Product Details

• Actors: Ian McCulloch, Louise Marleau, Marino Masé, Siegfried Rauch, Gisela Hahn
• Directors: Luigi Cozzi
• Writers: Luigi Cozzi, Erich Tomek
• Producers: Claudio Mancini, Ugo Valenti
• Format: Anamorphic, Color, Dolby, DTS Surround Sound, DVD, Widescreen, NTSC
• Language: English (Dolby Digital 1.0), English (Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround), English (Dolby Digital 5.1 EX), English (DTS ES 6.1)
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Rating: R (Restricted)
• Studio: Image Entertainment
• DVD Release Date: September 9, 2003
• Run Time: 95 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 3.1 out of 5 stars See all reviews (23 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B00007L4MC
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #142,763 in Movies & TV (See Bestsellers in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com
Director Luigi Cozzi's science fiction thriller, which borrows wholesale from Alien for its loopy plot, is a gleefully cheesy gorefest that should please horror fans with a fondness for the lowbrow. Long-suffering Eurocult Ian McCulloch (Zombie) stars as an astronaut who joins an investigation into the appearance of extraterrestrial eggs on a ghost ship in New York's harbor. Their search uncovers an Earth-based conspiracy to cultivate the eggs for world domination. Despite the abundant gore and lunk-headed script, Contamination has an endearingly naive tone that suggests '50s-era B science fiction (of which Cozzi is a fan); as such, one can't be too harsh on a film that displays its affections so openly. Amazingly, Contamination has been banned in England since being named in the "video nasty" debacle of the early '80s. Blue Underground's widescreen DVD is uncut (with 5.1 Dolby and DTS sound!), and should be a welcome addition to any cult collector's cache. --Paul Gaita

Product Description
The original gut-blasting classic, now totally uncut and uncensored! A deserted ship arrives in New York City carrying a slaughtered crew and an even more horrific cargo: mutant green eggs the size of footballs that pulsate with life until they spray hideous chest-bursting death! But when a government research team begins an investigation, they uncover a grisly conspiracy of murder, space monsters and coffee. Who is harvesting these alien hell-spores? What is their connection to a doomed mission to Mars? And most important of all, how many actors will die screaming in massive explosions of blood, guts and gore? Ian McCulloch (Zombie) stars in this Italian splatter favorite co-written and directed by Luigi Cozzi (Starcrash), featuring a pounding score by Goblin (Suspiria). Also known as "Alien Contamination" and "Toxic Spawn," this juicy shocker was censored worldwide for its ultra-nasty exploding chest scenes now proudly restored from the original vault negative to all their gory glory!

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Blue Underground, I adore you!, December 30, 2003

By A Customer

1979 was a very important year for the Italian film industry. Why? Because two American genre films -- DAWN OF THE DEAD and ALIEN -- spurred a slew of imitators from the land of Folcelli pasta. Although DAWN's rip-offs were countless and have gained cult status (some of them have become minor classics), most Italian ALIEN clones have been discarded like yesterday's trash. Directed by Luigi Cozzi, a sort of poor man's Lucio Fulci, CONTAMINATION was made immediately after the success of the Ridley Scott classic. Cozzi also blessed us with the silly STAR WARS-inspired STARCRASH in 1979.

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.

A stereotypical Italian NYC cop (Marino Masé) survives the ordeal and teams up with a female military scientist (Louise Marleau). She calls on a now reclusive, alcoholic former astronaut (Ian McCulloch) who returned from Mars without his companion and with unbelievable stories about deadly alien eggs. Proof has now given his tales some clout, so the three trace the strange cargo back to a coffee company in South America! After more victims explode like overcooked meatballs in a microwave oven, a 50s-style Cyclops alien appears and is basically the force behind this mad plot to take over the earth.

CONTAMINATION was released in the U.S. as "Alien Contamination" and when it came out on video, it was pretty much was ignored in favor of rentals of DR. BUTCHER M.D. and ZOMBIE (both also with Scottish thesp McCulloch). It's basically low-grade, cheap thrills with some nice gore effects (nobody did it better than the Italians, Savini included) and homages to INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS, IT CAME FROM OUTER SPACE and other sci-films. It starts with a bang, ends with a semi-bang, but there's lots of rubbish in the middle. McCulloch is always a hoot to watch and lifts the film above its otherwise mediocre level.

Blue Underground has done a stellar job releasing CONTAMINATION on DVD. The film has dull color schemes and bad lighting to begin with, but this transfer is still excellent. Letterboxed at 1.78:1 with Anamorphic enhancement, it almost looks as though it was made yesterday. The audio is equally impressive, with four separate audio tracks: Mono, Dolby 2.0, Dolby 5.1 EX, and DTS 6.1, so Goblin's pounding score never sounded better.

A few nice extras are included here. "The Alien Arrives on Earth" is a solid video interview with director/co-writer Luigi Cozzi. Say what you will about his talent, but he's an obvious fan of science fiction, and the 50s classics in particular. Cozzi tells us everything you need to know about CONTAMINATION, including little tidbits like how he originally wanted Caroline Munro to play the scientist, but the producer didn't want to cast a beauty queen. "Luigi Cozzi on the Set of Contamination" is an original production short film from 1980 (probably shot in 16mm) that takes us from Cozzi's fantasy-art filled office to the set of the film. Both of these are in Italian with English subtitles. Rounding out the extras are the European theatrical trailer, a photo/still/poster gallery and a graphic novel based on Cozzi's original storyboards. This feature can be opened up on your PC using the free Adobe Acrobat Reader software.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Alien Contamination., April 29, 2008

By	Puzzle box "smockey_421" (Kuwait) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Contamination (DVD)

This was a very odd and cheesy Italian gore flick, it was a mix of horror and science fiction and it was directed by Luigi Cozzi who now owns the Dario Argento store in Rome called Proffondo Rosso. While Contamination was a decent film I just didn't think it was that good, the first half was very promising as we get to see some impressive gore scenes with the exploding stomachs but then the second half kind of loses steam and becomes slightly boring. The green alien eggs were a knock off from Alien and you could tell that this film was trying to cash in on its success which was typical of Italian horror films at the time, some of these films were of course great cause you can't take them too seriously and they were usually gorier than the original films.

Contamination has some pretty bad acting and stars Ian McCulloch who also stared in Zombie 2 and Dr. Butcher M.D. so hes pretty well known among Italian horror fans and the direction from Luigi Cozzi was rather low-key with some scenes looking abit too dark, the pacing was a bit uneven despite having a great opening sequence which had some great suspense and the film also has a weak plot but if your a gore hound then you won't mind since there were plenty of great gore scenes, the exploding stomachs were quite impressive and they even have a scene done in slow motion in case you missed it.

The story's about two astronauts returning to Earth from Mars carrying with them some deadly bacterial eggs the size of footballs which have the lethal potential to destroy the Earth's entire population. When a ship along with its slaughtered crew (their bodies seem to be ripped open from the inside) arrives in New York city a government task force must discover a way to stop the alien invasion before it's lethal containment causes all the city's residents to explode. The film also involves some coffee plantations in South America that has been hiding these eggs for other purposes and Ian McCulloch's character and a female scientist along with a New York city cop are on the trail, oh yeah and theres one laughable alien that appears towards the last half of the film. Contamination was a very trashy gore flick that I enjoyed to a certain level so if your an Italian horror fan then you'll probably like this as well, Blue Underground did a reasonably good job with the transfer and provided the disc with some great special features like interviews with the director and behind the scenes along with a picture gallery.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Alien arrives on Earth, indeed., April 7, 2004

By	Chadwick H. Saxelid "Bookworm" (Concord, CA United States) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Contamination (DVD)

A search of a supposedly deserted ship uncovers a gruesome mystery. The crew is dead, literlly torn apart by some unknown force, and the ship's cargo is not coffee, but groaning, glowing eggs that make people explode whenever contact with the slimy green filling is made. Writer/director 'Lewis Coates' (aka Luigi Cozzi) crafts an incomprehensible story of alien invasion (or simple destruction, the exact goal is never made clear) in this most famous (or infamous) Italian cash-in on Alien. In the to be expected excellent supplements (the disc is from Blue Underground, so special things are almost a matter of routine) Cozzi comes across as a real classic sci-fi geek. Too bad that love didn't infuse his script or direction. While the movie is entertaining, it is mostly for the wrong reasons, and Cozzi fumbles chances for suspense during key moments in the film (i.e. having the female lead trapped in a bathroom with an alien egg) by dragging the scenes out until they become ludicrous. Nonetheless, fans of this long gone era of movie making (late seventies/early eighties low budget schlock cinema) will find something to enjoy in the movie. I did.