Contamination (1980) **1/2
After ripping off Star Wars (1977), Barbarella (1968) (my review here) and Flash Gordon (1980) (my review here) in his 1978 film Starcrash (my review here), Luigi Cozzi (under the alias Lewis Coates) decided to tackle an Alien (1979) (my review here) rip-off (with James Bond villain elements for good measure) with Contamination (1980).
Despite gory slow motion chest explosions (which earned the film a place on the Video Nasties list), a fantastic score by "The" Goblin (in actuality only three key members of the band, which has had many, many varied lineups), some very amusing dialogue, and a laughably poor and immobile "Alien Cyclops" puppet in the film's climax (which isn't a spoiler because it's mentioned right in the intro credits), Contamination still manages to drag quite a bit and never fully recovers.
As far as Italian exploitation, you can do much worse but you can also do much better. I've seen the film three times now and I still enjoy it for reasons mentioned above, but it's definitely best enjoyed with a crowd who can laugh at it along with you.
Despite gory slow motion chest explosions (which earned the film a place on the Video Nasties list), a fantastic score by "The" Goblin (in actuality only three key members of the band, which has had many, many varied lineups), some very amusing dialogue, and a laughably poor and immobile "Alien Cyclops" puppet in the film's climax (which isn't a spoiler because it's mentioned right in the intro credits), Contamination still manages to drag quite a bit and never fully recovers.
As far as Italian exploitation, you can do much worse but you can also do much better. I've seen the film three times now and I still enjoy it for reasons mentioned above, but it's definitely best enjoyed with a crowd who can laugh at it along with you.
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