Contamination (1980)

Little did cinema realize when it happened just how much Sergio Leone's first two entries of 'The Man With No Name' trilogy, in making spaghetti-western versions of Akira Kurosawa's 'Yojimbo' and 'Sanjuro', would be an influence, today, 50-odd years later. It could be said that in the fervor of Italian directors going from one filmmaking trend to the next (from the neorealist agenda of 'Ossessione' and 'Rome, Open City', to swords-and-sandals epics, then spaghetti westerns, then the crime films of the 70's, then space invasion films, such as this, after the huge global success of Sir Ridley Scott's 'Alien' and George Lucas' 'Star Wars') has had almost as much an influence on cinema as the groundbreaking game-changers that initiated this mass-production. It taught virtually all filmmakers that with a fraction of the huge Hollywood budget, a couple of ideas could be extrapolated into a much cheaper film that could ride on the coattails of success of its way-more-famous predecessor. Being nostalgic, there were some things that really scored big for me and made me raise my rating: Seeing the Twin Towers of New York City again, the Goblin soundtrack and the Cannon Pictures logo, especially. It's a suspenseful, well-made for its expense sci-fi film that isn't simply worth a watch, but is worth owning a copy and re-watching as well. This is most definitely one of my finer finds from my ominous Mill Creek 50-pack, 'Nightmare Worlds'.

For those who saw ZOMBIE, this film starts hilariously similar, featuring an empty vessel floating into New York Harbor while a cop comments that the skipper of that craft "must be a real turkey". Also you'll hear right away a lot of voice-over by Nick Alexander, who was the voice of one of the most prominent characters in ZOMBIE. It's an exploitation movie exploiting a fellow exploitation movie! Things immediately fall apart once we're treated to some truly hideous dialog, poor production values, and even worse editing choices as the film gets into its narrative. The first act of the film benefits most by delivering some juicy exploding body effects though the plot can't really figure out a good way to factor it all into a cohesive and entertaining story. Instead, the characters zip off to South America (I assume because the producers wanted a vacation) and do... nothing! They get to take a tour of a factory and Louise Marleau gets in a non-revealing shower scene. Eventually they get around to battling a motionless alien sitting at the end of a corridor straight out of the similarly Italian co-produced first season episode "Dragon's Domain" of SPACE 1999. Uncharacteristically for sci fi director Cozzi, things stay frustratingly grounded on Earth in this cheap ALIEN knockoff and there's no cut-rate stop motion Harryhausen references to be found. Instead, all the thrills come from the kills which vary heavily in quality. Had this film gone a little more exploitation and featured more exploding bodies, it'd be better remembered. Instead it suffers from a dreadfully slow pace not done any favors by the mundane dialog and weak character development. Decent supporting cast including Ian McCulloch, Siegfried Rauch, and Marino Mase go largely wasted, while star Marleau doesn't look enthusiastic at all. As of now the only consolation comes with a couple of Simonetti's synthesizer tracks which effectively give the film an eerie and otherworldly tone. I think the most amusing thing about CONTAMINATION happens to be the ending in New York, where some of the exploding toxic pods found their way into some random pile of trash on the sidewalk. One of them bursts into the final freeze-frame, but amusingly I'm sure none of the local passersby, accustomed to the filthy cesspool the city was in the 1970's and 80's, even noticed.