Lifeforce (1985)

A race of space vampires arrives in London and infects the populace, beginning an apocalyptic descent into chaos.

Director:

Tobe Hooper

Writers:

Colin Wilson (novel), Dan O'Bannon (screenplay)

Stars:

Steve Railsback, Mathilda May, Peter Firth

1 win & 2 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
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

Storyline

The space shuttle Churchill is assigned to observe Halley's Comet under the command of Colonel 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 Colonel 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 Colonel Colin Caine trying to save mankind from the evil vampires from space.

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Plot Keywords:

vampire | alien | zombie | space vampire | breasts | 

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Taglines:

The Cinematic Sci-Fi event of the Eighties

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Genres:

Action | Horror | Mystery | Romance | Sci-Fi | Thriller

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Certificate:

R

Details

Country:

UK USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

21 June 1985 (USA)

Also Known As:

Space Intruders

Filming Locations:

Christchurch, Hampshire, England, UK

Box Office

Budget:

$25,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$4,209,136, 23 June 1985

Gross USA:

$11,603,545

Company Credits

Production Co:

Golan-Globus Productions, Easedram Limited, London-Cannon Films

Technical Specs

Runtime:

101 min 116 min (international)

Sound Mix:

70 mm 6-Track (70 mm prints) Dolby (35 mm prints)

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

According to interviews with Bill Malin, who plays one of the vampires, this movie went over schedule, and because of this, some important scenes were never filmed.

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Goofs

Dr Fallada says that the Space Girl is in the Cathedral in London, in "the crypt of kings and queens". The cathedral in question is presumably intended to be St Paul's (though in appearance it does not accurately match the real St Paul's). However, no king or queen of England has ever been buried in St Paul's, except for Ethelred (1016). There are two other cathedrals in London: Southwark and Westminster. No king or queen of England has ever been buried in either of them. Many kings and queens of England have been buried in the entirely separate Westminster Abbey, and others at Windsor. This could be regarded as an error made by the Fallada character rather than by the film makers.

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Quotes

NASA man: I'd say she's perfect. I've been in space for six months and she looks perfect to me.

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Alternate Versions

Original unedited European version contains more violent and erotic footage Tri-Star Pictures cut from the domestic version. It also contains the full Henry Mancini score in place of the occasional Michael Kamen music cues placed at the last minute for U.S. prints. This version is now available on video and runs 116 minutes.

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Connections

Featured in Dangerous Beauty with Mathilda May (2013)

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Soundtracks

The Lifeforce Theme
Written by Michael Kamen and Henry Mancini
Performed by Henry Mancini

User Reviews

A force to be reckoned with

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 :)