Contamination

Discuss releases from Arrow and the films on them.

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Ashirg
Joined: Wed Nov 03, 2004 9:10 am
Location: Atlanta

Contamination

#1 Post by Ashirg » Sat Feb 14, 2015 8:20 pm

Image

Luigi Cozzi's Contamination takes the premise of Ridley Scott's classic Alien and peppers it with exploding guts galore

Branded as a "video nasty" in the UK, director Luigi Cozzi's Contamination takes the premise of Ridley Scott's classic Alien and peppers it with exploding guts galore and a dangerously infectious soundtrack from celebrated Italian prog-rockers Goblin (Deep Red, Suspiria). A cargo ship drifts up the Hudson River. Its crew: all dead, their bodies horribly mutilated, turned inside out by an unknown force. Its freight: boxes upon boxes of glowing, pulsating green eggs. It soon becomes clear that these eggs are not of this planet, and someone intends to cultivate them here on Earth. But who? And to what end? Starring Italian horror veteran Ian McCulloch (Zombie Flesh Eaters), Contamination is an ultra-violent sci-fi epic that really gets under the skin. In space, no one can hear you scream - but on Earth, the terror rings loud and clear!

Bonus Materials
High Definition Blu-ray (1080p) and Standard Definition DVD presentation
Optional English SDH subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
2014 Q&A with Cozzi and star Ian McCulloch, recorded at Abertoir Film Festival
Luigi Cozzi on the Creation of Contamination - an archive documentary hosted by the director and including behind-the-scenes footage
Theatrical Trailer
Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Gary Pullin
Collector's booklet featuring new writing on the film, illustrated with original archive stills and posters

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jindianajonz
Jindiana Jonz Abrams
Joined: Wed Oct 12, 2011 8:11 pm

Re: Contamination

#2 Post by jindianajonz » Sat Feb 14, 2015 9:34 pm

Was this already released in the UK, or is the US going to be getting some exclusive titles from Arrow?

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EddieLarkin
Joined: Sat Sep 08, 2012 10:25 am

Re: Contamination

#3 Post by EddieLarkin » Sat Feb 14, 2015 9:38 pm

Neither. This wasn't part of an announcement; Arrow's U.S. distributor listed it on their website prematurely. I imagine when it actually is announced, it will be part of the U.K. June slate as well.

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Ashirg
Joined: Wed Nov 03, 2004 9:10 am
Location: Atlanta

Re: Contamination

#4 Post by Ashirg » Sat Feb 14, 2015 10:05 pm

Arrow announced on Facebook page that June announcements will be revealed on March 6, but MVD jumped the gun. Reminds of the days when Criterion announcements were posted on Image Entertainment page before Criterion was ready to reveal them.

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rapta
Joined: Sun Jun 29, 2014 5:04 pm
Location: Hants, UK

Re: Contamination

#5 Post by rapta » Sat Feb 14, 2015 10:45 pm

Ashirg wrote:Arrow announced on Facebook page that June announcements will be revealed on March 6, but MVD jumped the gun. Reminds of the days when Criterion announcements were posted on Image Entertainment page before Criterion was ready to reveal them.
Oops! Luckily that only spoils 2 titles for us UK customers, one of which we already knew was coming (Katakuri's). I'd imagine another 3-5 titles/releases still to look forward to being announced! Just means we found out 3 weeks too early...

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colinr0380
Joined: Mon Nov 08, 2004 4:30 pm
Location: Chapel-en-le-Frith, Derbyshire, UK

Re: Contamination

#6 Post by colinr0380 » Sun Feb 15, 2015 7:29 am

Contamination is quite a fun film (Anchor Bay previously released it in the UK, both separately and as part of their video nasty boxset in 2006, the Box of the Banned 2), but you definitely need your tongue in your cheek whilst watching it! It is a blatant Alien rip-off, particularly in the, surprisingly well done, flashback scene to the astronauts visiting the alien ship and finding its egg contents (also in its 'flashback to space' structure it reminded me a little of the way the later Lifeforce structured its storyline).

I think that the main reason it got put on the video nasty list is probably for the opening couple of scenes in which the eggs instead of having monsters in them (too slow working for Italian horror), explode and then cause anybody nearby to themselves pop in a chain reaction! The film does a lot of slow motion revelling in the explosions of fake-looking gore during this. Luckily the film kind of gets bored of this aspect after the first couple of scenes and instead settles down into a kind of food hygiene standards inspector conspiracy thriller (?!?!) about a kind of suspicious South American coffee plantation that might be harbouring more of the eggs (In that sense it is taking its cues as much from the 1970s Invasion of the Body Snatchers film as from Alien).

I ended up enjoying the film, especially for its strangely endearing mix of goofiness and bleakness (not quite Hell of the Living Dead level, but getting there!), and if you can overlook the excrutiatingly drawn out sequence in which the heroine is threatened in her hotel bathroom by getting locked in there with a pulsating egg when she goes to have a shower (something which rather undermines her 'no nonsense' persona by having her have to get rescued by the hero, though I suppose at least it gives Ian McCulloch's character something to do beyond getting drunk!), its not too flawed.
SpoilerShow
It also weirdly uses New York (along with the inevitable shots of the World Trade Center!) in its bookending sequences for almost exactly the same purposes as Fulci's Zombie Flesh-Eaters did!
One of the best aspects of the film is that it features a great score by Goblin (Deep Red, Suspiria, Tenebrae, Dawn of the Dead, The Bloodstained Shadow, Blue Omega). If Arrow could sort out an isolated score or soundtrack option that would be the icing on the cake!

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