Contamination

[The Blind Dead]

Here’s the deal…I’m not going to waste too much time here yammering on about Contamination being an Alien clone because one need only watch the first half hour of the film to figure that out. Director Luigi Cozzi and producers didn’t have the budget for elaborate aliens and a big fancy ship so they just whipped up some eggs (spray painted rubber balls & balloons) and rigged up some meat filled bladders to capture the whole ‘splodin’ stomach thing and PRESTO! Instant craptastic classic…well…when I say “classic” I really mean to say “sack of shit” because as goofy and fun as Contamination is…its still molto garbagio.

When an abandoned ship, The Caribbean Lady, swings on into New York harbor, the police and health department are called out to investigate the ship for life signs and a possible reason for the abandonment. A small crew head on into the ship and come across some horribly mutilated bodies apparently torn to pieces from the inside out as if they exploded. As they continue their search they happen upon a huge shipment of what appears to be coffee in the cargo hold but upon closer inspection they discover the boxes are all filled with strange green egg-like objects. When one of the eggs rolls from a box against a warm pipe and begins pulsating, glowing and making silly “wow wow” noises, one of the investigation team members scoops the egg up and it explodes propelling green acid into their faces. The strange green acid not only melts skin but it triggers wild, gory chest explosions as well!

Lt. Tony Aris, the only survivor of the Caribbean Lady investigation team, is picked up by Internal Security...[READ MORE HERE] (http://www.joehorror.com/0000824.html)

[Dagnammit]

I actually love this film. Not just in an ironic, cheeseball, eurotrash kind of way, I mean I actually loved it - I genuinely think it's a good movie.

The whole Alien ripoff thing always gets overplayed when Contamination is reviewed; really, beyond the exploding torsos and the cave of eggs scene, there is very little to connect the two movies. If anything, the whole sci-fi/horror conspiracy plot has more in common with something along the lines of The X Files.

Okay, so not all the acting is exactly stellar, but good old Ian McCullough does a great job as always (I always get the feeling he's slumming it, like he could have gone on do some really serious roles if he hadn't been typecast as the "video nasty" hero). The corny dialogue didn't really detract from my enjoyment either, it actually contributed to the funky 1950s sci-fi feel that I love about this flick.

And there's something really satisfying about watching a piece of a bad guy's exploded intestines whip him in the face in ultra-slow motion. :evil:

[The Blind Dead]

The whole Alien ripoff thing always gets overplayed when Contamination is reviewed; really, beyond the exploding torsos and the cave of eggs scene, there is very little to connect the two movies. If anything, the whole sci-fi/horror conspiracy plot has more in common with something along the lines of The X Files.

I don't think the Alien rip-off angle is overplayed at all considering the entire film is based on alien eggs and the promise of exploding chests. I mean without them Contamination would have been an hour and thirty minutes of Kramer...er...Masé hamming it up. There literally IS NO MOVIE without the eggs and chest explosions. In my opinion "very little to connect the two movies" is stretching but to each his/her own. It's enjoyable to some degree but, in my opinion, still a bad movie.

[Dagnammit]

As a rule, Alien ripoffs revolve around a bug-eyed monster stalking gormless characters in tight spaces picking them off one by one. There is none of that in Contamination. In fact, there is no attempt made to capture a dark, claustraphobic Alien-type vibe at all, no dark crawl-spaces here, it's a hokey, day-glo, globetrotting 80s adventure movie! :)

Yes, the eggs and the bodily explosions look like they were... inspired by Ridley Scott's film, but there are shades of a lot of other movies in there too (The Andromeda Strain, Zombie, Quatermass...). In Alien, the eggs are really just a plot device, they are not really central to the main theme of the film (i.e. fighting for your life against a perfect predator), in Contamination the conspiracy behind the "eggs" (which are not really eggs but sort of "biological bombs") were the main impetus for the whole plot.

[The Blind Dead]

As a rule, Alien ripoffs revolve around a bug-eyed monster stalking gormless characters in tight spaces picking them off one by one. There is none of that in Contamination. In fact, there is no attempt made to capture a dark, claustraphobic Alien-type vibe at all, no dark crawl-spaces here, it's a hokey, day-glo, globetrotting 80s adventure movie! :)

Yes, the eggs and the bodily explosions look like they were... inspired by Ridley Scott's film, but there are shades of a lot of other movies in there too (The Andromeda Strain, Zombie, Quatermass...). In Alien, the eggs are really just a plot device, they are not really central to the main theme of the film (i.e. fighting for your life against a perfect predator), in Contamination the conspiracy behind the "eggs" (which are not really eggs but sort of "biological bombs") were the main impetus for the whole plot.
Italian exploitation doesn't deal in "main themes," high concepts or original scripts. Italian explopitation filmmakers simply snatch the most recognizable bits and pieces from better cinema and do their best to create a story around it. In this case it was eggs and chest explosions from Alien. Cozzi himself admits they didn't have the budget for the ship or aliens like Ridley Scott's film. The New Barbarians is nothing more than a Road Warrior rip, Thor the Conqueror is nothing more than a Conan rip and Contamination is undoubtedly an Alien rip. There's even silly elements of James Bond in Contamination!

I understand you enjoyed the film but trying to add some kind of depth and originality to an obvious exploitation cash-in is like using white-out on an essay typed by a monkey. Cozzi himself admits to the film being an alien clone with a few homages to sci-fi B-movies of the 50's and 60's.

[Dagnammit]

I'm certainly not trying to imply that Contamination has any kind of higher meaning or intellectual themes ( :lol: ), I'm basically saying that they ripped off a whole load of other movies a lot more than they ripped off Alien, as you said, there's even a bit of Bond in there! :)

In my opinion, the movie is utterly different in theme and structre to any of the Alien movies, and although it does borrow some recognisable bits and bobs, it's not really fair that it's constantly being dubbed an Alien rehash when it's actually a crazy mish-mash of dozens of different movies (and genres); it just doesn't do it justice (for better or worse).

Pitch Black is an Alien ripoff, Xtro 3 (hahaha, you should review this one!) is an Alien ripoff, but Contamination... I think, if anything, it's an "everything ripoff". :lol:

(BTW, I'm not calling into question your review in general, which I thoroughly enjoyed, as always :drinking: )

[The Blind Dead]

:mrgreen: Ya dirty Contamination lovin' bastard ya!

[Dagnammit]

:mrgreen: Ya dirty Contamination lovin' bastard ya!

The proper term is Contaminee, thank you very much! :)