''Alien 2: On Earth'', also known as ''Alien Terror'', is a 1980

science fiction Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel unive ...

horror film Horror is a film genre that seeks to elicit fear or disgust in its audience for entertainment purposes. Horror films often explore dark subject matter and may deal with transgressive topics or themes. Broad elements include monsters, apoca ...

, written and directed by

Ciro Ippolito Ciro Ippolito (born Naples, Italy, 27 January 1947) is an Italian film director, screenwriter and Film producer, producer. He is known to horror film fans for his 1980 opus ''Alien 2: On Earth'', which he coproduced, wrote and directed. Biograp ...

before the

trademark A trademark (also written trade mark or trade-mark) is a type of intellectual property consisting of a recognizable sign, design, or expression that identifies products or services from a particular source and distinguishes them from others ...

''Alien'' was registered. It was released following the success of the 1979 film ''

Alien Alien primarily refers to: * Alien (law), a person in a country who is not a national of that country ** Enemy alien, the above in times of war * Extraterrestrial life, life which does not originate from Earth ** Specifically, intelligent extrater ...

'' as an

unofficial sequel A sequel is a work of literature, film, theatre, television, music or video game that continues the story of, or expands upon, some earlier work. In the common context of a narrative work of fiction, a sequel portrays events set in the sam ...

, albeit having little connection to the film. The film features a score by

Guido De Angelis Guido and Maurizio De Angelis, also known as Oliver Onions, are a prolific duo of Italian musicians, multi-instrumentalists, composers and singers, as well as television and film producers. They reached the height of their popularity in the 1970 ...

and

Maurizio De Angelis Guido and Maurizio De Angelis, also known as Oliver Onions, are a prolific duo of Italy, Italian musicians, multi-instrumentalists, composers and Singing, singers, as well as Television producer, television and film producers. They reached the h ...

, performed by the composers under the

pseudonym A pseudonym (; ) or alias () is a fictitious name that a person or group assumes for a particular purpose, which differs from their original or true name (orthonym). This also differs from a new name that entirely or legally replaces an individua ...

Oliver Onions. The film co-starred a young

Michele Soavi Michele Soavi, sometimes known as Michael Soavi (born 3 July 1957)Baldassarre, Angela (1999) "The Great Dictators: Interviews with Filmmakers of Italian Descent", Guernica Editions, is an Italian filmmaker, actor, and screenwriter best known fo ...

, years before he became an Italian horror film director, and a cameo appearance by Ciro Ippolito (in the role of "Joe"). It was filmed in

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

, the

Cinecittà Cinecittà Studios (; Italian for Cinema City Studios), is a large film studio in Rome, Italy. With an area of 400,000 square metres (99 acres), it is the largest film studio in Europe, and is considered the hub of Italian cinema. The studios we ...

studios in Rome, and in the

Castellana Caves The Castellana Caves (Italian: ''Grotte di Castellana'') are a karst cave system located in the municipality of Castellana Grotte, in the Metropolitan City of Bari, Apulia, southern Italy. Overview The caves, discovered in 1938 by the spele ...

Plot

As the world awaits the return of a crew of astronauts from a deep space mission, a young woman named Thelma Joyce appears on a television talk show to discuss caves. Soon after her interview begins, Thelma has a horrible psychic vision. After the spacecraft returns to Earth missing its occupants, a girl on a beach discovers a weird, blue, pulsating rock. Her mother soon finds her with her face ripped off. Thelma and her husband Roy meet up with their friends for a trip to explore a cave. The group stops at a roadside café to buy food and change into their caving gear. Thelma's friend Burt discovers a blue rock that he decides to keep in his pack. The group arrives at the cave, and quickly rappels to the bottom to set up camp for the night. Before falling asleep, Thelma tells Roy that she feels that something horrible is about to happen, but Roy calms her down. The next day, Thelma's friend Jill discovers the blue rock that Burt found appears to be pulsating. The rock opens up and a creature attacks her face. Thelma witnesses the attack and panics. Roy calms her down, then decides to go find Jill's body. Roy rappels down into a hole and finds Jill, alive and with her face intact. The rest of the group rappels down the hole as well and they strap Jill to a lifter so that she may be lifted out of the hole. Jill is set aside by herself, still unconscious. While the group prepares to climb out of the hole, a creature erupts from Jill's face and attacks Phil's neck. Phil is dragged upside down as the creature slices his neck repeatedly until his head falls off. The group retreats though they are forced to initially go back to retrieve their equipment. The group splits up into teams to search for a way out, but to no avail. During the search Thelma reflects on what is happening and wonders if the disappearance of the astronauts is connected. Maurine stumbles upon a group of aliens who kill her and Burt who tries to save her. Roy hurts his ankle and is forced to sit and rest. Cliff opts to go and locate Burt and Maurine while the others rest. Thelma telepathically warns Cliff of a nearby alien after their radio goes dead, though Cliff is killed by the alien. Thelma and the others find Cliff who is actually an alien in disguise. Thelma uses her abilities to explode the imposter's head revealing the alien. The alien attacks the other member of the group while Thelma and Roy outrun the alien and escape the caves. On their way back to the city, they discover a police car, but no police officers are in sight. They stop at the roadside café again, but no one is there. Roy tries to call for help on a payphone, but no operator is available. They get back into the car and continue to drive to the city. Thelma and Roy finally get back to the city, but strangely, they cannot find anyone. They stop at the bowling alley, only to find that it is also empty. Roy goes to the back, only to be killed by an alien waiting there. The alien chases Thelma through the bowling alley, until she hits it in the head and leaves. Thelma runs through the empty city streets, calling for help but getting no answer. She finally stops yelling and sits down in an intersection. Suddenly, text shoots at the screen, warning the audience "You may be next!", implying that the aliens have taken over Earth.

Cast

Belinda Mayne Belinda Mayne is a British actress who has appeared in film, television and theatre in Germany, the UK, and the US since 1974 when she made her first appearance in ''Strangers''. Partial filmography References External links * {{DEF ...

as Thelma Joyce *Mark Bodin as Roy *Benedetta Fantoli as Maurine *

as Cliff *Roberto Barresse as Burt * Valeria Perilli as Jill *

Donald Hodson Donald is a masculine given name derived from the Gaelic name ''Dòmhnall''.. This comes from the Proto-Celtic *''Dumno-ualos'' ("world-ruler" or "world-wielder"). The final -''d'' in ''Donald'' is partly derived from a misinterpretation of the ...

as Mr. Raymond *

as Joe

Release

The film was released theatrically in Italy on April 11, 1980 as ''Alien 2: Sulla Terra'' ('"Alien 2: On Earth") and in

West Germany West Germany is the colloquial term used to indicate the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG; german: Bundesrepublik Deutschland , BRD) between its formation on 23 May 1949 and the German reunification through the accession of East Germany on 3 O ...

on March 19, 1982 as ''Alien, die Saat des Grauens kehrt zurück'' ("Alien, the Seed of Horror Returns"). The

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

-dubbed version was released theatrically in a limited way by Cinema Shares International Distribution (which distributed films such as ''

Creature from Black Lake ''Creature from Black Lake'' is a 1976 American horror film written and directed by Joy N. Houck Jr. and starring Jack Elam, Dub Taylor, Dennis Fimple, John David Carson, and Bill Thurman. It follows two anthropology students from the Universit ...

'', ''

Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla is a 1974 Japanese ''kaiju'' film directed by Jun Fukuda, with special effects by Teruyoshi Nakano. Distributed by Toho and produced under their effects subsidiary Toho–Eizo, it is the 14th film of the ''Godzilla'' franchise, and features ...

'' and ''

The Pod People ''Extra Terrestrial Visitors'' (original title ''Los nuevos extraterrestres'', literally ''The New Extraterrestrials'') is a 1983 French-Spanish science fiction film directed by Juan Piquer Simón. The film's original draft was meant to be a str ...

''). In March 2011, Midnight Legacy re-released the English-dubbed version of the film on

DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for Digital Video Disc or Digital Versatile Disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any kin ...

and

Blu-ray The Blu-ray Disc (BD), often known simply as Blu-ray, is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 2005 and released on June 20, 2006 worldwide. It is designed to supersede the DVD format, and capable of sto ...

in the United States under its original title, ''Alien 2: On Earth'', in a 30,000 copy pressing. The re-release includes fully remastered picture and audio, although during the process, it was noted that some of the audio was missing and it had to be mixed from a variety of sources. This version of the film was believed to be longer than any other version, but a prior Italian television version contained additional scenes not present in the Midnight Legacy version. Midnight Legacy's release contains special effects outtakes and a Dutch trailer.

Critical reception

Adam Tyner of ''

DVD Talk DVD Talk is a home video news and review website launched in 1999 by Geoffrey Kleinman. History Kleinman founded the site in January 1999 in Beaverton, Oregon. Besides news and reviews, it features information on hidden DVD features known as ...

'' wrote: "James Cameron once summed up his followup to ''Alien'' as 'forty miles of bad road'. ''Alien 2'', meanwhile, is 'eighty-four minutes of bad, period'". Daryl Loomis of ''

DVD Verdict DVD Verdict was a judicial-themed website for DVD reviews. The site was founded in 1999. The editor-in-chief was Michael Stailey, who owned the website between 2004 and 2016, and the site employed a large editorial staff of critics, whose reviews ...

'' said: "Some people will say that ''Alien 2: On Earth'' is a blatant ripoff and some will say that it's a terrible movie. All of those people are right, but given my track record, nobody should be surprised that I love it".

References

External links