Wavelength (1983) User Reviews

Wavelength: More than meets the eye

[Platypuschow · 6/10 · 28 October 2017]

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

Strange and ethereal

[texasarcane · 7/10 · 23 April 2016]

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.

Alien Syndrome

[sol- · 7/10 · 21 December 2016]

An unemployed musician and his psychic girlfriend stumble on a government conspiracy involving experiments on child-like aliens in this sci-fi themed paranoia thriller from 'China Syndrome' screenwriter Mike Gray. The film is powered through by a perfectly brooding Tangerine Dream music score and haunting sound effects and Robert Carradine makes for a sympathetic lead. The choice to have young boys play the decades-old aliens works very well too; there are some great sequences in which they travel through the city with childhood wonderment in their eyes and yet adult restraint, content to just observe. The midsection of the film is nevertheless rather weak as focus turns away from Carradine and the aliens to focus on government figures debating what to do. This departure serves a purpose as it highlights how there are no real antagonists in the tale: all the government want to do is learn about these creatures and prevent panic in the general public, however, the government figures never make for interesting characters. The film also has some irksome narration to begin with but thankfully this soon disappears. 'Wavelength' might not be a perfect motion picture, but it is very well crafted as far as low to medium budget science fiction films go, and its descent into obscurity over the years is sad but understandable. Critics of the film are all too eager to jump on its similarities to 'E.T.' and 'Starman', but this is a film that deserves to be judged on its own terms - especially since it was written before 'E.T.' and released before 'Starman' came out!

Thumbs up!

[MrTaft · 10 June 2004]

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!

boom mic incompetence

[firma_ment · 5/10 · 1 May 2022]

This was a low budget movie, but had an interesting story. However, the execution of this movie was extremely incompetent. Throughout many scenes in the movie, you can see the boom mic hanging down from the top of the screen! Unbelievable! I mean, I've seen a boom mic in a scene or two in some movies, but it just hangs there for half a minute in some of the scenes. Complete incompetence!

Also, the aliens looked rather ridiculous, since they were just children with bald heads.

The acting was also fairly poor, with Robert "Revenge of the Nerds" Carradine, and Cherie Currie from the band The Runaways, which also featured Joan Jett.

However, I did find the story interesting enough to hold my attention throughout the movie.

Another interesting thing to note was that the exteriors of the building where the aliens were kept was a facility know as Lookout Mountain, which is located in Laurel Canyon in Los Angeles. Lookout Mountain was actually a government run film studio, which was active until the late 60s, which produced military films, including footage of nuclear explosions. The facility was sold in 1968, so at the time Wavelength was made, it was in private hands. An American Indian character actor owned it for much of the seventies, but lost it in the early 80s when he went broke. Apparently, the director of Wavelength did not have permission to shoot the exterior of the facility, so there was a bit of guerilla filming going on, or so I've read. Jared Leto now owns the property.

Another interesting point is that Tangerine Dream did the score for the film. I'm not sure why they would become involved in such a low budget project. Maybe they liked the subject matter. Anyway, it's not one of their best scores.

All in all, a somewhat interesting effort for such a low budget production that is marred by boom mic incompetence.

"There's a plant in the window...plants have to be watered!"

[moonspinner55 · 6/10 · 4 April 2001]

Robert Carradine is a hack L.A. musician who lives near an abandoned Air Force Base, Cherie Currie is his semi-psychic girlfriend who hears a strange, high-pitched sound coming from within. That's the set-up for a slow yet engrossing science-fiction story which is by turns credible and yet too mechanical. The middle portion of the film sags with the weight of far too much technical jargon and yammering from government yahoos. Once things get back to Carradine and Currie, the movie recovers for an emotional conclusion. This is the best role Currie's had since 1980's "Foxes" and Carradine is an easy, giving actor who never mugs or hams. Keenan Wynn is also good in support, and the desert locales for the ending are well-captured. A minor offering from New World Pictures, though a highly competent one. **1/2 from ****

average science fiction movie

[myriamlenys · 5/10 · 20 June 2023]

A not entirely successful rock musician meets a sweet-natured and sensitive girl. The pair soon fall in love. However, the girl is plagued by a sense of unease. After a while it feels as though something on the nearby military base is crying out for help...

"Wavelength" is a modest science fiction movie, probably made on a shoestring budget. It could have used more polish, especially with regard to the technical side of things. (Pretty sure I've seen some kind of microphone intruding on the action, not once but several times.) The movie tells a story about a group of aliens held captive in a top secret air force base plus prison. The "aliens" disappoint through their lack of alienness. We human beings have a certain form, which is linked to our functioning, our evolutionary history and our place in the great tree of life. So why should beings who evolved on a distant planet and function along completely different lines ressemble us so closely ? It's entirely possible that beings with attributes like the ones described in the movie would look like a cross between a cauliflower and a translucent sloop.

However, I can't say that I disliked "Wavelength" entirely, it seemed to have its heart in the right place. At times it even achieved a clumsy kind of poetry, for instance when showing the aliens travelling through a human city. What would aliens think of our busy modern cities, with their cars, their restaurants, their beggars, their "Look at me, look at me !" neon signs ? So five stars, for a movie that's neither superb nor dire.

They've been through the desert with aliens with no names .

[Coventry · 7/10 · 22 July 2009]

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.

E.T. phones home.....and there's no answer! Why? It's a ripoff!

[emm · 5/10 · 25 October 1998]

If you get a chance to see this movie at all, then understand that WAVELENGTH is reversely similar to E.T. Remember, I said REVERSELY! The first half bores and does not hold my interest. Stick around much longer and maybe you'll enjoy the rest of it. Here's where E.T. is the other way around, as two young people flee the underground research facility with real live aliens, but this looks utterly corny for an 80s sci-fi picture at a time when acting was becoming more improved than the drive-in heydays. The film's climax and conclusion is where your interest wanes once again, meaning you've wasted too much valuable time enjoying a mediocre movie. It has a nice, well thought out idea, but that's not enough when you had an upcoming release that tried to prove superiority over an already big blockbuster movie like E.T.

Cries for help

[sol1218 · 6/10 · 9 September 2010]

***Spoilers*** Low budget "E-T" like movie even though it was written years before the film "E-T" was even in production the movie "Wavelength" has to do with a trio of captured aliens who's space craft was blown out of the sky over the Mojave Desert by a super secret US military laser device. The three alien spacemen, named by the scientists and military who are examining of them, Gamma Beta & Delta, Dov Young Josh Oreck & Christian Morris, are put on ice in a secret military installation, that been out of operation since the end of WWII,in the Hollywood Hills.

It's when the ultra sensitive to both whale dolphin and alien brainwaves Iris Longacer, Cherie Corrie, picks up the alien spacemen, who look like pre-teenage boys, cries for help that she gets her boyfriend down in the dumps rock guitarist Bobby Sinclair, Robert Carradine, to help her find them. It takes a while but with the help of desert prospector and former military construction contractor Dan, Keean Wynn, the aliens are tracked down to the long abandoned military installation that the US military is keeping them locked up, in cold storage, in.

With both Iris & Bobby captured by the Army M.P's as their caught snooping around the secret military installation those in charge of the place get panic stricken in that the the truth about he aliens and their future plans for the human race will become public.

***SPOILERS*** Not knowing what to do with Iris & Bobby their put in the same room where the aliens, Gamma Beta & Delta, are being kept in what looks like a combination of iron lungs and food storage freezers. This idiotic decision, by the military brass, to put both Iris & Bobby in the same secret room with the frozen alien turns into a disaster with Bobby freeing the aliens who then take off with him and Iris, with the help of local Navajo Indians, first for L.A and then to the Mojave Desert. It's there that in the wide open desert the aliens are soon to be contacted by their mother ship who's to take them back home from they came from in the far flung milky way Galaxy.

In the final few minutes of the movie the aliens mother ship, that looks like a giant beach-ball, pops up out of nowhere in the middle of the Mojave Desert and after holding of a squadron of USAF fighter planes, by scaring he US Air Force pilots half to death, takes the now freed aliens from their captors, the US Military, safe on board. As for both Iris & Bobby as well as Dan the old prospector their allowed to go free in the US Government and its military leaders knowing full well that if they try to make their incredible experience public no one, not even their friends and family members, would ever believe them!

An overlooked gem, nice emphasis on drama

[hippiedj · 8/10 · 18 April 2001]

I love to debate with those who claimed this was a rip-off of E.T... While E.T. was good, it was obviously more cute with cute kids and a cute alien. Wavelength is much more adult. I didn't see this as the same film as E.T. at all, if anything, I found John Carpenter's film Starman a replica of Wavelength--it came two years after Wavelength and had the EXACT same silver sphere spaceship hovering in the desert!!

The story of someone discovering aliens in a secret underground government complex may not be new, but it's how the story is told and how the characters affect us that make it work. Robert Carradine is likeable and even sings a few of his own songs. Would have been nice to add those to the soundtrack CD, but I can't complain about having this great Tangerine Dream score (particularly the Church Theme). Former Runaways band member Cherie Currie was a nice surprise in the cast--it's a shame someone felt it necessary to exploit her by having her in a brief nude scene. It's so cliche to have a naked woman get out of bed and never the man...it's as if to say, yeah, we can pull in the male audience by giving them a naked woman to gawk at. Since this was from New World Pictures, I had to check to make sure Roger Corman wasn't listed as producer since his name (like John Landis) automatically means breasts are mandatory. Keenan Wynn adds sass as usual to any film he's in, and doesn't disappoint.

The real stars are the aliens. It's wonderful to see how much can be conveyed without dialogue! One particular moment of brilliance (and a nice comment on religious ideology) is when they are whisked into a church to hide and Carradine and Currie try to get the aliens to put clothes on to disguise them as children. At first the aliens won't cooperate, but when they look up at a statue of Jesus on the cross (and seeing the despair on Jesus' face), they quickly start to grab for the clothes! That scene deserves to be listed as one of the all-time best scenes in film. It's important to note too that the minimalist makeup job for the aliens is very good, I didn't notice any seams or wrinkles on the skin. They seemed naked, but who's to say what beings from other worlds wear?

Nice pacing, believable performances, great Tangerine Dream score, and good use of location (yes, using the desert is economical, but the final sequence is a wow), and the emphasis on the drama of the situation instead of bombastic sci-fi visuals make Wavelength a worthwhile time. I've seen and forgotten many films in my life, and when a film like this is one you think about once in a while, then it did its job well.

I only hope that someday it's re-issued on DVD and given the chance to be re-discovered and acknowledged!

Still Good Sci-Fi Forty Years Later

[claudio_carvalho · 6/10 · 16 May 2023]

In Los Angeles, the twenty-five-year-old washed-up musician Robert "Bobby" Sinclair (Robert Carradine) is expelled from the studio and meets the twenty-two-year-old artist Iris Longacre (Cherie Currie) in a bar. They go to his house, where Bobby meets his neighbor and friend Dan (Keenan Wynn) and his dog Frank. During the night, Iris, who is telepathic, overhears a whale crying-like sound in a nearby abandoned military base facility, and they decide to visit the place. Soon they are arrested by military soldiers and arrested in the secret underground base. They learn that during a military exercise, the weapon hit an UFO that crashed on the Mojave Desert. Two aliens died but the other three were recovered alive. Now the government intends to develop research with the three survivors, but the couple decides to save them.

"Wavelength" is a 1983 sci-fi still good forty years later. The plot of UFO and aliens is original, despite the number of films of this genre in the 80's. The soundtrack by Tangerine Dream is another plus in this film. My vote is six.

Title (Brazil): "O Terror do Espaço" ("The Terror from the Space")

Overlooked, profoundly beautiful gem

[tywebb · 28 April 2004]

Those of us lucky enough to catch it on late-night HBO when it first came out were strangely touched by it (especially those of us not so jaded as to be put off by the low-budget production or b-movie feel).

The screen presence of Robert Carradine and Cherie Currie...the steady flow of understated and beautifully filmed scenes...the mesmerizing music of Tangerine Dream at their best.

This film is a synergy of several elements that came together to create a rare kind of sci-fi film magic. It has a meditative feel that is sadly absent from most films today, and while it may not have mega-buck mass appeal, it is well worth tuning into Wavelength.

My personal nostalgic feelings haven't clouded my review.

[terrywatt375 · 6/10 · 9 March 2024]

I recall watching this movie a bunch of times in the 1980's, first on one of the cable movie channels back then (couldn't say now for sure if it was HBO, Cinemax, Showtime or The Movie Channel, but it was one of those) and later on a blank vhs I recorded the movie onto. Hey, whaddaya want from me? I was in my early teens and I thought Wavelength was interesting.

I went on to pretty much forget all about the flick until the early 2000's when I first started buying stuff off of Amazon. Somebody had one of the professionally made vhs tapes manufactured in the early 1990's for home viewing purchase for sale. I remembered having seen the movie a bunch of times nearly twenty years earlier, so I bought a vhs copy. Still have the copy and a working vhs player, which is good I suppose since Wavelength never got a dvd release.

Reading the other reviews posted here over the last twenty years, I'll say for myself I didn't find Wavelength to be a rip-off/clone of either Close Encounters Of The Third Kind or E. T. Nor did I find that John Carpenter's Starman was a particularly egregious rip-off of Wavelength. In terms of the story and plot, Wavelength is overall easily distinguishable from those other more commercially successful films.

I'm also able to overlook a few shots with boom mics in them and the meagerness of Wavelength regarding its limited production budget (reportedly $1.5 mil 1981 USD), especially when contrasted with those of Close Encounters, Starman and E. T. I will say that Wavelength has always had a grainy feel to it visually which I'd guess was probably due to cheap film stock being used. It is something noticeable particularly when watching it on vhs re: scenes that take place either at night or in low light. I would agree with other reviewers that the Tangerine Dream score here is nothing exceptional.

I never had any problem with either Robert Carradine or Cherie Currie as the leads. They both proved competent enough. I think a lot of what limits the amount of stars I'm awarding has to do with plot holes and pacing. Cherie Currie's character is psychically linked to the three aliens via some type of telepathy, yet apparently she is the only person in the sizable city of Los Angeles with its sizable population to have this link? The military installation depicted in the movie as far as the exterior shots went was clearly a run down, abandoned, boarded up and fenced off warehouse of some sort in real life. I can understand from a production aspect why it was convenient to use such a place for exterior location shooting. What doesn't make ANY sense from a plot standpoint is the ease with which Carradine and Currie's characters are able to break into said military installation (and why it would be located smack in the middle of Hollywood in the first place). Or how after Carradine and Currie help the aliens escape nothing happens by way of punishment to their characters re: being detained by the military/government agents. These are but a few of the more notably silly moments and indicate either a lack of care or concern in terms of the screenplay. Lazy writing.

A shame, because Wavelength played it straight....it wasn't some B-movie poking fun at itself. Wavelength didn't approach what it was doing as some sort of Roger Cormanesque farce where those movies are firmly tongue in cheek and therefore a degree of silliness re: plotholes is to be expected. Wavelength was, I believe, legitimately a thoughtful attempt at an engaging sci-fi pic. It makes the shortcomings of the script all the more detrimental to the end result. Worth a watch for free on youtube, but I wouldn't spend more than, say, $20 for either a vhs copy, dvd bootleg or a download.

Cool 80s sci-fi

[akashicorca · 7/10 · 28 January 2024]

Maybe the more believable version of E. T. Staring Cherie Currie from the Runaways and a synth soundtrack from Tangerine Dream. Feels like the kind of adventure exploring a secret underground base that actually could have happened in the 80s. I would easily recommend it to other fans of cheesy 80s sci-fi.

That being said, the cheesiness really stems from the lack of budget and the era it was filmed in. The acting is good, the pacing is good, the premise is intriguing and it's a fun little adventure. It might even have some moral value in terms of being nice to visitors (from earth or otherwise). I don't think there's much of anything like character arcs, but maybe that's because the characters are dealing with the matters at hand and don't have time for introspection. As a fan of classic sci-fi I give it 7 stars. I found it to be faster moving and less fantasy oriented than E. T.

Thoughtful plot, natural acting and a handful of superb effects....

[pbsbkb · 8/10 · 28 February 2005]

You can count on one hand the number of "aliens on earth" movies that are well made since the 1980's. "Wavelength", with a plot containing a few elements of several other sci-fi movies, pulls off an intriguing look into why we seem to have no knowledge of alien contact--only our ever increasing suspicions. The short length is perfect, as you care about the characters but don't have to wade through more-than-enough exposition to reach the thrilling denouement. However, if you go in expecting a big-bucks budget and effects you will not get your fill. Instead, enjoy the cast who carry off the narrative through good chemistry and solid, non-flashy acting. The director/screenwriter has given them a sci-fi film with plenty to work with, including an eye-popping finale. As other reviewers have previously noted, the Tangerine Dream filmscore is excellent, too. It is a shame that this little gem isn't available in a widescreen DVD format yet. Catch it some other way when you can.

"WAVELENGTH" a worthwhile effort, not a rip-off.

[johnmorghen · 8/10 · 26 January 2002]

After viewing this film for the first time (and with an open mind), I feel the need to defend it against the general naysayers who condemn it, claiming that it is nothing but a rip-off. Unfortunately, this film has just about been buried by several bad reviews, and the fact that "E.T." was released just prior to this film, didn't help it, either.

The fact is, it's nearly 20 years down the line, and people are still comparing it to "E.T.". I certainly don't feel that this is a rip-off of "E.T.", nor do I feel that it bears much resemblance. It may be true that this film was made with the intent to cash in on the alien/science-fiction trend of that period, but then again, when doesn't that happen in Hollywood? If we are going to compare films about extra-terrestrials, then this one ranks more closely to Steven Spielberg's earlier accomplishment, "CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE THIRD KIND".

Overall, I enjoyed this film. Robert Carradine and Cherrie Currie (of The Runaways fame) turn in some solid performances, which rise above most films of this caliber. Keenan Wynn, reprising his usual stubborn old man role, is always worth watching. Tangerine Dream provides the music for the film, and as usual, their score is especially effective, and works best in the most critical areas.

One has to appreciate the intelligence that the film has, which clearly indicates that this was not just another "hatchet-job" rushed effort, that some would suspect.

The end result is, by no means, tremendous. But, this film is extremely underrated, and is at the very least, worthwhile entertainment.

If you get a chance, give it a shot.

Great early 80s sci-fi flick!

[udar55 · 8/10 · 15 May 2009]

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.

A different kind of "Close Encounters"

[rgslater-1 · 10/10 · 16 September 2005]

This one is a real sleeper. The acting is great, the characterization is well played , You really feel that you are in the middle of this one. Special effects are at a minimum, this movie relies on the power of your imagination and the use of your brain. Definitely NOT for an escapist movie fan. My only complaint comes at the end of the movie when the aliens "space ship" comes to get them. I've seen this footage before in at least one, possible two or more other movies. Despite the stock footage, this is a Sci-Fi movie for the real Sci-Fi fan. As a plus there is Keenan Wynn playing a grumpy old man forgotten by most, but relied on by the two main characters.

A pleasant surprise from an era hopelessly enamoured with glitzy effects. Simple, and well done.

[Barnabas · 9 March 1999]

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.

One of my all-time favorites!

[MysticHOBO · 10/10 · 5 December 1999]

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!

A sweet, lovely and underrated early 80's low-budget science fiction gem

[Woodyanders · 8/10 · 29 December 2006]

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.

Sweet, fun an unpretentious low-budget film

[vukaroo · 8/10 · 5 July 2020]

'Wavelength' is an alien sci-fi film, filmed in 1981 and released in 1983, starring Robert Carradine and Cherie Currie. It was a surprise discovery, as there are very few alien films from the 70s/80s that aren't schlock and aren't about some bloodthirsty and monstrous alien races looking to take over the planet. I've read that this film is a low-budget rip-off of E.T., but I beg to differ. Yes, it doesn't have the production value of E.T., the story does have similarities, and it's quite simple, however, there's something original, alluring and charming about this film.

Also, I don't think that the fact that children play the aliens detracts from the film. If anything, it adds a certain realism and makes you think that's it's possible that there is a species of small humanoid like beings. I mean, I'd much more believe that a kid-like alien being would pilot a spacecraft than something that looks like an arachnid or cephalopod, even though I liked Denis Villeneuve's Arrival. Anyway, I digress...

The film needs a bit of restoration, but it's still watchable. Not even the recurring appearance of a boom mic detracts from the quality. Ultimately, this film offers an interesting take on extraterrestrials, and successfully compels you to ponder the possibilities in regards to E.T.s, galactic travel, UFOs, energy, and interaction, while a 'Tangerine Dream' soundtrack plays.

A Superb Little Sci Fi Thriller

[tabuno · 9/10 · 18 January 2019]

21 April 2010. This little sci fi movie that could, captivates with its Tangerine Dream, electronic, new age soundtrack and envelopes and captivates in its fusion of mood and pacing with the movie's other elements. This low-budget presentation is actually part of its charm as the lower quality picture and sound actually enhance the richness, the authenticity and ambiance of the movie, especially the military action. Over a quarter of a century old, this movie holds up perfectly without aging, its environs and technological appearance seems still mostly contemporary, except perhaps the dot matrix computer, but its rapid gun-shot noise even makes for a nice energetic background noise. The script and plot are tight, the concept both edgy and lightly sprinkled with humor, some of silently accomplished. There are suggestions of THE ANDROMEDA STRAIN (1971) in the science and purported serious nature of the threat involved in the movie, even to the transmission of important messages from higher ups, THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT (1999) during the darkened enclosed space scenes at the third ways through the movie, and NOMADS (1986) in the stylistic energy of night life and passing of an almost surrealistic sequences of observing human behavior. Overall, this movie takes a simple plot, injects a sense of national urgency and possible doom along with a Native American air of balance and acceptance, a balanced movie that fuses together a story of both paranoia and playfulness and wonder. January 18, 2019. Not available on DVD nor most streaming service. There is a copy posted to Youtube.

Hopeful Filmmaking

[bubbahotepone · 9/10 · 26 April 2017]

Mike Gray came up with a minor masterpiece. I went to see the film because a friend whose judgement about movies I always respected suggested that I take myself down to the dollar theater and watch what can be made for little or no money and a ton of heart and soul. I wasn't disappointed. Gray must have had a particular form of charisma as the actors all seemed to be working to the full extent of their talents and his obvious ability to do so much with so little deeply impressed me. If he'd only had a budget! I wonder what he could have done if Spielberg had donated the crew for Close Encounters meal budget to Gray. As it stands he didn't need more help really. In any case, highly recommended!