How on Earth (or outer space, for that matter) could this ever be titled "Alien Zone"? There's not a single alien in the film, unless you read way too much into the mortician.
"House of the Dead" works perfectly, as a title and a movie, and this was made long before that title became an aberration. I hate when film get gimmicky new titles to deceive an audience.
I've heard that this movie was originally released in 1976 under the title "House of the Dead". However, it didn't make any money. It was then released in 1978 as "Alien Zone." But apparently, it didn't make any money with that title either.
"Oh, so you were finish?! Well, allow me to retort."
-Samuel L. Jackson
Thanks for the reply. I don't think the title was necessarily the reason this didn't find an audience, though I think it's a very good film. "House of the Dead" is a much better title than "Alien Zone," though it's since been dragged through the dirt with the video game and Uwe Boll film.
shareI suspect it was retitled ALIEN ZONE to capitalize on STAR WARS, CLOSE ENCOUNTERS and the upcoming ALIEN. I also suspect there may have been an extra bit of footage in the wrap around story to make it fit the retitle (love how they made a coffin look like a UFO in the ad).
Here is a link to one of the original ads (as posted by user MaxRenn2):
http://www.listal.com/viewimage/5210850
I suspect you are right about the "Close Encounters"/"Alien" hitchhiking.
That is a wonderful/horrible ad for "Stillwater's own movie hit!" I love the selling point: "You may be one who may see self in this movie!"
The "alien" idea doesn't refer to actual outer space aliens, but rather the idea of strangeness, as each character is sort of thrust into an unknown and weird world. It was an attempt to link it to "Twilight Zone".
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"Walker told me I have AIDS."
--Haley Joel Osment
That makes sense. Thanks.
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