Going back to the 1980s is not only a cheap trick to catch the little hearts of the nostalgic ones, as they do in titles like Super 8 (2011), Summer of 84 (2018), Super Dark Times (2017), or the TV series Stranger Things (2016–2024), but it was also a very interesting time, a little golden age for alien-themed flicks and the final steps of the Cold War. Roswell Delirium (2023) is a science-fiction thriller that runs away from the cliche stereotypical nostalgia to set a story in that magical decade.
During the 1980s the US is hit by a wave of nuclear attacks, and after the fallout, those who remain pretend like everything is normal even though they are all experiencing radiation poisoning. A young girl named Mayday tries to make contact on a series of ham radios with her father who is in space on a shuttle mission. Instead of making contact, she receives an intergalactic distress call from space that leads her on a journey to Spacerock, the land where Area 51 once was. She is exposed to severe levels of radiation and within days all of her organs start to fail. Knowing that medical treatment won’t help her mother Wendy brings her back to Spacerock to give her to the aliens in hopes that they may be able to save her.
This is the debut feature film of writer, producer, and director Richard Bakewell, responsible for the awards-winner short films Postpartum (2016) and The Rabbit Hole (2019).
The cast for the movie contains the 1980s stars Dee Wallace (The Howling (1981), E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982), Cujo (1983), Critters (1986)), Sam J. Jones (immortalized for playing the title character in Flash Gordon (1980)), and Reginald VelJohnson (popular for his role of Carl Winslow in Family Matters (1989–1998) and his iconic appearance in Die Hard (1988)). Kylee Levien, Ashton Solecki, Arielle Bodenhausen, Anthony Michael Hall, Lisa Whelchel, Kayden Brenna Tokarski, Georgia MacPhail, Romyn Smith, Ryan Kennedy, Luke Jones, and Caitlin O’Connor also star.
Roswell Delirium (2023) is having its premiere in Los Angeles, California, on July 21, 2023. Watch its trailer here.
