Wavelength

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.

Tangerine Dream soundtrack, as always, leaves the movie feeling dreamy and surreal.

One of the few films about secret alien bases and experiments that is watchable. The acting and dialogue is top notch. Keenan Wynn makes an appearance and is excellent as usual.

The film all feels like it takes place in a single night and into the following day. It blends together many different science fiction motifs fairly well and tries hard on a small budget to be convincing. It's nice to watch a movie that isn't dumbed down.

Seems to be a kind of holdout from the seventies psychedelic head flicks in some ways. It has that reformed hippie quality about it.

This early 80's lighthearted scifi is going to win no awards for, well anything but certainly does have its qualities.

Starring Robert "Revenge Of The Nerds" Carradine this early 80's scifi effort tells the story of a girl who begins to hear ominous noises coming from a supposedly abandoned military base. With her boyfriend in tow they go investigating and find more than they ever could have expected.

Though extremely dated the film is interesting enough to keep a viewers attention but has severe pacing issues and the ending is highly predictable and underwhelming.

I was just waiting for Carradine to deliver his trademark laugh and always find myself struggling to take him seriously despite him being a terrific actor.

Wavelength is a decent enough effort but hardly original.

The Good:

Robert Carradine

Well made

The Bad:

Very dated

Pacing issues

Weak finale

Things I Learnt From This Movie:

Naked children make me very uncomfortable

If Carradine had played his Revenge Of The Nerds character this film would have been brilliant

In every single movie the governments reaction to aliens is exactly how I'd imagine they'd react in real life

I saw the trailer for this film on an old VHS I was watching, and was intrigued enough to purchase it on eBay. All I can say is it was worth every cent. A marvellous little "unknown", with strong performances from the whole cast and great chemistry between them. The storyline is solid and unique, and is nowhere near a rip-off of earlier films. Of course, the music was another bonus, particularly the quick, sharp cues we get during the most dramatic scenes.

A lot of tension is evident throughout the film, building up as we go along to a most memorable conclusion. The shots of the spaceship in the desert with the stunned Air Force pilots were great! There seems to have been a great deal of effort put into pacing too, and the film flows along very smoothly. Just an excellent movie and very highly recommended!

Substituted for expensive, spine-tingling special-effects, are an engaging story and credible performances, particularly from Cherie Currie. If you like seeing what a capable independent filmmaker can do with a limited budget - I recommend this film.