The Alpha Incident (1978)

Dir-Prod: Bill Rebane

Scr: Ingrid Neumayer

Cast: Ralph Meeker, Stafford Morgan, John F. Goff, Carol Irene Newell, George "Buck" Flower, Paul Bentzen, John Alderman.

One of several regional genre films by Wisconsin auteur Bill Rebane (whose work is generously featured in these movie pack sets), this low-budget cousin to The Andromeda Strain and The Petrified Forest  has the old B movie gimmick of top-billing a name actor (Ralph Meeker) who is otherwise given little to do. Instead, the focus is on stalwart leading man Stafford Morgan as Dr. Sorenson, who holds disparate people hostage in a train depot, although the novelty in this scenario is that he’s doing it for their own good.

Sorenson was recruited to supervise a shipment of some micro-organisms from a Martian space probe, to be delivered by train to Denver, Colorado. However, a railroad employee who couldn’t resist snooping, cuts himself on one of the microscope slides containing the cells, and perhaps affects people by touch once the train stops over in Moose Point! Therefore Sorenson must quarantine everyone at this depot while the scientists race to find an antidote.

The snoopy employee Hank is played by George “Buck” Flower, who made a career playing various drunks, bums and hillbillies in the 1970s and 1980s. His sleepy, folksy drawl fits well with the local colour at the depot. The unlikely romantic lead is the beefy, sweaty, bearded Jack Tiller (played by John Goff), who fashions himself as a sex machine to all the chicks. Throughout this scenario, he makes amorous advances to the receptionist Jenny (played by Carol Irene Newell, who would later become a director for theatre). Ralph Meeker is Charlie, the depot manager who has little to do except peer through glasses and smoke.

Despite the appearance of name actors, this movie still feels like a regional production with casting of Goff and Newell, who don’t have conventional matinee looks. (The shaggy Paul Bentzen, the unlikely romantic lead in Rebane's previous Invasion From Inner Earth, also makes an appearance, as one of the men rushing to find a cure.) An attribute of regional films is the casting of local everyday people, lending authenticity that a glossy Hollywood production would not.  This special quality can also be its undoing, if the inexperienced unknowns can't act in front of the camera. As such, this film is neither the best nor the worst example of regional moviemaking.

Plague-themed science fiction films work when they don't feature extraneous extreme close-ups of organisms, scientists peering through microscopes, or weird music, and instead concentrate on the human drama. As such, Ingrid Neumayer’s screenplay is tough going for the first half hour, with far too many scenes of scientists babbling about who knows what, and of Hank spending too much time babbling about who knows what between gulps of booze. However, the film gets in motion once the drama unfolds at the depot.

Once Sorenson learns from his superiors that he and his “hostages” (Hank included) must stay awake until an antidote is found, tensions further ensue, as these sleep-deprived people begin to wear each other down. This genial thriller does have one showstopping moment when Charlie falls asleep, and we witness the effects of the organism: his head shrivels, causing his eyes and brain to pop out!  While Rebane’s direction is nothing special, he cleverly depicts the government soldiers rather mysteriously, as it is unclear whether they are there to rescue or exterminate our protagonists. The surprisingly pessimistic ending leaves a haunting impression with its oblique freeze frame.

Those who dislike Rebane's other Wisconsin-lensed films (Invasion From Inner Earth; The Giant Spider Invasion) usually consider The Alpha Incident his best work. This movie is honourable and inoffensive, but still rather bland.

MMM Rating: 2.5/5

Located on: Chilling Classics.