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Alpha Incident (1977)


Cast:

Ralph Meeker is Charlie
Stafford Morgan is Dr. Sorensen
John F. Goff is Jack Tiller
Carol Irene Newell is Jenny
George 'Buck' Flower is Hank


What the box says:

A Mars space probe returns to Earth and brings with it a microorganism from the red planet. While transporting the microscopic alien life form by train, there is an accident and the microorganism is unleashed. Exposure to the alien virus forces four strangers into quarantine while the government scientists rush to find a cure.


Plot:

Scienctists is studying a Martian virus that is being shipped near Denver by train. It's infectious ability to spread has most of the research scientists terrified when they see how the virus explodes a lab rat.

On the train, the conductor keeps snooping around the cargo and breaks it open but keeps it a secret from the Ted, the government man, who was to guard it. The train switches boxcars to another train at a station. Ted learns that everyone at the depot will have to be quarantined. He has a hard time keeping Jack, sleazy guy who stopped at the depot, from running off.


The pain...The pain...Keeps coming...
Hank, the conductor, is getting more and more paranoid and runs off into the woods. Ted shoots him but he still gets away.

The command center is told of Hank's escape. He wanders off into the woods with the National Guard patrolling. Hank keels over dead.

Back at the station, Ted, Jack, Jenny, and Charlie keep up the small talk. Ted is told that they need to stay awake. Sleep activates the virus. They need to stay awake to survive...

The next day, supplies are air lifted to them. They're getting nervous when they have to start taking amphetamines to keep them awake. Jack wants to party....

The scientists are working on the virus.

Charlie falls over dead and has an exploding head.


Frankenstein's monster still isn't going to lose the handsome monster contest...
Jenny sees this happen.

How did I get talked into thinking this movie would improve me career?
She grabs Ted's pistol and shoots herself...

The command center has received new orders to get rid of the quarantined people. A chopper approaches the train station and drops more supplies. This has a note with the cure to the virus. Jack tacks the pill and collapses. Ted realizes the cure was cyanide. He falls over.

Later, the National Guard is chemical warfare suits approach the train station. Ted wakes up and realizes he's cured. However, the soldiers shoot him before realizing that...


What I say:

This is one of the those bad movies without any redeeming qualitities. Those movies ... One of the worst, bad, boring movies...When the best known movie you've directed is Giant Spider Invasion and Monster A-Go-Go, somehow I don't think that Bill Rebane will be winning any OScars in the near future...

A low-budget, sci-fi movie with a extraterrestrial virus had me thinking of Alien Contamination. A martian virus would be ALF...Alien Life Form...Alf....Well, this movie has a Freddy Kreuger disease by way of the Scanners exploding heads.

These characters may at least be said as not quite as annoying as those in Cabin Fever but that's not saying much. Most characters have to have some qualitities the audience wants to root for... However, one guy does nothing but acts like a party animal. Another guy has about the charisma of a half-dried wash cloth. Those happen to be the 2 best interesting characters.

George "Buck" Flower has popped up in a quite a few of the direct to video movies from the 80s and 90s. Remember the bum near the end of Back to the Future? That was him...

Stealing ideas from better movies is done by quite a number of other low budget movies. Well, Alpha Incident steals the end of one of the easily stolen movies: Night of the Living Dead. It's cheap to quarrantine the movie at a train station.



1 1/2 NINJAS

Quotable Dialogue

"Near Denver, are they nuts?"
"You just can't teach a dog new tricks, Charlie..."
"It ain't nothing, Mr. Sorenson, honest!"
"Mamaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"


Morals of the Story

Scientists can smoke in all staircases.
Martian virus explodes brains.
Infectious diseases easily can easily contaminate the water-table.


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