Alien from the Abyss is another one of those Italian-made knockoffs. Director Antonio Margheriti and screenwriter Tito Carpi ape Alien pretty heavily, which is no surprise; Margheriti made his fair share of trash, and Carpi was involved in crafting scripts for some of the most blatant cash-ins like Tentacles and Escape from the Bronx. If you’ve seen anything like those, or the works of schlockmaster Bruno Mattei like Shocking Dark, then you probably know what to expect from a film like this: somewhat low budget, poorly acted, with a storyline that smacks of copycatting but with a much weirder premise. That’s exactly what Alien from the Abyss does, albeit a bit less stellar than some of the aforementioned movies.
The film follows a couple of Greenpeace crusaders, primarily Jane (Marina Giulia Cavalli), as they infiltrate a jungle factory that has been dumping barrels of radioactive waste into a nearby volcano (!). Their attempts to document and reveal these illegal operations takes a poor turn, though, when a giant alien monster, drawn to the radioactivity, begins wreaking havoc on the factory. Its vaguely phallic imagery and a couple of wet T-shirt moments from Cavalli should help to titillate viewers who are left scratching their heads about the nonsensical plot.
The main problem with Alien from the Abyss is that Margheriti’s direction is somewhat plodding. It takes over half of the film to even get to the alien of the film’s title, and about 20 more minutes before we see the thing in any kind of detail besides its crab robot-like appendage, to the point where the viewer ultimately questions whether this whole thing was just an elaborate Greenpiece advertisement. While the main tropes snagged from Alien are here, most of the movie is a boring trek through the jungle interspersed with some miniature-scale special effects, and coupled with the poor characterization of most of the characters, this one fails to pass the “so bad it’s good” test.
With that said, there are some scenes that come across unintentionally funny, so this one would go well at a party where the audience is imbibing. But for regular viewings, Alien from the Abyss just isn’t clever or comical enough as an uninspired Alien ripoff with some kaiju inspiration.
Blu-ray
Severin Films has released Alien from the Abyss on Blu-ray with its alternate title (as opposed to Alien from the Deep) and a 4K scan of the original camera negative in its 1.33:1 aspect ratio. Everything looks very good here, with strong detail and minimal grain scale. The film’s use of miniatures is actually slightly more noticeable due to the healthy image quality, but ultimately everything else is improved by the new transfer. Occasionally some scan lines do crop up especially towards the end of the film, but no real issues to note with Severin’s 4K scan.
The film gets both English and Italian DTS-HD MA 2.0 mono soundtracks, with English subtitles included that serve both tracks. Both sound very good with no noticeable issues.
For extras, Severin has included a 2013 full-length documentary about Antonio Margheriti called The Outsider – The Cinema of Antonio Margheriti. This runs about an hour and basically runs the gamut of Margheriti’s career, covering a number of his films and interviewing various partners in his filmography. Two interviews with Edoardo Margheriti, the son of Antonio Margheriti, are also included. One is specifically about Alien from the Abyss, where Margheriti talks about his father’s lukewarm appreciation of the film and his dissatisfaction with the alien. The other is about Margheriti’s tribute to his father with a website and then the aforementioned documentary The Outsider. Finally, a trailer is included.
Extra Features
- NEW 4K scan from the original negative
- NEW From The Center Of The Earth – Interview With Edoardo Margheriti (1080p; 12:52)
- THE OUTSIDER – THE CINEMA OF ANTONIO MARGHERITI (1080p; 1:01:32)
- NEW Son Of The Outsider – Interview With THE OUTSIDER Director Edoardo Margheriti (1080p; 13:31)
- Trailer (1080p; 2:45)
Verdict
While Alien from the Abyss is not a particularly good film by any stretch of the imagination, fans of bad cinema may enjoy this one as an Alien ripoff with an environmental bent. Severin has released a good Blu-ray for those that need this in their collection, with a great transfer and a number of extras commemorating the director.
