‘Lifeforce’ was one of a pair of films Tobe Hooper made for the ill fated Cannon Group after his work on ‘Poltergeist’ was completed (the other being his remake of ‘Invaders From Mars’), and allegedly kept him from taking the directors chair on ‘Return of The Living Dead’. But is it any good? Well, read on intrepid Fiend….
So, what is the film about? Well, a quick synopsis runs thusly: Space Vampires.
A more thorough one is as follows: In the near future (as far as the film was concerned) NASA and the ESA have launched a joint mission on a specially adapted space shuttle, The Churchill, to probe Halley’s Comet on its approach to Earth. Upon reaching the comet, they discover that hidden in the comets coma is a 150 mile long vessel of non terrestrial origin. The scientists on board, along with the missions military leader, Col. Carlsen decide to enter the vessel and investigate it. Inside they find petrified remains of bat like creatures, and 3 perfect humanoid bodies in suspended animation, 2 males and 1 female. The astronauts are attracted to these humanoids, especially the female one, who is rather conveniently naked.
They transport these humanoids, along with one of the bat like creatures onto the shuttle, and then all communication is lost…
Some time later, the shuttle is detected returning to Earth. Upon investigation, the craft is found to be empty of all bar the 3 humanoid beings, and the lifepod is missing. The interior of the ship has been burnt out. The bodies are transported to London for inspection, and awaken, draining the lifeforce from those they make contact with. Col. Carlsen is found, the lifepod having landed in Texas, and he is rushed to London to help fill in the gaps before it is too late. Can Carlsen and plucky S.A.S. Colonel Caine save humanity form the space Vampires?
Well, yes, they do, after much running around, and a fair amount of time spent in the company of a very naked Mathilda May as the leader of the space vampires. As the Vampires take control, their vessel looms in orbit over London, and the city itself becomes a chaotic, near apocalyptic area of horror, with thousands of semi dead ‘vampires/zombies’ rampaging collecting lifeforce for the true Space Vampires.
Now, this film isn’t great. It isn’t awful, but it rests in the ‘so bad it’s good’ niche for my money. The acting is reasonably good, with a predominantly British cast (including Sir Patrick Stewart) managing to keep a straight face despite the hammy nature of the script. American Steve Railsback shows himself nicely as Carlsen, whilst the lovely Mathilda May swans around looking stunning whilst mostly nude (and yes, this is full on full frontal nudity. The kind you used to get until the mid 90s when films got scared of showing pubic hair), but having her acting skills rarely if ever stretched beyond looking seductive.
the film itself looks pretty good, as one would expect from a film that allegedly cost in the region of $25m dollars in the mid 80s (a not unreasonable amount). Sure, some of the effects look pretty poor by modern standards, but the make ups for the vampire/zombies in the last third of the film are damn good, as are the animatronics used for 2 of the early victims.
I can not comment on the extras, as I saw the new HD print on Netflix, so I shall leave that for a later update.
Overall, this is a cheesy, kinda fun film.
3.5/5 Fiends.
About the Author
