THE ALPHA INCIDENT ** USA 1978 Dir: Bill Rebane. 95 mins
Shades of the higher profile Michael Crichton book and the film The Andromeda Strain (1971) comes Wisconsin film mogul Bill Rebane’s modest effort in the same territory. When I first saw The Alpha Incident (1978) the title, I first thought it had to do with the Space 1999 television series. Instead, it is a modestly produced, surprisingly engaging film with some uproarious brain-bursting effects.
The seminal Night Of The Living Dead (1968) also influences as a space probe has returned, from Mars bringing back an organism that can kill all life on Earth. In a Bill Rebane film, one does not get elaborate effects, or a back story visualized as the technology of the time and the budget did not permit it.
Scientists find that the organism causes the brain of the subject to explode their skull killing them if they fall asleep. The intrepid folk find this out in a lab as they come upon a lab animal with its brain lying beside it.
The organism now is being transported by train, under the control of Government agent Jack Tiller (John Goff). Of course, during the trip, an inept employee releases it infecting himself and the entire railway station where they have arrived to get a new Diesel engine. Everyone has been quarantined waiting for Government labs to construct an antidote. All the infected must stay awake in the small railway station with only themselves for company. Oddly in the film, one can go outside if you don’t contact anyone.
The Alpha Incident (1978) features some fine if not good acting performance for a film of that nature and budget. Similar to Roger Corman in execution, this film shows the disintegration of people as they are locked in a room. The film does suffer from pacing at times and can sometimes be over-talkative. If one listens to the dialogue, distinct characters emerge be it in a cliché manner with the positive being that this was attempted.
The real saddest of all is to see Ralph Meeker in the role of Charlie, the station master simply sit and react. Meeker was at one time a big star playing on Broadway, television and Hollywood in classic western The Naked Spur (1953), Stanley Kubrick’s Paths of Glory (1957) plus best known for being Mike Hammer in the Film noir Kiss Me Deadly (1955). Meeker was at the end of his career with health troubles. He would pass away after multiple strokes and a heart attack at the age of 67 in 1988.
The Alpha Incident (1978) features some attempts at action with helicopters at night. The most chilling is when the Government sends the people capsules said to contain the antidote. There are of course brains that ooze out of skulls and an awkward gratuitous nude scene to titillate and shock the audience.
Wisconsin’s Bill Rebane made a career out of producing this style of film along with more high-profile people like Corman etc. The Rebane name is prevalent in the credits as he employed what looks like his whole family in various positions. The Alpha Incident (1978) may not be as flashy with monsters and gore it’s a throwback to the fifties style of monster film with some Government paranoia tossed in. Slow yes, fun, yes, tedious at the time yes but fun to watch a filmmaker try to work with actors and tell a story rather than blast you. Blasting can be fun.
Review by Terry Sherwood
THE ALPHA INCIDENT is available on Prime Video and DVD