One of the finest examples of 80's Italian cheese would have to be the Luigi Cozzi (Star Crash) vehicle Contamination (aka Alien Contamination & Toxic Spawn). Obviously a direct rip on the American made Alien, you'd be hard pressed to find me an 80's import like this that isn't a complete and utter rip. But that's part of the fun and appeal of these flicks, isn't it? While American directors were trying to make original films with true fright (stress on the word attempting) these guys tried to earn their minor bucks with extreme over the top exploitation rip-off goodness. Of course these films made the censors very happy because they got to do what they do best by taking their rusty scissors to a strip of film. Blue Underground to the rescue, with a complete restoration (audio and video) of the chest-bursting classic. Presented on DVD in a mind blowing special edition. Blue Underground... I'm not sure how they do it, but I'm sure glad they do.

When a mysterious ship comes floating into harbor in New York, a group of investigators put on their "toxins can't hurt me suits" and climb aboard to take a look. Once onboard they discover that the crew has been turned to a bloody mess and these strange pulsating egg like, well... eggs are also onboard as well as strangely enough, many boxes of coffee. It's at this point that we find out, and I quote "What killed those men certainly wasn't coffee!" They obviously haven't tasted the mud we have here at the office that passes for java, deadly. Thinking it's a good idea, one of the investigators picks up an egg which promptly explodes goo on each of the unsuspecting saps who are about to explode themselves... and explode they do! Moving along, one of our investigators survives, Lt. Aris (Marino Mase) and is promptly cleaned up and introduced to colonel Stella Holmes (Louise Marleau) and her high tech equipment.

The investigation continues and uncovers a warehouse full of eggs and coffee right in the heart of New York. Fearing the worst, the officials think that there's a devious plan to infect the city via the eggs and the sewer system. It's at this point that everyone remembers about a previous expedition to Mars and some crazy talk about some alien eggs. The surviving member of the expedition Commander Hubert (Ian McCulloch) who had been blacklisted because of his crazy talk of alien eggs is contacted and reluctantly joins the investigation, which takes them to South America to seek out both the coffee and possible egg plantation. No one is prepared for what is discovered and it all culminates with an alien creature that needs to be seen to be believed.

Contamination is certainly not a film that's remembered for its award winning qualities, actually it's quite the contrary. This film is pure and utter cheese from start to finish, and god knows how much The Monsters love their cheese! Just about everything this film has to offer is way over the top and utterly ridiculous. The performances (Ian Mcollogh is wonderful as always), the inane dialogue right down to the over the top gore effects it's all crazier than you could ever have imagined. It's a wonder that these people are even able to communicate with one another. There's one scene in which Colonel Hubbard is shown a picture of an egg and says, "Yes, they were green like the one in the photograph" despite the fact that the photo he was shown was in B&W. In another mind blowing conversation a scientist tells a room of people that these are definitely NOT eggs, and then in the same sentence goes on to reference them as eggs and their insides as yolk! But it's not an egg, really!

It's all very silly yes... but that just makes it all the more enjoyable. Contamination will never be know as a "good" film in any sense of the word, but what it is very successful at is being a "good", bad film. One of the best actually, and very entertaining from start to finish (on various levels to boot). The real winners here are the crazy characters and over the top special effects which are still quite impressive to this very day. The alien creature that's discovered is a virtual visual feast and the craziness of its eating habits will leave you wide-eyed and slack jawed. Of course Contamination wouldn't be Contamination without exploding chests and yes the blood does spray, quite freely. Don't kid yourself, this film is so bad it's good and at the same time a near essential for any cult film collection.

Well, by now you're probably saying to yourself "OK, Lawrence... so here's this flick that you're saying isn't very good and now you're insisting that I buy it. So tell me, how does the flick look?" Good question! I said it before and I'll say it again, I don't know how Blue Underground does it. Throw those muddy 5th gen bootlegs out the window, because this is the definitive version of Contamination on DVD (Jeez, I never thought I'd hear myself utter those words). This is a near flawless transfer in just about every sense. Colors (for what it's worth) are fairly bright and stable (considering the fact that they must have used real cheapo film stock) and there is really no evidence of print damage whatsoever, save for the occasional spec. Grain is near non-existent, bottom line here is that this flick looks great (considering its obvious budgetary limitations). Now, keep in mind that there are some problems that were inherit in the original source material. Some night scenes were shot in very low light situations and appear very dark (yet black levels still remain solid with nice shadows and definition). Other scenes suffer from that dreaded 80's "soft focus" look as well, but overall the film looks just grand.

As far as the audio, well it's tough to discuss without getting very excited. Blue Underground presents Contamination with multiple audio options including mono and Dolby 2.0 as well as (and I hope you're sitting down) Dolby 5.1 EX and DTS 6.1 ES! I shit you not, this is Goblin in DTS! GOBLIN IN DTS! Both digital tracks are extremely impressive. Not much in the way of directional effects, but sound just fills the room. The Goblin score (one of my personal non Argento and apparently non Caludio Simonetti faves) sounds top notch. Dialogue is crystal clear and there is no hiss or background noise at all... nada. I know a lot of people are gonna bitch at this film getting the 5 star audio/video treatment on DVD, but we must remember it's a matter of which materials are available. If the original materials are there and they can successfully manipulate them, I say go for it no matter what the title is. Blue Underground has really stepped up to the plate on this one with a rock solid audio/video presentation of a really fun cheese ball flick.

Extras include an interview with Cozzi entitled Alien Arrives on Earth, as well as a vintage behind the scenes documentary on the making of the film (18 and 23 minutes respectively). Cozzi speaks very candidly about his career and the making of the film, going so far as to say actress Louise Marleau was singled out for the film because the needed an ugly actress! Also included is a theatrical trailer, cool poster and still gallery, conceptual drawings (cool sketches) and the films graphic novel as a DVD ROM supplement. Truly an excellent array of supplements to complement the fine film at hand.

I can't even begin to think of how many people are going to be overjoyed (and how many will be frustrated as well) with this DVD. I know there is a huge fan base and high anticipation for this title and it has certainly been worth the wait. Dig it folks, this is the finest genre DVD of the year so far, Blue Underground has hit another homerun, and this one's way out of the park!

Don't forget to check out Blue Underground online, by clicking here!