The Alpha Incident (1978)

Director:

Bill Rebane

Writer:

Ingrid Neumayer (writer)

Genre:

Adventure | Drama | Horror | Sci-Fi

Tagline:

So horrifyingly close to the truth, it will blow your mind!

Plot:

A microorganism from Mars, brought to Earth by a space probe, terrorizes passengers in a railroad office. |

Plot Keywords:

Earth | Mars | Cyanide | Alien | Cover Up

Cast

Stafford Morgan	...	Dr. Ted Sorenson
John F. Goff	...	Jack Tiller (as John Goff)
Carol Irene Newell	...	Jenny Moore
George 'Buck' Flower	...	Hank, the railroad worker
Ralph Meeker	...	Charlie Weigel, station master
Paul Bentzen	...	Dr. Jim Farrell
John Alderman	...	Dr. Frank Rogers
Ray Szmanda	...	The General
Harry Youstos	...	Alvin, night station master (as Harry Youstes)
Sir Lawrence Ripp	...	Security Guard

Also Known As:

Gift from a Red Planet

Runtime:

95 min | USA:86 min (DVD)

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Australia:M | USA:PG | Iceland:12

Filming Locations:

Gleason, Wisconsin, USA

Movie Connections:

References Night of the Living Dead (1968)

Decent zero budget science fiction suspense

I had a pretty sweet time with this outing from the great Bill Rebane. Its probably the best film I've seen from him, perhaps lacking the lunacy appeal of The Demons Of Ludlow but better on the whole. The minimal plot involves some unfortunate folk quarantined in a rail depot after exposure to a nasty space microbe which will kill them if they sleep. The fun comes in seeing how they will attempt to make it through and the tensions that arise from their contrasting characters rubbing together in the nightmare situation. This could have been a real bore what with the talky nature of the piece and the slow pace but the overall fine acting gives it a real boost. George 'Buck' Flower, typically plays a chatty, mumbling, boozy type and gives it his customary fine performance, John F. Goff is suitably oily as the token obnoxious type and Ralph Meeker is sympathetic as the slow witted manager. Carol Newell is just fine as the lady of the piece and Stafford Morgan is suave and convincingly calm and collected as a government man. Their interactions and efforts to stay awake make for good watching and the tension slowly rises throughout, to an ending that while not surprising in general terms has enough unpredictability to be somewhat effective and affecting. There's even a cool cheapo effects sequence to amuse any folk put off by the talking. Altogether this is a decent movie, somewhat more effective than its low budget and low key nature would suggest. There are definitely a few bits that could have been tighter and the script does throw up a few ides that aren't used to their best advantage but this is still worth a look.