A deep space mission is returning to Earth. After it splashes down the recovery teams find the capsule but are unable to find the astronauts. At the same time Thelma Joyce (Belinda Mayne) is giving an interview on a television station. During the interview she has a premonition that something is wrong with the space mission. Shortly after that a little girl on the beach finds a blue rock that seems to be pulsating. When her mother finds her the girl’s face is gone.
Thelma is a spelunker. She is part of a team that consists of her boyfriend, Roy (Mark Bodin) and six other friends. They explore caves. The group is on their way to a cave system that they explored earlier but never finished. They stop at a county store to get provisions and gear up. At the store Burt finds a piece of the blue rock laying on the ground and gives it to Thelma. The team then head out to the cave. Once they repel down to the bottom, they set up camp for the night.
The next day they pair off into teams to explore. While following Thelma, Jill sees the rock sticking out of her backpack. The rock is pulsating. She takes it from the pack and stares at it. Suddenly the rock bursts open and an alien life form encompasses Jill’s face. She falls into ravine. When they find Jill, she is still alive. They hoist her out of the ravine. The creature erupts from Jill and attacks Phil. The remaining members of the team are now underground with a flesh-eating creature. Panic sets in as each member of the team, trying to find their way out of the cave system, is attacked and killed.
“Alien 2: On Earth” AKA “Alien Terror” AKA “Alien 2: Sulla Terra” was released in 1980 and was directed by Ciro Ippolito AKA Sam Cromwell, and Biagio Proietti. It is an Italian science fiction horror movie filmed mostly in California. I’ve also heard that some of the filming was done in Carlsbad Caverns in California as well as Catellana Grotto in Italy. Whether it’s one or the other or both I’m not sure. It does look more like Catellana than Carlsbad.
The film was reportedly shot before Ridley Scott’s “Alien” 1979 but not released until after. Whether or not it is a rip off of “Alien” is up for debate. Is it an unofficial sequel to “Alien”? Of course not. “Aliens” 1986 is the sequel. It just has a similar name, and it was titled before “Alien” was trademarked.
Although the special effects aren’t bad, there aren’t very many of them. Production values are decent; however, the monster is seldom seen. Thelma’s psychic powers really have nothing to do with the movie. At least none that I could discern. Outside of a few scary moments, most of the movie is dull. I found the stock footage of the astronauts more interesting than the rest of the film.
Director Ippolito has a cameo as a TV director.