Contamination
After a drifting ship arrives carrying mysterious green eggs, investigators uncover an extraterrestrial contamination threat that turns human bodies into exploding vessels. The film combines cosmic conspiracy, alien menace and excessive gore in a distinctive example of Italian sci-fi horror.
Film details
| Original / alt title | Contamination |
| Year | 1980 |
| Director | Luigi Cozzi |
| Country | Italy / West Germany |
| Runtime | Approx. 95 min |
| Main cast | Ian McCulloch, Louise Marleau, Marino Masé |
UK status
Appeared on the DPP list but was later dropped.
Passed 18 uncut.
Why it caused controversy
UK censorship / Video Nasties history
A quick status check first, followed by the film’s censorship timeline. A DPP prosecution was an obscenity case against a particular video publication — it was not automatically the same thing as a permanent nationwide “ban”.
Detailed censorship timeline & facts
FACTS & TRIVIA
- Director Luigi Cozzi is also known for the film Starcrash and other cult Italian productions.
- Ian McCulloch appears here too, linking the film with other former nasties in the archive.
- The exploding-body effects are the film's most infamous visual trademark.
- Its blend of conspiracy thriller and splatter sci-fi gives it a special place in Eurocult horror.
- The English-language title Contamination is widely used by collectors.
- The movie is a good example of how science-fiction titles were swept into the same censorship debates as slashers and cannibal films.
- Its sleeve art helped sell it as a shocking rental title.
Distributor / VHS label
Archive cover shown is the user-supplied scan. UK distributor / VHS-label attribution varies by edition and is not asserted here without a verified sleeve imprint.
Trailer
Open a search for the original theatrical / VHS-era trailer. This keeps the archive linking to publicly available trailer sources rather than hosting copyrighted film footage.
▶ FIND ORIGINAL TRAILER
