ALIEN TERMINATOR – Sci-fi adventure with a wild twist

Alien Terminator – What doesn’t it have! Aliens, cyborgs, Nazis, a lost treasure from 16th-century conquistadors, and a boozy Indiana Jones knockoff – these are just a few of the attractions in this film.

American writer Ted Angelo travels to Colombia to research ancient civilizations for his new book, but instead of working, he prefers seducing local women and sinking deeper into alcoholism. His publisher – who also happens to be his ex-wife – Maureen, loses patience and finally terminates his contract. However, when Ted tries to return to the U.S., he stumbles upon a collection of 16th-century artifacts from a Spanish conquistador ship. A historian friend helps him find a black-market buyer – who turns out to be none other than Nazi war criminal Holzmann. Ted learns the treasure was discovered on a ship hidden in a mountain cave, and he sets out there with a guide. At the site, Ted uncovers not only a Spanish galleon, but also an alien spacecraft. This astonishing discovery puts him in danger from Holzmann’s assassins, CIA and KGB agents, and various other treasure hunters.

The Italian film industry is known not only for the works of Federico Fellini, Sergio Leone, and Vittorio De Sica, but also for a countless number of low-budget films that fed off the success of Hollywood hits and other popular titles. The peak of this thinly veiled plagiarism came in the 1970s and 1980s, when local versions of American horror, adventure, and sci-fi movies were all the rage. Some directors pulled off decent imitations, others less so, while a rare few somehow developed their own unique style on this transatlantic diet. Somewhere in between these camps stood Nino Rossati, who started in the film industry as an assistant director and occasional actor – collaborating with the likes of Franco Zeffirelli and Luigi Squarzina – before moving into directing. He typically made lowbrow thrillers and erotic comedies, such as Buona parte di Paolina (1973), La nipote (1974), L’infermiera (1975), and Una donna di notte (1979).

In the latter half of the 1980s, Rossati (under the pseudonym Ted Archer) directed Django 2: Return of Django (1987), the only official sequel to Sergio Corbucci’s classic Django (1966) – despite nearly forty unofficial ones. Rossati’s goal was to resurrect the long-forgotten spaghetti western genre, but it flopped at the box office, even with Franco Nero reprising his iconic role as the gunslinger. Nonetheless, Nero agreed to star in Rossati’s next film – Alien Terminator. It’s worth noting that the original title of the film was Top Line (released on VHS in Poland as Poufna wiadomość or “Confidential Message”), but the British VHS title Alien Terminator more accurately reflects the movie’s inspirations – not just from Ridley Scott and James Cameron, but also Romancing the Stone (1984) by Robert Zemeckis and the Indiana Jones series.

The first hour of Rossati’s film is standard adventure fare: a charming but deeply flawed hero, a criminal conspiracy, exotic locations, and the obligatory villain (and who fits that role better than a Nazi?). In its final thirty minutes, Alien Terminator pivots into sci-fi territory, living up to its British title: a murderous cyborg straight out of The Terminator (1984), and an alien reminiscent of creatures from Alien (1979), Cocoon (1985), and the theories of Erich von Däniken. None of it makes much sense, of course – but it has a certain charm. In fact, Alien Terminator turns out to be better than expected: a light, unpretentious adventure film with a surprising twist, perfect for a laid-back movie night.