1980.
TAGLINES : "They Invade Your Body ... Control Your Mind ... Blow You
Apart! A New Plague on Earth Will Come from the Stars! They Invade Your
Body, Control Your Mind... You can feel them in your blood!" "A former
astronaut helps a government agent and a police detective track the
source of mysterious alien pod spores, filled with lethal
flesh-dissolving acid, to a South American coffee plantation controlled
by alien pod clones. A ship pulls into New York Harbor with no one on
board. The police find a cargo full of green pulsating eggs. Upon
contact, the eggs explode spreading a green acid like substance that
seeps into the skin and explodes. It is later discovered that the eggs
are being manufactured in South America by a one-eyed Martian that grew
from a tiny seed a former astronaut brought back from a expedition to
Mars." Original music by GOBLIN. VIEWER COMMENT : "Like many Italian
exploitation films of the early 80s, CONTAMINATION begins on location in
New York City. A ship enters a harbor with seemingly everyone dead on
board. A group of scientists and police garbed in protective gear
discover a bloody mess, as well as a bunch of mysterious eggs that look
like lime jello footballs. Getting to close to these eggs could prove
deadly, as they spew some goo at you and make your body combust from the
chest outwards." BEHIND THE SCENES TRIVIA : Writer/director Luigi
Cozzi's first script for the film was titled "Alien Arrives on Earth,"
making no effort to hide that his inspiration for Ridley Scott's Alien
(1979) and that this was his idea for that film's sequel. Some countries
also directly marketed the film as a sequel to Scott's film. One of
the 72 films on the Director of Public Prosecutions Video Nasty list and
part of the Video Recordings Act 1984 in the UK. VIEWER COMMENT : "This
Luigi Cozzi sci-fi horror classic gained some infamy in the UK for
having made the infamous 'nasty list', early 1980's video titles deemed
criminally obscene. Aside from its video nasty status, the film is
perhaps best known for a funky Goblin musical score, very jazzy, much
like their past Euro work with the legendary Dario Argento. The
story-line, influenced by other films, is distinctive enough to stand on
its own. For one, these green eggs turn up in NYC, on a giant cargo
ship, in boxes of coffee beans, so where's the 'ham'?! You've got to
love these Italian rip-offs. In 1979, Ridley Scott's ALIEN completely
changed things in the sci-fi/horror genre. Those Italians, though,
really re-invented the term 'chestburster' and took it to an extreme,
unseen before, with flying entrails filling the screen in glorious slow
motion. Slime and goo were in. Gore was in. We're talking about
exploding people, chick slapping, plane crashing madness on a low budget
scale that endears this film to the viewer. Did you realize the alien
'eggs' on Mars are really close-ups of Spanish olives?! If you manage
to get all the way through the film, an extra surprise at the end awaits
you, a huge Alien Cyclops, made of cardboard and papier-mache.
Excellent! Good, gooey, undemanding entertainment. "I feel like somebody
is scratching my head, but from the inside!"
Cast : Ian McCulloch, Louise Marleau, Marino Mase, Siegfried Rauch, Gisela Hahn, Carlo De Mejo, Carlo Monni