Contamination (film)
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| Alien Contamination | |
|---|---|
 US DVD Cover |
|
| Directed by | Luigi Cozzi |
| Produced by | Claudio Mancini |
| Written by | Luigi Cozzi Erich Tomek |
| Starring | Ian McCulloch Louise Marleau |
| Music by | Goblin Agostino Marangolo |
| Cinematography | Giuseppe Pinori |
| Release date(s) | August 2, 1980 (Italy) |
| Running time | 95mins |
| Country | Italy West Germany |
| Language | Italian |
| IMDb profile | |
Contamination (aka Alien Contamination) is a 1980 science fiction horror film directed by Luigi Cozzi and starring Ian McCulloch. [1]
Contents |
[edit] Cast
| Actor | Role |
|---|---|
| Ian McCulloch | Commander Ian Hubbard |
| Louise Marleau | Colonel Stella Holmes |
| Marino Masé | Lieutenant Tony Aris, NYPD |
| Siegfried Rauch | Hamilton |
| Gisela Hahn | Perla de la Cruz |
| Carlo De Mejo | Agent Young |
| Carlo Monni | Dr. Turner |
[edit] Plot Synopsis
A large ship drifts into New York Harbor, seemingly abandoned. The ship is discovered to be carrying large containers of coffee, hidden inside of which are a series of football-sized green eggs. The crew sent in to explore the ghost ship find the mutilated remains of the former crew gathered in one place, and they soon discover the reason why: when touched by a human hand, the green eggs explode, spraying a viscous liquid over everything. The liquid is toxic to living creatures, and causes the body to immediately explode.
The military's answer to this phenomenon is Colonel Stella Holmes. She establishes a link between the green eggs and a recent mission to Mars that ended badly for the two astronauts who descended to the planet. One of them disappeared, and the other, Commander Hubbard, had a breakdown and subsequently became alcoholic. When pressed, Hubbard agrees to help Holmes in her investigation of the insidious plot to bring the deadly eggs to Manhattan, and it takes them to a Columbian coffee plantation. All is not as it seems; Hubbard's former astronaut colleague is apparently alive and well and living under the influence of a monstrous alien cyclops, which is using mind control to further its plot to flood the world with the green eggs and wipe out human life on Earth.
[edit] Content
After the Video Recordings Act, Contamination (as it’s known in the UK) was classed as a “Video Nasty”. Specifically, the film includes graphic depictions of human bodies exploding violently in slow motion, as well as the grisly remains of such explosions. While the explosion effects are not technically graphic (each of the exploding victims is encased in some kind of bulky costume that is obviously hiding the mechanism that sprays the gore), they are extremely bloody.
Years later the BBFC classified the uncut version with a 15 certificate. It was released on video in the United States under titles Contamination and Toxic Spawn which are heavily edited. It is now available in the US in an unedited version which has been released on DVD. [2] [3]
Thematically, the film makes some rather obvious references to 1979's "Alien", in the use of small football-sized eggs and human bodies exploding. In some countries, the film was marketed under the title "Contamination: Alien on Earth". It is worth noting that the film adds a large spider-like creature called "The Cyclops", an alien who is responsible for the creation of the murderous green eggs. This same idea was echoed years later by James Cameron in his highly successful official sequel to "Alien", "Aliens".
[edit] References
- ^ Wingrove, David (1985). Science Fiction Film Source Book. Longman Group Limited, p24.
- ^ The Video Nasties List...Tabloid Hysteria (HTML). Retrieved on 2007-02-19.
- ^ The Video Nasties Furore (HTML). hysteria-lives. Retrieved on 2007-02-19.
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