10 Films That Wanted To Be Alien
1. Contamination
It was a running joke among Italian exploitation filmmakers that if you wanted to know what your next movie was going to be, you only had to look at Hollywood’s box office.
Having previously helmed Star Wars knock-off Starcrash, the finest space opera ever to feature a light saber-wielding David Hasselhoff and a robot with a Southern drawl, Luigi Cozzi pitched a story that brought Alien to Earth and months later found himself calling the shots on this agreeably silly cheapie.
When a freighter arrives in New York with its crew dead, police find a number of pulsating eggs (actually painted balloons) which spray them with a substance that inexplicably causes their bodies to explode. Are these the same eggs seen on an expedition to Mars led by Commander Hubbard (Zombie Holocaust’s Ian McCulloch)?
Also borrowing from Them!, Invasion Of The Body Snatchers and the James Bond films, Contamination is an entertaining schlockfest that allows nothing – including the awkward dialogue and illogical plotting – to stand in its way. Stay tuned and you’ll see one of the great B-movie monsters, a rubbery cyclopean squid that hypnotizes its victims. Enjoy!