First Post/The Alpha Incident

First post!

Why?  I've got several cheap 50 movie DVD sets filled with public domain film titles so needed a place to keep track of what I watch since I probably won't want to revisit too many of them more than once, hence this blog--which I had originally thought should be named Death By Television but ultimately decided on the more life affirming Obscurantist Drivel; the check is in the mail Mr. Ellison.  I love these 50 movie collections because you really get a lot of bang for your buck.  Of course they are mostly filled with forgettably crappy films but there are usually at least a few really interesting gems in each set.

These were the types of odd, low budget films that would pop up on Saturday afternoons or at half past two in the morning on local/independent UHF TV stations in the 1970s and early '80s back when I was a kid living in rural New Jersey--before the rise of the nefarious and soul blasting infomercial and 24 hour a day narrow interest pay cable channels that killed this type of more free form programming.

Obscurantist Drivel and the accompanying YouTube channel for WODS-TV will attempt to recreate a similarly eclectic UHF channel format, with a specific emphasis on the fantastique and outré films of the 1970s to mid '80s, but we will undoubtedly explore content from other eras and genres as well; please feel free to view and comment on the movies (and commercials) "aired".

Disclaimer: Obscurantist Drivel is a 100% fan made, not-for-profit blog so the titles that will be discussed are not offered for sale by your humble host; you will have to locate and purchase these titles on your own dime and your own time, so don't bother asking!

The Alpha Incident (1979)

First up on WODS-TV late night (You'll love the way we smell...W...O...D...S!): Mill Creek Entertainment's Sci-Fi Classics collection and the made-in-Wisconsin The Alpha Incident directed by Bill Rebane, produced by "Studio Film Corporation" (!) and released in 1978 according to IMDB and John Stanley's Creature Features Movie Guide Strikes Again (fourth revised version), though the Mill Creek set lists it as 1977.  The blurb from the booklet reads:

THE ALPHA INCIDENT
Starring Ralph Meeker, Stafford Morgan, George "Buck" Flower
(1977) Color Rated PG 

A Mars space probe returns to Earth and brings with it a microorganism from the red planet.  While transporting the microscopic alien life form by train, there is an accident and the microorganism is unleashed.  Exposure to the alien virus forces four strangers into quarantine while government scientists rush to find a cure.

Here's a clip:



Around 20 minutes in and as I always suspected, it looks like the end of the world will inevitably be brought about by a dumb redneck in overalls and a trucker hat.

Best quote: After the four strangers are quarantined for exposure to the deadly Martian microorganism and informed they'll all die if they fall asleep, Jack Tiller (John Goff)-a good ol' boy train depot worker-turns away from the camera and mumbles under his breath: "It's a bunch o' shit."

Here's an exchange I especially enjoyed:

Jack: "What I need right now is a drink!  Every good party needs some booze...Hey, I bet Hank had some stashed out in that caboose o' his."
Dr. Sorensen (Stafford Morgan): "That's not a good idea...stick to the amphetamines!"

Sound advice Doctor Sorensen...don't mind if I do!

This one ended up being more grim than I expected, and there was some minor profanity (and brief nudity which I wasn't really expecting in a PG rated film) along with a decent sense of '70s flavor with a healthy dollop of paranoia and post-Nixon government mistrust.  Also kind of amazing to think this low budget throwback to Night of the Living Dead was released the year after Star Wars; though if the good Mr. Ellison thought Star Wars and Close Encounters were dreck, what would he have thought of something like The Alpha Incident?  

Together dear reader, we shall strive to explore more of such odious drivel and nonsense on our fictitious late night UHF channel, so don't change that dial!