 Extended and Theatrical Versions - 1 Movie, 2 Cuts Tagline: With an insatiable hunger, they are coming...Mankind is their prey. In the blink of an eye, the terror begins. From the director of Poltergeist and the co-writer of Alien comes a thrilling sci-fi adventure of explosive action and pulse-pounding suspense! With mind-blowing special effects by Academy Award winner John Dykstra (1977 - Visual Effects, Star Wars) Lifeforce is a gripping mélange of genres that's "so bizarre, it's fascinating" (Leonard Maltin)! A mission to investigate Halley's Comet discovers an even stranger phenomenon: an alien spacecraft! Following a deadly confrontation, the aliens arrive on Earth, where their seductive leader begins a terrifying campaign to drain the lifeforce of everyone she encounters. Her victims, in turn, continue the cycle, and soon the entire planet is in mortal danger. And when the mission's sole survivor (Steve Railsback, The Stunt Man) sets out to destroy her, he comes face to face with the most charming - and horrifying - being he's ever known. Will he be able to destroy the lovely vampiress... or will he become yet another victim of her fatal charm? Storyline: The space shuttle Churchill is assigned to observe the Halley's Comet under the command of Col. Tom Carlsen. They see a strange form attached to the comet and Carlsen goes with a team to investigate. They find three humanoid life forms in caskets and they bring them to the Churchill. However, Earth loses contact with the shuttle and the Space Research Center sends another spacecraft to search the Churchill. They find the crew dead and the shuttle burnt and one rescue pod missing. They bring the humanoids to Earth and soon Dr. Hans Fallada and his team discover that the Space Girl is a sort of vampire and drains the life force from people transforming them into zombies. When the authorities find that Col. Tom Carlsen has survived, they summon him to explain what happened in the Churchill. Carlsen tells an incredible story about the three aliens and he teams up with Col. Colin Caine trying to save mankind from the evil vampires from the space. Written by Claudio Carvalho, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil Reviewer's Note: Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman on May 13, 2013 -- At least the astronauts in Alien weren't aware they were bringing anything, let alone something nasty, back with them after setting out on their interstellar explorations. No such slack can be given to the spacemen in another screenplay co-written by Alien's Dan O'Bannon, the troubled 1985 Tobe Hooper film Lifeforce. On paper Lifeforce seemed to have just about everything going for it a mid-eighties science fiction spectacular could have: a hot young director starting to feel his oats and given one of his biggest budgets to date; a respected writer with well established credits in both science fiction and horror, two genres Lifeforce sought to combine; special effects supervised by John Dykstra, then probably the single most respected individual in the visual effects field; a score by the iconic Henry Mancini; and a cast of notable actors who, if not exactly traditional A-list material, were respected and respectable. And yet, much like the humans in this film, the filmmakers themselves experienced something akin to vampirism along the way, having their original concept sucked out of them, with only the husk remaining, at least with regard to some boneheaded marketing decisions, not to mention the edit of the film that made it to American audiences (admittedly done with some input from the director). Lifeforce wasn't particularly well received when it was originally released, but over the years it's developed something of a rabid cult following, especially in its so-called "director's cut" which better preserves elements of the original screenplay as well as Hooper's overall vision for the film. While there are certain lumbering and at times even laughable aspects to Lifeforce, it's a good deal better than some might lead you to believe. Based on Colin Wilson's novel The Space Vampires, a title which neatly sums up the high concept of the film, Lifeforce is a little too bloated and silly for its own good but it still provides a lot of fun along the way and it looks spectacular in this new Blu-ray incarnation, one overseen by Hooper himself. Lifeforce begins like any number of other space operas, with the crew of a spaceship discovering unexpected life forms, in this case three naked humanoids encased in crystal prism like structures in a huge enclosure which has been hidden by Halley's Comet. The leader of the expeditionary force is Colonel Carlsen (Steve Railsback), who almost instantly feels the pull of attraction toward the female of the trio (played by the frequently naked Mathilda May). The film then segues to an Earth perspective as the returning spaceship has fallen out of communication with the British Space Agency. A rescue operation is mounted, where it's discovered that the ship has been badly burned, although the three humanoids are still seemingly fine. While some of the crew members' corpses are found floating around the interior of the ship, Carlsen is nowhere to be found. The three humanoids are taken back to Earth, where a team of scientists begins trying to figure out who (or what) they are. The female suddenly awakens which begins a domino effect of havoc being wreaked. She has the ability to suck the "lifeforce" out of helpless people whom she is able to seemingly hypnotize telepathically not to resist (and in fact to "come closer" so that she can do her dirty work). She escapes out into London while the scientists begin dealing with a number of zombified vampires springing up in the wake of the female's efforts. Meanwhile, Carlsen has been discovered in an escape pod and has been flown back to London where he divulges that he had tried to destroy the aliens when he figured out they had nefarious abilities. The rest of Lifeforce plays out in an increasingly hyperbolic state as Carlsen and several concerned scientists try to figure out where the female—who can "inhabit" other people and change her appearance—might be hiding, ultimately settling on a doctor played by Star Trek: The Next Generation's Patrick Stewart. Carlsen has a sort of psychic link with the female, which has both its ups (helping the good guys track down where the space vampires are ) and its downs (Carlsen and the good inhabited doctor almost lock lips since Carlsen is "seeing" the female rather than the doctor). The final act of Lifeforce plays out in a London overrun with zombie like vampires who are wreaking havoc while the three vampires are tyring to reconstitute themselves. The female is evidently in communication not only with Carlsen but also with her mother ship, and her attempts to transport back to it provide the film a climax that is rather reminiscent of yet another Star Trek property, Star Trek: The Motion Picture. Lifeforce tends to become a bit too ludicrous for its own good in these closing moments, with too many strands being dealt with too quickly to provide much of a satisfactory ending. The film works best in its early going, though the stupidity of the humans (who often just kind of stand there, looking at various other humans getting the life sucked out of them) becomes comical after a while. Lifeforce is not an entirely successful film, but it boasts an interesting premise and an often quite winning production design and special effects. Like several of the victims in the film itself, Lifeforce seems poised to rise from the dead in this new high definition presentation. It's probably best to think of Lifeforce as a vampire movie with some space elements thrown in, rather than an outer space special effects extravaganza that has vampires in it. That in fact was most likely one of the reasons the film failed to really resonate with audiences years ago, since the marketing of the film made it seem like a sci-fi spectacular. There are some undeniably silly aspects to the film (watching Railsback and Stewart almost lock lips may bring a giggle to the more juvenile members of the audience, of which I sheepishly count myself one), but there are also some really fun sequences, especially once the zombie-vampires (or whatever the heck they're supposed to be) start creating such mayhem. The film boasts an impressive production design and some very effective special effects. This new Blu-ray looks and sounds fantastic and comes replete with a really nice supply of supplements. Highly recommended. Cast Notes: Steve Railsback (Col. Tom Carlsen), Peter Firth (Col. Colin Caine), Frank Finlay (Dr. Hans Fallada), Mathilda May (Space Girl), Patrick Stewart (Dr. Armstrong), Michael Gothard (Dr. Bukovsky), Nicholas Ball (Roger Derebridge), Aubrey Morris (Sir Percy Heseltine), Nancy Paul (Ellen Donaldson), John Hallam (Lamson), John Keegan (Guard), Chris Jagger (First Vampire [as Christopher Jagger]), Bill Malin (Second Vampire), Jerome Willis (Pathologist), Derek Benfield (Physician). User Comment: ametaphysicalshark from prejudicemadeplausible.wordpress.com, 9 December 2008 • Did director Tobe Hooper, writers Dan O'Bannon ("Alien", "Return of the Living Dead") and Don Jakoby ("Blue Thunder"), in addition to some uncredited writers who presumably did rewrites of the original script, or any of the cast actually think they were making a good movie during the production of "Lifeforce"? The movie gets progressively wackier, more disturbingly bizarre, hilarious, over-the-top, and greater by the minute. When you think that the movie couldn't possibly become more demented, that it was already as nutty as anything could possibly be it outdoes itself. I really don't know if this was at any point supposed to be tongue-in-cheek, if anybody involved thought it was genuinely creepy or effective, or if they were just too distracted by Mathilda May's exquisite breasts and rear end to care, but the end result is quite simply one of the greatest films ever made. Here are some reasons why "Lifeforce" is perhaps humankind's greatest achievement to date (and probably impossible to surpass):
"Lifeforce" is not merely another 'so bad it's good' movie. It is not an example of a film made by individuals with ambition far beyond their reach. No, it is quite simply THE most audacious, spectacular, hilarious, absurd, insane, riotous, crazy, deliriously demented science fiction film of all time. I cannot fully articulate why it is deserving of being one spot ahead of Samuel Fuller's "Pickup on South Street" on my list of favorite films, but I do know that it is. "Lifeforce" elevates craziness to an art form. Quite possibly the most entertaining film known to man, and perhaps our greatest achievement as a species. Summary: Glorious, demented, insane, has to be seen to be believed. Humankind's greatest achievement? Trivia:
IMDb Rating (03/02/14): 6.1/10 from 12,078 users IMDb Rating (06/22/13): 6.0/10 from 10,096 users
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