I am a fan of Italian horror, so when I read that this movie is Italian and starred actor Ian McCulloch I had to watch it. Ian McCulloch starred in one of my favourite zombie movies, Zombie Flesh Eaters (1975) by director Lucio Fulci. Whilst Contamination was not as enjoyable as Zombie Flesh Eaters I am pleased to say it is well worth watching, particularly if you like Italian horror.
The opening scene of Contamination is quite similar to the opening scene of Zombie Flesh Eaters. An unmanned ship is headed in to New York harbour. A policeman and what I presume are environmental heath workers board the ship to try and assess the situation. On board they find the mangled remains of the captain and what looks like large green eggs. As they examine the eggs one of them, close to hot pipes, starts to glow. One government official lifts it, the egg explodes showering everyone but the police man. Almost immediately the infected humans swell and explode outwards, killing them instantly. The rest of the movie is about the investigation into this mysterious cargo.
Contamination is like a typical Italian horror movie, if there is indeed such a thing, and it has the same positives and negatives. The positive was that the visual aspect of the movie was strong, not on a par with Zombie Flesh Eaters but good nevertheless. On the negative side the dialogue I found quite stilted. But with Ian McCulloch as the leading man the movie at least has a strong male lead. The plot is like a strange version of Alien, only on earth and without the loveable chest burster, but I can confirm a lot of chests explode outwards. Lastly, we do get to see an alien, but I will say no more, you will just have to watch it.
I would recommend watching this movie, particularly if you are a fan of Italian horror. It is of course pure cheese, but such is Italian horror.
6 out of 10.