A for Andromeda (2006)
Messages from Space
A tv movie remake of a classic 1960s BBC serial where astronomers pick up messages from space that gives instructions for the construction of a body for themselves
Communications in Fantastic Cinema
This refers to a body of films that principally deals with the difficulty of communications between humanity and something other. In the majority of cases, the other refers to Alien species. Most SF films dealing with aliens feature shortcuts to avoid these issues like universal translators or have people arrive on planets where everyone miraculously speaks English.
These are however some works that do not shortcut the process and deal with the fact that there must be enormous linguistic let alone conceptual differences between species. Also covered here are works dealing with SETI and CETI and the attempts to broadcast a signal into space and the search for a reply.
Other works included under the umbrella of communications are those allowing means of communicating with the dead; attempts to talk to animal species; and cross-time communication.
Alien Hunter (2003)
Alien Unearthed in the Antarctic
Film about a mysterious alien artifact unearthed in the Antarctic that falls apart due to a script that is constantly jumping all over the place and spending more time homaging other science-fiction films
The Arrival (1996)
Alien Infiltration and Takeover
An alien invasion and takeover film that was clearly inspired by the success of tv’s The X Files. This is a smart effort that emerges as something unworldly in David Twohy’s hands
Arrival (2016)
First Contact with Aliens
Most SF films gloss over the issue of communication with aliens, having them either speaking English or with devices like Universal Translators. This is a superbly intelligent film that grapples with how to communicate with something different
Battleship (2012)
US Navy vs Alien Invaders/Boardgame Adaptation
Adaptation of the Battleship boardgame that emerges at best as wannabe Michael Bay. Imagine Pearl Harbor mashed up with a Transformers film and lots of bone-headed glorification of American militarism
The Call (2020)
Phone Calls Across Time
A South Korean film that remakes The Caller about a girl who finds she can make phone calls across time to another woman only to find that the caller is a psychopath who begins to wreak havoc with her timeline
The Caller (2011)
Phone Calls Across Time
A horror version of Frequency where Rachelle Lefevre has phone conversations across time with a disturbed woman who then starts causing people to disappear and altering the timeline. Cleverly told and with some chilling twists
Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977)
UFOs/Alien Contact
Steven Spielberg’s film about alien contact was every bit as big as Star Wars in 1977. The whole film is the equivalent of sitting gazing up at a starry sky wondering if we are alone and built up to the wondrous climactic appearance of the UFOs
Contact (1997)
Communications from Space
Carl Sagan’s novel about SETI is inflated into a big budget film determined to impress even though the story did not need it. Sagan’s interesting debate about religion and science is emasculated so as not to offend any religious groups
Cosmos (2019)
Communications from Space
Strong and intelligent SF film about amateur astronomers who receive radio signals from space indicating existence of alien life. A film made with a remarkable economy – most of it takes place inside a car – and rooted in good science
Ditto (2000)
Cross-Time Radio Communication
A South Korean film that came out around the same time as Frequency and has an almost identical premise about two people who start talking by radio while separated in time by twenty years.
Don’t Let Go (2019)
Cellphone Calls Across Time
Blumhouse film that borrows the basics of Frequency where a detective starts receiving phone calls from his murdered niece from several days in the past and tries to prevent her murder
Doors (2021)
Anthology/Mysterious Alien Portals Appear
Multi-director anthology about a series of mysterious portals that appear around the world, this creates a sense of something genuinely alien and otherworldly
End of the World (1977)
Aliens in a Convent/Looming End of the World
A thorough embarrassment on Christopher Lee’s resume – an early Charles Band film in which Lee is a stranded alien inhabiting the cloned body of priest in a convent of nuns
Explorers (1985)
Teenagers Build Spaceship
Joe Dante’s successor to Gremlins and a box-office flop. This nevertheless evokes a genteel sense of wonder in its story with Ethan Hawke and River Phoenix as teen inventors who build a backyard spaceship
Frequency (2000)
Cross-Time Radio Communication
Intelligent and well written film where freak weather conditions allow a son to communicate with his late father by radio across thirty years in time. Where the film starts to get interesting is when this creates unexpected changes in the present
Haunt (2014)
Haunted House
A modern ghost story that aims for a slow, delicate atmosphere. Noble ambitions but what we end up with is a film that fails to produce any boo moment that makes us leap out of our seats
Koi … Mil Gaya (2003)
Bollywood Alien Visitor Film
This is the Bollywood version of E.T.. That is if one can imagine an E.T. with singing, dancing and romantic scenes. A simplistic but popular hit that spawned several sequels
Il Mare (2000)
Letters Across Time/Romance
South Korean romantic film about a couple exchanging letters across time. This later underwent a Hollywood remake as The Lake House with Keanu Reeves and Sandra Bullock
Mirage (2018)
Alternate Timeline
Intelligent and absorbing thriller where a freak storm allows a woman to communicate with the past only to inadvertently create a new timeline where her life is very different
Mr. Harrigan’s Phone (2022)
Text Messages from Beyond the Grave/Stephen King Adaptation
A nicely made Stephen King adaptation about a teen who starts to receive text message from beyond the grave. From Ryan Murphy, the producer behind tv’s Glee and American Horror Story
My Stepmother is an Alien (1988)
Alien Visitor Comedy
1980s icon Kim Basinger displays unexpected comedy talents in this tale where she is an alien romancing Dan Akyroyd. Throwaway fluff but it has a comedic silliness that is undeniably appealing
The Next Voice You Hear … (1950)
Messages from God on the Radio
A film that could have only been made in the 1950s where the voice of God suddenly appears on the radio around the world. Starring later-to-be US First Lady Nancy Reagan
Patient Zero (2018)
Rabid Zombies/Man Who Can Speak Their Language
Former Doctor Who Matt Smith is absurdly miscast as someone who can speak the language of zombies. The film does nothing to make the premise believable.
Proximity (2020)
UFOs and Alien Abduction
Cheaply made and frequently unintentionally hilarious variant on UFO conspiracies that wheels out all the usual cliches – alien implants, the Men in Black, recovered memories etc
Radio Free Albemuth (2014)
Philip K. Dick Adaptation/Possible Messages from Aliens
Adaptation of an autobiographical Philip K. Dick book that he wrote in an attempt to make sense of a series of bizarre hallucinations, this long-rumoured film manages, despite a low-budget, to mainline the brain-twisting nature of Dick’s writing better than any other adaptation
Red Planet Mars (1952)
Radio Messages from God on Mars
One of the most bizarre of 1950s Communist Fear films in which humanity begins to receive radio message from God on Mars. The film’s politics are hysterical today.
Risen (2021)
Mysterious Alien Meteorite Strike
Interestingly mysterious film about the investigation into a zone affected by an alien meteorite
Species (1995)
Alien Sex Fiend
Slick and rather silly copy of Alien that conceptually cross-hatches it to emerge as essentially Basic Instinct with tentacles
Sphere (1998)
Crashed UFO Underwater/Michael Crichton Adaptation
Michael Crichton was hot property after the success of Jurassic Park but this was one flop. A by no means uninteresting film about a group of scientists in an underwater habitat making contact with an alien lifeform
Starman (1984)
Alien Visitor
John Carpenter abandons horror to make one of the better E.T.-inspired cute and cuddly alien visitor films. The film’s grasp of science is sometimes shaky but the film gains an enormous amount from Jeff Bridges’ performance as the alien trying to adjust to being in a human body
The Terrornauts (1967)
Communications from Space
SF effort from the UK’s Amicus Films with an ambitious plot about communication from the stars that manages to prefigure films like Contact and 2001. On the other hand, the film fails is in its pitiful and utterly inadequate special effects
This Island Earth (1955)
Abduction into an Alien War
Beautifully colourful 1950s SF film about scientists who are abducted to take part in a war between two alien species
The Vast of Night (2019)
UFOs and Alien Abductions in the 1950s
Indie film about UFOs and alien abductions in a small 1950s town. This comes with undeniably eerie effect that heralds a strong new directorial voice. It also has a perfectly realised sense of retro period detail.
The Visit: An Alien Encounter (2015)
First Encounter Between Human and Alien Speculative Documentary
Absolutely fascinating documentary that speculates what the likely reactions would be if aliens were to arrive on Earth where we get input from various scientists and UN spokespeople. The answers are compelling and completely different from anything that you usually get in SF cinema
White Noise (2005)
Communications from the Dead
Ghost story about so-called Electronic Voice Phenomenon with Michael Keaton as a widower being contacted from beyond by his late wife. A film that achieves some quite reasonable spooky effect