When a large, seemingly abandoned ship wanders into the harbor of New York, a small group of scientists and officers are sent to investigate. While on board, they discover that save for two deceased men, most of the crew has disappeared, and the only objects remaining on board are a collection of coffee crates that harbor large, green eggs inside of them. When exposed to heat and physical contact, the items pulsate and explode into a mess of an acid-like substance, which subsequently causes any nearby recipient's chest to explode from within. After the word of these ghastly revelations gets out to the military, they send in one Colonel Stella Holmes, who is convinced that there is a connection between these unknown eggs and a recent trip to Mars for two astronauts that ended when one disappeared not long after touching down on the planet.
It goes without saying that nearly any and every fan of horror cinema likes at least one or two Italian-based productions. Whether it is something stylish and beautifully macabre (Suspiria, Cemetery Man), an insane, violent romp with a rock and roll attitude (Demons), or something that is just out flat out bizarrely entertaining amongst glorious moments of gore (City of the Living Dead, Zombi 2), there is a little bit of something out there for everyone to enjoy. Lesser known to casual fans of this vastly humongous genre is the smaller offshoot of what has been dubbed over the years as the "Italian knockoffs." While not completely plagiarizing their sources of inspiration, these films had an unabashed, un-ironic tendency to take pictures from the west, give them a bit of a more colorful makeover by upping the blood spillage, increase the amount of buxom beauties shown throughout, and throw in a killer synth-based soundtrack to boot. Hell, even the latter feature from Lucio Fulci mentioned above was promoted as a sequel to George Romero's Dawn of the Dead many years before the actual follow-up was written and sent out to cinemas!
So, judging by Contamination's poster and my knowledge that it was often marketed as Alien Contamination in other circles, I was fully prepared for a nastier version of Ridley Scott's science fiction/horror classic from 1979, which was released to theaters only a year prior to this project from overseas. However, the similarities to that movie are surprisingly more exaggerated than I expected them to be. Outside of featuring the larger-sized eggs which cause explosions from the unfortunate victim's front area, Luigi Cozzi's (also of Star Wars knockoff Star Crash fame) foray into this field surprisingly stands on its own as a fairly unique beast, and shares virtually nothing in common with the flick that gave us the Xenomorph and Face Hugger. Most of Contamination borrows, but doesn't steal from an assortment of stateside thrillers and Sci-Fi features rather than just one singular entity. There is even a small influence from crime dramas thrown into the mix, with the actual bursting kept to a minimum so that it doesn't dissolve into relentless bloodshed with no actual human drama. Yes, it isn't like Contamination is the first to do this, but it feels oddly fresh when you think about the whole shebang and that it could have just made the conscious decision to be ninety minutes of endless violence instead.
Despite featuring some absolutely horrendous "dubbing" from those involved in the post-production and editing areas (the voices on every black character are comically cringe-inducing), most of Contamination's actual cast does a fairly admirable job in the acting department. Ian McCulloch. also of Zombi 2 fame, is a likable protagonist who while initially reluctant to revisit something that obviously scarred him, eventually becomes more than game to just go with the flow of things. It was pretty fun to watch him (along with Marino Mase's over-the-top wiseass cop) at every moment while jointly immersing ourselves in this astronaut's immensely strange, horrific backstory. Louise Marleau brings an occasional pout-heavy, soap opera-level type of performance with her to the flick, but it just ends up increasing one's enjoyment of the entire experience. Still, I feel as though I will never get over seeing any crew distinctly mouth the proper words from the script on screen, only to have somebody clearly not on their same level butcher what they worked so hard at doing correctly. While the aforementioned departments seemingly failed here and there in the realm of voiceovers, they more than made up for it by working on other tasks. The sound effects of the eggs themselves is incredibly creepy, and one wonders if the eerie humming that they emit is coming from the inside of their shells or from the faint, luminescent glow that surrounds them. It's the type of noise that you would absolutely never want to hear if you were attempting to go to sleep (or if you open the refrigerator for breakfast). Better yet, Contamination is blessed to have its score composed by beloved Italian progressive rock band Goblin, whose work on a plethora of pictures from directing great Dario Argento has cemented their legacy in the genre. Truth be told, their pieces help Cozzi's picture save itself on more than one occasion when it begins to lull or if it nearly jumps into the territory of being too silly. When the primary culprit behind these incidents is revealed (tell me you won't get a Mother Brain vibe from this monstrosity), their tracks give off a sense of fascination that easily resonates with the audience, while simultaneously syncing up perfectly with the newly-instilled fear in our protagonists.
Thank goodness for pictures like Contamination. It isn't a particularly great movie per se, and as hinted at, the second half does tend to drag for a bit (though it's turned right back up to eleven during the final twelve minutes), but the amount of heart and B-grade grandeur put into it does make for a rather good way to kill some time. Think of this entry as a pleasantly memorable pit stop in between looking for other foreign productions in the world of horror and peculiar science fiction. Or, if you want to make a more appropriate comparison for the newer generation that reads this, it is as if The Asylum actually knew how to properly make a motion picture with a small budget and honest-to-god effort. If your curiosity has been peaked, a myriad of ways to watch this bad boy online or in person are available. There's YouTube, Amazon Prime, and even a ridiculously packed Blu-Ray from Arrow Video that is readily available for purchase.
And come on, you know that you want to give your money to a grown man who colorized, edited, and released the original Godzilla: King of the Monsters in his home country during 1977. Right?.......Right?
.....okay, I SWEAR that will be the last reference to another god damn kaiju movie on here for at least the rest of the month!
Tomorrow, it is time to catch up yet again with one of the masters of horror literature, and I regale you with a tale from my high school years related to the work in question!
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