The Alpha Incident

This is available on a double feature Eastwest DVD with Rebane's 2cnd best film, CAPTURE OF BIGFOOT. One reason these two are his best is that he is working here with unknown actors who are putting in commendable efforts, rather than has-been celebrities who are walking through their roles (well, except that Ralph Meeker is here and does a good job). This one is a bit better than CAPTURE mainly because of the interesting storyline involving a odd virus/enzyme micro-organism from space which infects earth life forms and causes a hideous death only when the infected are at sleep, the type of death I won't give away, but it is pretty gruesome. Much more intellectually challenging than any of his other films, I just wish there had been a bigger budget, and some script holes needed filling. Still, for those who like literate sci-fi (relatively speaking) and enjoy things like 1950s Quatermass films, this will be fine. Effects are nearly on par with the Quatermass films too, though 20 years later. And so what if the ending is taken from Night of the Living Dead? What hasn't been stolen from that gem by loads of filmmakers?

This very slight "thriller" has flashes of inspiration visually, but is weighed down by less than stellar acting and a wretched script. The story concerns an organism recovered from a space probe that-get this- is being transported by train guarded by one man. The crate containing the organism is tampered with and before you know it, complications ensue. There's very little action and long stretches of corny dialog delivered in a leaden manner. I 'm not sure if the director intended this film to be a character study or a thriller, but either way, The Alpha Incident fails miserably. Saved from a no star rating by interesting photography and occasionally effective editing.

I think the previous posters were a little hard on this movie. Yes, it's not a very good movie - it's slow, with some bad dialogue, characters that are annoying and/or unsympathetic, and an ending that rips off NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD. Yet at the same time, I thought that the premise of the movie was intriguing, and I had to admire the fact that independent filmmakers on a really low budget were tackling something as difficult as a dialogue-driven movie, one that was intended for the drive-in crowd. True, it's not successful overall (to say the least), but occasionally there is something a little interesting, making you think that, with more time and planning, they might have been able to succeed. So while I "boo" the finished results, I will at least applaud the filmmakers intentions.

Granted, when I sat down in 2021 to watch the 1978 sci-fi horror movie "The Alpha Incident" for the very first time, I wasn't really harboring much of any expectations, especially since the movie had managed to land a rather low rating here on IMDb.

Still, I had the chance to sit down to watch it, and with it being a movie that I hadn't already seen, of course I found the time to do so. Though I might as well have just skipped on this one. Yeah, "The Alpha Incident" was by no means a grand cinematic experience, much less of an entertaining movie.

The storyline told in "The Alpha Incident", as written by Ingrid Neumayer and directed by Bill Rebane, wasn't really interesting. Nothing much of any worth took place throughout the mundane course of this movie, which made for a dull and uneventful viewing. And that ultimately reflected poorly on the overall viewing experience as the movie was lacking greatly in entertainment value.

There was a whole lot of sitting around and blaming each other amongst the characters in the storyline. And does that make for good entertainment? Perhaps to some, I suppose. But not to me.

The acting in the movie was fair enough, though I can't really claim to have witnessed anything extraordinary or outstanding as the movie trotted along.

My rating of "The Alpha Incident" lands on a generous three out of ten stars. This movie was a swing and a miss, not much of any real sci-fi over the storyline, and even less so in the horror department. Sure, I am not much of a sci-fi fan, but "The Alpha Incident" was a fairly weak addition to the sci-fi genre.

"The Alpha Incident" feels like an episode of "The Twilight Zone" padded out to full movie length. While it overstays its welcome it does have an interesting premise and uses its low budget effectively. It's a shame that the performances aren't better because those could have really amped up the tension and made this into a tight thriller. A better film would have you on the edge of your seat as the characters are trapped in quarantine after being exposed by a virus from Mars. This one doesn't really do that much with the premise. As is, it isn't terrible but it isn't spectacular either so it's worth checking out if the premise interests you and you're able to forgive some of the film's shortcomings, or like me you just happen to have it because you bought one of those cheap "50 Sci-Fi Classics" for $20. (On DVD, September 16, 2012)