Rating summary

Movie		2.5
Video		3.0
Audio		3.0
Extras		3.0
Overall		2.5

The Alpha Incident Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman June 15, 2021

Note: This film is available on Blu-ray as part of Weird Wisconsin: The Bill Rebane Collection.

Somewhat hilariously considering the geographical focus of this collection, I have previously disclosed that I discovered some time ago that undeniably weird Wisconsin is evidently the presumed center of the universe. That is a conclusion I not so coincidentally came to after I married a woman from that state, but it's a sentiment which has been regularly reinforced by a truly gobsmacking number of Wisconsin set films that have crossed my path in various ways in the time since I said "I do". There have also been an unusually high number of Wisconsin-centered or actually filmed titles that have as a matter of fact entered my queue to write about over the years, and though not part of my official reviewing duties, two wildly disparate films, American Movie and Dr. Bronner's Magic Soapbox, actually have a more or less direct connection to the tiny town my wife grew up in, Menomonee Falls. As if to make the circle complete, one of American Movie's aspiring filmmakers shows up as a talking head in the documentary about Bill Rebane included in this set. That documentary starts off with a kind of joke where a critic is asked to sum up the impact of "someone like Bill Rebane", to which the critic may understandably respond, "Who is Bill Rebane?" For those who are either unacquainted with this kind of delirious "regional" filmmaker, or in fact for those who have already fallen under the sway of "classics" (?) like Monster A Go-Go!, this new collection from Arrow provides a nice selection of Rebane's work, with the typically broad and deep assortment of supplementary material that has become Arrow's stock in trade.

In my The Alejandro Jodorowsky Collection Blu-ray review, I mentioned how those who pay attention to menu designs and fonts would instantly recognize an "Arrow-esque" look to that release, and in fact Arrow put out its version of the set in the UK, which of course accounted for the similarity. It's perhaps ironic, then, that this Arrow release offers cover art with the title in a font that kind of inescapably will remind some of The Andromeda Strain, which is equally of course no doubt intentional, given the fact that this film was Rebane's effort to kinda sorta do his own "Michael Crichton alien eco-terror thriller", with an arguably passing callback to Rebane's Monster a Go-Go, in that something nefarious has hitched a ride back to Earth aboard a spaceship. In the "wait, you also get" department, Rebane evidently wanted there to also be a touch of Invasion of the Body Snatchers as well, since falling asleep turns out to create problems in this film in at least somewhat the same way it does in the well remembered science fiction classic. This is another Rebane effort hobbled by a miniscule budget where characters are forced to talk about calamitous happenings, rather than the film actually depicting those events. This is one of several Rebane films that offers a kind of Serling-esque twist at the end, and in this case the film almost deliberates apes the beginning of the aforementioned The Andromeda Strain.

The Alpha Incident Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

The Alpha Incident is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Arrow Video with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.85:1. The hardback book included with this limited edition contains both an initial overall disclaimer about video quality, along with subsequent detailed information on the transfer, as follows:

All the films included in this collection have been restored by Arrow Films from the best available materials. While every effort has been made to deliver the best possible presentations, the results inevitably vary according to the condition of the source materials, some of which were in poor shape.

We hope that this does not affect your enjoyment of the films.

The Alpha Incident is presented in its original aspect ratio of 1.85:1 with mono audio. A 35mm dupe negative was scanned in 2K resolution at AGFA. The film was graded and restored at AGFA. The mono mix was remastered from a 35mm print at AGFA.

This presentation offers another nice account palette wise, though densities are perhaps not quite as convincing as in some of the other transfers in this set. Primaries, especially blues and reds (which are used quite a bit), pop nicely throughout. There's some peculiar blanching for almost the entirety of the film that afflicts the upper left corner of the frame, and which can be spotted more easily in some of the darker moments. Those darker moments also offer a fairly chunky grainfield and blacks that can veer toward blue territory. At around the 45 minute mark, there's a significant change in the overall appearance of the transfer, with an even grittier looking grainfield and slightly more brownish hues.

The Alpha Incident Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The Alpha Incident features a DTS-HD Master Audio Mono track that once again shows a few amplitude spikes and valleys along with "loose synch", but with a rather good rendering for both the score and what sound like electronic effects. Dialogue is rendered cleanly and clearly for the most part, and optional English subtitles can aid if there are any problems.

The Alpha Incident Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

The Alpha Incident and The Demons of Ludlow share the same disc, which offers the following supplements:

• Straight Shooter: Bill Rebane on The Alpha Incident (HD; 9:24)


• Straight Shooter: Bill Rebane on The Demons of Ludlow (HD; 7:44)


• Rebane's Key Largo (HD; 16:05) is a new visual essay by historian and critic Richard Harland Smith focusing on The Alpha Incident.


• The Demons of Ludlow Trailer (HD; 2:40)


• The Alpha Incident Trailer (HD; 3:20)


• Image Gallery (HD; 3:20)

The Alpha Incident Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

In my The Naked Zoo Blu-ray review, I mentioned how William Grefé managed to procure the services of Rita Hayworth, and in that regard it's perhaps notable that The Alpha Incident is one of the few Rebane films with a recognizable cast member, Ralph Meeker. Unfortunately he doesn't have a ton to do, and the story itself is both derivative and hobbled by Rebane's budgetary limitations. Still, this is one of the better produced Rebane efforts, and this presentations offers reasonably secure technical merits and enjoyable supplements, for anyone who is considering a purchase.