Wavelength (1983)

What more does an ambitious and enthusiast director have to do in order to be taken seriously in the hypocrite world of Sci-Fi/horror film-making? Mike Gray, the co-writer of "The China Syndrome", made an extremely adequate and transcendent motion picture on the topic of Fist Extraterrestrial Contact, and yet it remains unknown and unloved to this day. Moreover, the few reviews of "Wavelength" that you do stumble upon automatically dismiss the film – probably without even having seen it – as a nugatory imitation of Steven Spielberg's success films "Close Encounters of the Third Kind" and "E.T". These reviews couldn't be more adrift, as "Wavelength" has nothing in common with the sappy and naive blockbusters of Spielberg. Instead this is an intelligent and demanding story, with an absolute minimum of needlessly sentimental sub plots, about the paranoia regarding alien visitors and first contact through telepathy. Young lovers Bobby and Iris discover a top secret military research center, cleverly disguised as a country estate in the middle of the Hollywood Hills, and learn that the government holds captive three little aliens that supposedly crash-landed on earth two weeks earlier. Well actually, there were four, but the military dissected the fourth one and all the people involved in this process died. That's the reason why the visitors are considered unfriendly and definitely 'not coming in peace'. From within their hermetically sealed off freezers, the aliens seek psychic contact with Iris, and eventually the couple manages to liberate the alien trio and escape into the Mojave Desert. Be advised; - "Wavelength" is an extremely slow-moving and unspectacular film, but truly the emphasis here lies on the coherent script, the detailed character drawings, the tiny but accurate details and the ongoing preparations for the downright fantastic climax sequences. If you ever get the impression, halfway through the film or so, that the plot is going nowhere and action is urgently required, please persevere and never cease to pay attention because you will be rewarded. The final sequences in the Mojave Desert are more than stupendous, with a maximum usage of the impressive landscapes and some special effects that are downright breath-taking. Without revealing too much, the Mother Ship eventually does return for the missing aliens, and it looks truly phenomenal! "Wavelength" unquestionably also benefices a great deal from the music by Tangerine Dream and the very fine acting performances of Robert Carradine and Cherie Currie. Together they form a very unusual movie couple, because Carradine is mostly famous for playing a prototypic nerd in "Revenge of the Nerds" and Currie is primarily a rock-chick and the lead vocalist of "The Runaways". Unfortunately, but inevitably, the film also features some shortcomings. The absolute main default, which sadly affects the plausibility factor a great deal, is the lamentable depiction of the extraterrestrial visitors. Fairly early in the film Carradine's character, upon sighting the aliens in their iceboxes, that they look just like children. I presume this was Mike Gray's way of warning us that he didn't have much of a budget to work with and thus couldn't afford mechanical little E.T's. The illustration on the video box still suggests a genuine visitor, but the aliens really are, in fact, young children with shaved heads and slightly tanned skins. Obviously their appearances take away a lot of mysterious atmosphere and creepiness and, if you focus on it too much, the whole thing even becomes a bit silly. Nevertheless, "Wavelength" remains a courageous and highly imaginative Sci-Fi sleeper that really ought to be re-discovered by the fans of the genre.

Burnt out Hollywood musician Bobby Sinclair (Robert Carradine) and his girlfriend Iris (Cherie Currie) get wrapped up in a government extraterrestrial conspiracy after she starts "hearing" sounds coming from a nearby old Army facility in the Hollywood hills. With the help of old timer Dan (Keenan Wynn), the duo break into the facility and discover it runs seven stories into the ground and a trio of captured aliens are housed on the bottom floor. Naturally, the government isn't too happy with them there, until they find out Iris is on the same wavelength as the aliens.Obviously inspired by Steven Spielberg's CLOSE ENCOUNTERS..., this one is interesting in that it takes the darker "fourth kind" approach whereas Spielberg went lighter with E.T. shot in the same year. This features likable leads and the script that moves pretty fast but also injects some unpretentious philosophy. Interestingly, this resembles the later STARMAN (1985) in many regards, right down to the oppressive military and a reflective orb coming down in the middle of the desert for pick-up. The aliens are played by three kids painted brown and they are all good in their silent roles. Director Mike Gray certainly has had an interesting career. He did some documentary work in the early 70s, wrote THE CHINA SYNDROME, made his feature debut with this and then moved onto writing/producing sci-fi TV stuff like STARMAN and STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION. Features a great score by Tangerine Dream.

Burnt-out, reclusive folk singer Bobby Sinclair (an excellent performance by the always fine Robert Carradine) and kindly psychic Iris Longacre (nicely played by the fetching Cherie Currie of the Runaways) free a trio of bald, mute, diminutive extraterrestrials -- Gamma (Dov Young), Beta (Joshua Oreck) and Delta (Christian Morris) -- from a top secret army base run by cold-hearted military jerks and help the little guys get back to their home planet. Deftly directed by Mike Gray (who also wrote the intelligent script and previously penned the outstanding screenplay for "The China Syndrome"), with terrifically vivid and engaging performances from the two exceptional leads, unusually well-drawn characters, plenty of touching heart and warmth, and a neat synthesizer score by Tangerine Dream, "Wavelength" makes the grade as a shamefully underrated and overlooked low-budget sci-fi gem. Keenan Wynn contributes a marvelously cantankerous turn as crusty old prospector Dan, plus there are nifty bits by Robert ("Parasite") Glaudini as coolly pragmatic scientist Dr. Wolf and Bobby ("The Supernaturals") Di Cicco as Bobby's good friend Marvin Horn. Pleasant, quirky and simply lovely (the scenes with Bobby and Iris helping out the aliens are very moving and endearing, with the sequence where everyone chills out around a campfire qualifying as the definite delightful highlight), this unsung sleeper deserves to be better known and more widely seen.

I originally came to this movie with no expectations and it stayed in my top 10 list for a long time, still remaining as an all-time favorite. I liked meeting and getting to know the characters before their lives were impacted by the main events of the story. I found the three main characters (played by Robert Carradine, Cherie Currie, and Keenan Wynn) very believable and engaging. I particularly enjoyed the Native American interchanges and the words of wisdom from the travellers. I don't know what movie the other reviewer watched (or did he leave too early or fall asleep?) - because when ET phones home there is definitely an answer!