The Alpha Incident (1978)

Director:

Bill Rebane

Writer:

Ingrid Neumayer (original screenplay)

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

  (Complete credited cast)

Ralph Meeker	...	Charlie
Stafford Morgan	...	Dr. Sorensen
John F. Goff	...	Jack Tiller (as John Goff)
Carol Irene Newell	...	Jenny
George 'Buck' Flower	...	Hank (as Buck Flower)
Paul Bentzen	...	Dr. Farrell
John Alderman	...	Dr. Rogers
Ray Szmanda	...	The Official
Lawrence Ripp	...	The Guard
Harry Youstos	...	Alvin (as Harry Youstes)

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)

Soundtrack:

The Gift

That's Some Virus, That Alpha Virus

My wife often criticizes me when I see errors in logic on TV shows and point them out. I know that it's obvious that a CSI crew would never get a major case to solve every week. But once past that, I believe that you have to have some credibility in how things are portrayed. This movie is really slow moving and claustrophobic as a group of character types find themselves holed up in a train depot because of an accidental release of a space virus, being transported by train. Once this happens, you would think that the officials would have some interest in the well being of these poor unfortunate people. I'm not saying that an effort couldn't be made to cover things up. In the real world it happens all the time. But couldn't someone come in wearing those protective suits. It's just that they are dismissed so quickly. We don't even know if most of them have been infected. They could have been taken and brought to a sterile environment of some kind and watched. Instead, we are treated the banter of some misfit characters whose lives become meaningless to them almost immediately. Isn't there some sense of caring among these people. It had potential. It just didn't work.