One of the guiding ideas of the Italian popular cinema during its golden age in the 60s, 70s and early 80s was the filone or 'tributary' principle whereby a hit film, whether Hollywood or domestic, would quickly be – to put it frankly – ripped off.
With Luigi Cozzi's Contamination we see this idea in extremis. The German-Italian co-production, accredited to one Lewis Coates in that age old tradition of the no-name Italian film-maker passing himself off as a no-name Anglo, opens with a ship floating into New York harbour endangering other traffic. Zombie anyone…
A group of police, dressed in chemical/bacteriological warfare suits (shades of The Crazies ) go on board, finding the bloody remains of the crew, a cargo from Café Universχ and some strange eggs – "like a giant avocado or something" as one hapless individual puts it – that emit an eerie moaning noise and prove to burst when in proximity to a victim, showering them in some substance that causes the person to messily explode. Alien comes to mind…
Only one of the policemen, Lieutenant Tony Aris, NYPD (Marino Masé) escapes to be placed in isolation. He is visited by Commander Stella Holmes (Louise Marleau) from a quasi-secret government department answerable only to the President.
A visit to the labs, where an injection of material from an egg into a lab rat causes it to explode – don't worry animal lovers; Cozzi is not one of those figures who wouldn't actually blow up a hapless animal for the sake of an effect – confirms the alien nature of the threat, while the subsequent willingness of a group of warehousemen – genre aficionados will spot the presence of the detective from City of the Living Dead – to fight to the death to defend a store of Café Universχ product indicates that the alien eggs can somehow control the minds of men…
Commander Holmes sees a connection between the aliens and the story told by a disgraced astronaut, Hubbard (Ian McCulloch – the star of Zombie , of course) who, returning from Mars to the polar ice cap some ten years ago – and here we might note that the film otherwise gives every indication of being set in the 1980 present – discovered a cave filled with Nazi flying saucers alien eggs and a creature that emitted a blinding light and took control of his colleague Hamilton (Siegfried Rauch).
The trio decide it is time to visit Columbia and the Café Universχ plant. Their arrival at the airport is, however, noted by the Café Universχ owner, Hamilton, who is determined to protect his alien masters…
After Hubbard saves Holmes from an alien egg planted in her shower – "Help, let me out! There's an egg!" – the trio visit the Café Universχ factory and confront Hamilton, leading to various James Bondesque death-trap perils – remembering that with Moonraker the Bond franchise had itself sought to cash in on the post- Star Wars sci-fi boom – and a climactic showdown with the "alien cyclops" puppet master…
The basic problem Contamination has – besides a ludicrous script replete with near-surreal narrative leaps, risible dialogue and less than convincing acting and dubbing – is a lack of money to do proper effects-driven sci-fi horror.
The initial scene with the chestbursters – for want of a better name – is actually pretty well done, but Cozzi then overplays his hand by showing the same effect again and again, in slow motion and from different angles such that one notices the way in which the performer becomes considerably wider to accommodate the FX.
Then the film gets bogged down in cheap lab sets and boring detective work before finally showing the monster that it's obvious accounted for the bulk of the budget despite looking like a throwback to some 50s B-movie like It! The Terror from Beyond Space .
Still, Contamination is harmless fun, such that one cannot understand why it was ever included on the "Video Nasties" list here in the UK, unless it was something to do with its alternative title Alien Contamination being too blatant and encouraging the majors – who hated the way in which obscure independent product was able to compete on a level playing field with their own on the video shelves of the time – to engage in black ops. Too much paranoia and conspiracy…
Goblin's score was so good portions of it would be re-used in Hell of the Living Dead / Zombie Creeping Flesh , a rip-off so bad it makes Contamination look like a triumph of originality, even if the film’s coda seriously sucks…
Contamination is yet another solid release from Blue Underground. The 1.78:1 widescreen transfer looks as though it could almost have come from a film released yesterday, with solid colours, no appreciable grain or artefacting and showcasing some stylish lighting work in the climactic showdown to especially good effect. Audio is likewise impressive, with a choice of the four mixes from the original mono for purists through to a 6.1 DTS version for those who prefer something that shows off their home cinema kit.
The extras also satisfy. The customary interview, "An Alien Arrives on Earth", and making-of segments "Luigi Cozzi on the Set of Contamination" show the effusive director to have a genuine love for the cinema and 50s sci-fi in particular, with the former also dispensing some useful background on the production, like Cozzi’s conflicts with his producer who, oddly, did not favour the idea of having glamour queen Caroline Munro play Stella. (Not coincidentally Munro’s starring role in Cozzi’s Star Wars filone entry was as Stella Star). Besides the European trailer and a gallery, the disc also includes a PDF of the Contamination graphic novel, allowing for an comparison between storyboard and comic book.
Copyright © K H Brown 2002-2005
Rating:
0.0 / 5
(0 votes)
|
7380 views
|
Previous
|
Next
|
Best prices on Contamination
|
Print
|
Email page