Alien 2: On Earth...on Blu-Ray?? (Sort of a review)

I'm sure this sounds really weird, but I just got this in the mail from Amazon a couple days ago. Yes, Ciro Ippolito's italian unauthorized sequel to Alien is on Blu-ray in North America.



Really, it is strange to see a movie like this out on Blu-ray, but it's even weirder to think this movie beat films widely regarded by the mainstream as classics, such as Citizen Kane and Ben Hur, to the format.

Alien 2 is the first release by newcomer home video studio, Midnight Legacy. They say they will specialize in films just like this, various films in the horror and exploitation genres that are long forgotten by many, but do have a cult following. Each release will be numbered (Sort of like a Criterion Collection for Cult films, i guess) and they will all be limited to 30,000 copies each.

The disc is extremely impressive. The video quality of the transfer is frankly, much better than Alien 2 deserves. The film has a clarity and fine detail to it (while retaining the graininess of the film stock) that you would expect more from films shot this year, than a 30 year old film that was not well taken care of. The sound is also very good, with an English DTS-MA stereo soundtrack. The only extras on the disc are several minutes of gore effects test footage (without sound) and a trailer that came from some dutch VHS release (in English, but with non-removable dutch subtitles.)

All in all, this is an amazing first release for Midnight Legacy, and I am eagerly awaiting their next one. I am also happy that after seeing this, Anchor Bay's I Spit On Your Grave Blu-Ray, and various releases by Blue Underground and Synapse, that there are companies out there finally giving these genre and cult films the attention and treatment they deserve.

I'm not surprised that a low-budget movie like this got a blu-ray release. It seems that lots of forgotten films get them, even some non-cult movies. But it's surprising that this is getting a high-budget, high-quality transfer into the medium. Even if the movie's not that good, I have to commend Midnight Legacy for doing this sort of thing to hard-to-find cult films. For once, cult fanbases are getting some attention.

Nice review.

Thanks for posting this. I've seen just about none of these particular types of movies and it's nice to have a way for some titles to be highlighted and I can follow the path from there and maybe break into this stuff a little bit. I'll be sure to follow Midnight Legacy closely. Also, if anyone's wondering, they do also do DVD releases of all their stuff, not just Blu-Ray.

Relauby wrote:

Thanks for posting this. I've seen just about none of these particular types of movies and it's nice to have a way for some titles to be highlighted and I can follow the path from there and maybe break into this stuff a little bit. I'll be sure to follow Midnight Legacy closely. Also, if anyone's wondering, they do also do DVD releases of all their stuff, not just Blu-Ray.

Yeah, I forgot to mention that. It seems like all their promo materials focus on the Blu-Ray so much that I forgot about the DVD. I'll post threads like this whenever I get a DVD or Blu-Ray of movies like this. I know there is demand for them, but they don't seem to be to highly publicized for some reason.

If you want other ones to follow though,

Blue Underground Puts out some amazing product on DVD and Blu-Ray. Their big releases coming up is Argento's Deep Red, Inferno, and Cat o' Nine Tails.

Synapse Films Releases some great things too. They have the license to some of the Hammer films. They just released Hammer's Vampire Circus on Blu and DVD

And last but not least, Severin Films who released Birdemic But they have released some good stuff too, like the original Inglorious Bastards with Fred Williamson.

Also, if you are in the UK or have the ability to play region free DVDs or Blu-rays, Arrow Video is awesome.

Bob_Bobbson wrote:

Relauby wrote:

Thanks for posting this. I've seen just about none of these particular types of movies and it's nice to have a way for some titles to be highlighted and I can follow the path from there and maybe break into this stuff a little bit. I'll be sure to follow Midnight Legacy closely. Also, if anyone's wondering, they do also do DVD releases of all their stuff, not just Blu-Ray.

Yeah, I forgot to mention that. It seems like all their promo materials focus on the Blu-Ray so much that I forgot about the DVD. I'll post threads like this whenever I get a DVD or Blu-Ray of movies like this. I know there is demand for them, but they don't seem to be to highly publicized for some reason.

If you want other ones to follow though,

Blue Underground Puts out some amazing product on DVD and Blu-Ray. Their big releases coming up is Argento's Deep Red, Inferno, and Cat o' Nine Tails.

Synapse Films Releases some great things too. They have the license to some of the Hammer films. They just released Hammer's Vampire Circus on Blu and DVD

And last but not least, Severin Films who released Birdemic But they have released some good stuff too, like the original Inglorious Bastards with Fred Williamson.

Also, if you are in the UK or have the ability to play region free DVDs or Blu-rays, Arrow Video is awesome.

Thanks for the help man. I've actually checked out Severin before after hearing about Birdemic, but that was a long time ago and I forgot to go back and check it out after watching Birdemic.

Tommy Wiseau wrote:

I have to commend Midnight Legacy for doing this sort of thing to hard-to-find cult films. For once, cult fanbases are getting some attention.

It would be nice if Midnight Legacy would release anything besides Alien 2, though.
http://www.midnight-legacy.com/library.html

it's weird too, because I went on their site before it was revamped and it had an entire catalog of titles, so i don't know what happened.

Well, I can assume that they'll eventually release more movies of the same type.

Also, I could imagine a market for these types of movies in laserdisc, HD DVD, betamax, etc. It would be cool if they released those mediums.

Tommy Wiseau wrote:

Well, I can assume that they'll eventually release more movies of the same type.

Also, I could imagine a market for these types of movies in laserdisc, HD DVD, betamax, etc. It would be cool if they released those mediums.

I'm not so sure about HD-DVD...

I don't know about Midnight Video, though. It seems like it's almost been a year since the release of Alien 2 was announced, and they have yet to make any new announcements since then.

I guess HD DVD isn't the same as the others, seeing how it's basically a different brand of blu-ray.

Who knows, hopefully Midnight Legacy will announce more stuff soon. We'll have to wait and see...

The Dude wrote:

Tommy Wiseau wrote:

Well, I can assume that they'll eventually release more movies of the same type.

Also, I could imagine a market for these types of movies in laserdisc, HD DVD, betamax, etc. It would be cool if they released those mediums.

I'm not so sure about HD-DVD...

I don't know about Midnight Video, though. It seems like it's almost been a year since the release of Alien 2 was announced, and they have yet to make any new announcements since then.

I almost get the feeling that they were waiting to see how Alien 2 sold before announcing anything else. Either that or they have some licenses they are working on that haven't been finalized yet.

Tommy Wiseau wrote:

I guess HD DVD isn't the same as the others, seeing how it's basically a different brand of blu-ray.

Who knows, hopefully Midnight Legacy will announce more stuff soon. We'll have to wait and see...

It would be nice if they eventually rose to the status and output of companies like Grindhouse Releasing, Rolling Thunder Productions and Shriekshow. It's nice to see the cult fans get some service.

The Dude wrote:

Tommy Wiseau wrote:

I have to commend Midnight Legacy for doing this sort of thing to hard-to-find cult films. For once, cult fanbases are getting some attention.

It would be nice if Midnight Legacy would release anything besides Alien 2, though.
http://www.midnight-legacy.com/library.html

it's weird too, because I went on their site before it was revamped and it had an entire catalog of titles, so i don't know what happened.

They used to be a VHS site, that sold tapes for VERY high prices. I'd say finding titles like this in pristine condition is a very hard task. From what I know, they are working on getting something else released, but seeing as how they're going for the especially obscure stuff with strict guidelines, I imagine it's difficult to be speedy.