Extraterrestrial films of all kinds over the decades have most often depicted aliens as invasive, supremely intelligent monsters looking to wipe out or enslave the inferior human race, seldom ever appearing as a savior. However, Richard Bakewell's upcoming new sci-fi film Roswell Delirium will depict a different kind of fight for survival, as humans struggle to live on after a Soviet nuclear catastrophe and find sanctuary in the most unlikely of places on Earth. Per an exclusive report from Collider, the official trailer for the film has dropped, giving audiences a firsthand look at what could very well be one of the most unique sci-fi dramas in recent years.
The Greatest Safety For Humankind is Not of This World
Roswell Delirium is a sci-fi drama thriller straight from the mind of Richard Bakewell, who has been best known for his cinematography work on projects like docu-series Uncensored (2018) and Wahl Street (2022). This time he's ambitiously tackling the ever-challenging genre of sci-fi with an original film set in an alternate 1980s America, which finds itself decimated by a Soviet nuclear bombardment. Survivors of the calamity struggle to recover some sense of normalcy, while unaware that they're all still suffering from radioactive fallout.
The film follows the life of a mother named Wendy Malone and her young daughter Mayday Malone, who is ostracized at school but cares more about her personal project built with a collection of ham radios. She attempts to use them to contact her father, who has been away on a space mission. However, she unknowingly discovers an extraterrestrial contact that persuades her to seek safety at a place called Spacerock, a mysteriously remote plot of land that actually used to be Area 51. Starring in the film are Arielle Bodenhausen and Kylee Levien as Wendy and Mayday Malone respectively, who both worked together previously on short films like The Rabbit Hole (2019), along with Ashton Solecki (Beyond the White Veil) as Firefly, Anthony Michael Hall (The Goldbergs), E.T. (1982) film alum Dee Wallace, Lisa Whelchel (A Madea Christmas), Family Matters alum Reginald VelJohnson, and more.
Bakewell, who directed, wrote, and helped produce the film, discussed how it is not only a thrilling extraterrestrial adventure with plenty of that Stranger Things-esque 80's aesthetic nostalgia, but a very emotional, very human story about coping with trauma and the will to survive the most harrowing of catastrophes.
“The film deals with mental illness, abuse, bullying, and psychological trauma, and it is truly a film made for adults and teens. The movie tells the story of a mother and her daughter who survive a Soviet nuclear attack. They and the rest of the town try to move on with their lives and go back to some form of normal, but unbeknownst to them they’re all suffering from radiation poisoning.”