Space Vampires

I first saw Lifeforce back in 1985. I thought it was a decent sci-fi/horror concept of alien vampires. I agree with many of the other reviewers who said the ideas or concept of the film was good. Other than that it was entertaining, not great, but entertaining. There are really two good reasons to see this movie. And they are Mathilda May's boobs. Hell, her whole naked body for that matter. Man is she hot. She has to be the best looking vampire/alien that has ever graced the screen. Like another reviewer said, she plays evil, seductive, vulnerable and serious very well and all while being naked. To say the least it couldn't have been easy for her to play the role naked throughout the whole film. Needless to say,I'm glad she did. I agree Railsback was miscast in this. Otherwise, the film is alright. If you need to see major boobage,then rent this and watch it with the guys.

Holy mackerel! From the comments I've read so far,you would think Tobe Hooper and Cannon were trying to remake "The Magnificent Ambersons"or some other "classic of the cinema"!I personally believe they set out to provide an entertaining picture for public consumption,and as far as I'm concerned ,that's exactly what they accomplished.After wearing out my VHS copy,I had to buy the DVD,which is even better in WIDESCREEN....plus I can hit the ZOOM and see Mathilda May much better! Exciting story,great cast(Railsback always one of my faves,PLUS Firth,Stewart,Gothard,etc.).Someone commented about "cheesy effects"...are you kiddin'?The special effects in this picture are much better than the overdone computer junk you see nowadays.Of course,this is an 80's picture...no one has enough imagination to make a movie like this today!

The Cannon Group has always seemed like the movie studio equivalent of the engine that tried and tried to climb that mountain, but unlike it's children's book counterpart, never seemed to reach the top.

"Lifeforce" is the exception.

In fact as space-vampire-movies go, this is the best, which of course on the subject of space-vampires... isn't saying much. But "Lifeforce" really is a memorable ride.

From the director of "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre" and "Poltergeist" comes this massive apocalyptic science-fiction and horror epic. It's "2001" and "Dawn of the Dead" all rolled into one juicy little egg-roll of a movie, spiced with the beautiful naked body of Mathilda May (if she's smart she would start mathildamay.com and sell signed "Lifeforce"-pictures, and make a fortune of perverts like me). It's scripted by none other than Dan O'Bannon (Alien, Return of the Living Dead, Total Recall) and the cast is great. Frank Finlay looks like Peter Cushing's second cousin just escaped from a Hammer Horror movie, and it's always nice to see Michael Gothard (God rest his soul) who played creepy Emile Locque in "For Your Eyes Only". Steve Railsback is good as always, and Peter Firth perfectly fits the part of the SAS-colonel who must save the day (he always reminds me of the 1980's 'Doctor Who' Colin Baker :)

The 25 million dollar budget looks like 50 million dollars, the f/x are first-rate but best of all: a rousing score by Henry Mancini! His "Lifeforce"-theme should deservedly rank with the all-time great sci-fi-themes. It's almost hard to fathom that the composer of "Breakfast at Tiffany's" and "The Pink Panther"-movies, so known for his romantic music, should actually be able to produce such a bombastic score. It's like he kept it all in for 30 years and then suddenly decided to blow it all off on the soundtrack of this movie, and nobody needs to clean up after him - it's that brilliant!

When history is to be counted, this is one of the movies the Cannon Group will be remembered for, together with "Bloodsport", "52 Pick-Up", "Hanoi Hilton" and "Missing in Action" (come on, Chuck ruled as Braddock). And it only took 60 or so movies to create five good ones :)

Like several other reviewers here, I'm surprised to see many negative reviews on this film. Dan O'Bannon's previous effort was the groundbreaking 'Alien' of 1979. Because it and 'Star Wars' introduced the stylistic approach of 'Used' or 'Dirty Space' in art-direction for these kinds of features doesn't mean that this was the only way to produce them.

Rather than dismiss 'Lifeforce' out-of-hand as a sort of schlock and primitive exploitation feature, it's important to recognize that the film draws upon the 'esteemed' traditions of British horror and science-fiction - specifically Hammer and American International features like Quatermass (specifically 'Quatermass and the Pit', 1967), Doctor Who and 'The Day of the Triffids' (1963), if not the works of Gerry Anderson ('UFO', 'Space:1999' and 'Thunderbirds'). But none of these influences would be a surprise if other reviewers recognized writer O'Bannon's genre-scholarly appreciation for 'Queen of Blood'(1966) and 'It! The Terror from Beyond Space'(1958) - the immediate sources for 'Alien' (1979).

Granted this film has some 'legacy' elements, but perhaps it's worth comparing this film to its more immediate peers - 1981's 'An American Werewolf in London' and 'The Company of Wolves' (1984) - other 80's films that share a 'looking-back' while they adapt those stories to the 80's zeitgeist. All three films drew on earlier incarnations of the same, but substantially sexed-up their themes (because they could), and, at the same time they recognized the tongue-in-cheek, humorous aspects of their projects.

Neil Jordan's 'Wolves' played to many of the psychoanalytic memes floating around at the during the '80's, while 'American Werewolf' curdled its theme as a 'coming-of-age' film. It's called artistic license, and the adaptations of these three films are no less valid than the latter-day dramedy inherent in the 'Scream' franchise, 'I Know What You Did Last Summer' and 'Final Destination'. But these teen-targeted, films seem to be part of a box-office trend, whereas the 80's films like 'Lifeforce' belong a canon of British sci-fi - even if this one was written by an American.

In many ways this film holds up much better than latter-day disaster and alien-invasion flicks ('Independence Day', 'Armageddon', 'Deep Impact') in that the 'solutions' don't reside in gun-battles, weaponized payloads and testosterone. At the opposite end of the pole, it is unfortunate that Steven Soderbergh and James Cameron didn't examine Tarkowski and Lem more closely before they remade 'Solaris'...

The goal of this film was fun, not ponderousness or stupidity.

7/10

Rating: *** out of ****

I think Lifeforce makes a very strong case for being the best "bad" movie ever made. The film is, after all, ludicrously plotted, but that actually adds to the unique charms this movie has, which actually entertains for all the right reasons. Lifeforce is exciting, thrilling, suspenseful, and always a lot of fun, thanks to the intriguing story, the first-rate special effects, the competent action sequences, and of course, the gorgeous Mathilda May wandering around in the buff.

A joint British/American crew aboard the shuttle Churchill are studying Halley's Comet when they discover a giant contraption hidden within the coma's comet. Knowing this will be their only chance to board this enigma, they suit up and enter this contraption. Inside, they discover thousands of frozen, giant bat-like creatures, and just as interesting, three humanoids (one female, the other two male) encased in crystal-like containers. They decide to take the humanoids and one bat back to the ship with them.

Thirty days go by and London has lost complete contact with the crew. So another shuttle is sent, and they discover the dessicated remains of the Churchill crew, but all three humanoids are still intact. Bringing them back to London for examination, the female one awakens, displaying the ability to drain the lifeforce out of a human being, and escapes out of the compound. Enter Steve Railsback and Peter Firth, who star, respectively, as the sole survivor of the Churchill and an agent out to stop this space vampiress from taking over the planet.

If you've read the plot summary above and find this story interesting, then Lifeforce is most certainly the film for you. The first hour is probably the most engrossing, plot-wise. When you discover that whoever the vampiress kills will also rise to drain someone else's lifeforce, that's when the stakes grow much higher, as an epidemic becomes a possibility.

The first half of the film resembles Species quite a bit, since you've got a team that's searching for a nubile alien that's on the loose (though, without a doubt, Ms. May is so much hotter than Natasha Henstridge). This same part of the plot adds another interesting aspect that makes the team's job more difficult; the vampiress has the ability to enter another person's body. Thus, they're no longer searching for a young, dark-haired beauty. She could be in anyone, which further raises the stakes.

The engrossing story-telling sort of gives away to loads of special effects and action, but I found it a good transition. The effects are often terrific and the action is really quite exciting, surprising considering that director Tobe Hooper is usually incompetent at creating thrills and suspense. Judging from the all-out chaos that occurs in the last half-hour (burning buildings, thousands of zombie-like creatures stumbling around searching for nourishment), I'd say the film had a pretty big budget to work with (I've heard figures as high as 28M, which would be higher than Aliens' 18M a year later).

Acting's probably what you would expect, with Peter Firth delivering a pretty good performance as Agent Caine. I like the guy's straightforward, calm attitude toward the situation and how he handles it. Steve Railsback as his partner who's being seduced by the vampiress in his dreams is much less impressive, sweating and overacting to amusing extents, but never coming across as very convincing. Patrick Stewart of Star Trek fame is here, too, in a role that he's probably a bit embarrassed by these days.

But the most impressive of the cast is none other than Mathilda May. Watching May stand around calmly as she seduces a victim is an interesting transition from titillation to all-out horror. She's actually frightening, and that's impressive for a nude woman. Speaking of nudity, most people must have noticed that's often the most mentioned aspect of the film. Indeed, Mathilda May is one of the most gorgeous women I've ever seen. It's really perfect casting when you think about it. There's something exotic and "alien" about her looks (maybe the fact she's a foreigner helps) that adds a brilliant touch, and her perfect body helps, too, of course. Because of that exotic, "alien" look, I can't see any other drop-dead gorgeous actress who could pull this off quite as well (and this includes superhotties like Chasey Lain, Carmella DeCesare, and Tracy Ryan).

Henry Mancini's score is a pretty enjoyable listen, though hardly as good as so many have claimed it to be. Even at 116 minutes, Lifeforce actually feels rushed. Some material could have explored a little further, but that's not too big a complaint. This is one wildly entertaining film I highly recommend.