Luigi Cozzi, who previously helmed Star Crash with Caroline Munro (Maniac), Joe Spinell (mention #2 in my blog) and a 26 year old David Hasselhoff. Contamination stars Ian McCulloch (Lucio Fulci's Zombie) and some other distinguished thespians (by distinguished I mean totally devoid of any acting skills whatsoever). The movie is about a bunch of eggs from outer space that spray liquid which causes its victim's chests to explode. McCulloch's character (so memorable that I have no idea what his name was) holds the secret to these eggs and joins a government researcher and a correspondent from the White House to stop whomever is behind this deadly plot to eliminate the human race...at least I think that's the plot.

When I started watching this, after the first 15 minutes I was saying to myself "this is better than Alien". By the end I was shaking my head wondering how a movie could start out so good and quickly tumble face first into a pile of dogshit. This movie reeks of a ripoff of Alien. Even the director admits the studio wanted to cash in on Alien, which is where the whole bumpy green eggs and chest bursting came from. I will admit, the chest bursting scenes were great. I can definitely see myself going back to the film and watching those scenes again.

Despite the bad acting and the obvious Alien ripoff, the climax is easily one of the most laughable in film history. Without giving too much away, the creature responsible for all of the eggs finally makes its appearance at the end of the film. Let's just say that...how can I put this nicely...it's probably the worst designed creature ever put in a film. It does open up one of its orifices (I couldn't really tell what part of the creature it was supposed to be) and sucks a guy up in it, which was cool. Other than that, crap.

To end this review, I want to say a little bit about the dvd out now of Contamination on Blue Underground, probably my favorite company putting out dvds. The picture is in great shape, especially considering the budget and age. The dvd features an interview with Luigi Cozzi, the highlight of which is when he calls the female lead ugly. There is also a behind the scenes documentary with footage filmed at the time the movie was released.

RATING: 2/5