Lifeforce (1985) User Reviews

The parts are greater than the sum...

[AlsExGal · 6/10 · 24 December 2018]

...because the screenplay, taken in total, is incomprehensible. This is supposed to be an adaptation of Collin Wilson's novel "The Space Vampires". A crew on a mission to track Haley's comet encounters a huge abandoned spaceship. The ship contains the remains of huge bat like creatures and three nude beautiful humanoids. But then mission control loses contact with "The Churchill". The rescue mission finds The Churchill damaged, but the bodies of the nude humanoids remain intact and are returned to earth - bad idea. Meanwhile an escape pod with surviving astronaut Col. Tom Carlsen is found in Texas. He is flown to London (why?), where he tells first one tale of what happened on the ship, then another, then still another. The bottom line is that the three naked humanoids from space are the original vampires, they threaten earth with all of their "soul sucking", and Carlsen has a psychic link to the beautiful female with whom he seems to be in love.

The story is hard to piece together because it shape-shifts more than the vampires themselves. The first half is investigative in nature - why are these vampires here?, what do they want? , where have they gone?, how can they be defeated?. That morphs into the space vampires running rampant in London, harvesting human souls and turning their victims into zombies - why?. Other than producing great special effects, that is never clear.

It seemed like a wasted opportunity overall, but scene by scene it is beautiful to look at, and like the female space vampire herself, creepy yet attractive. As the end credits rolled I wondered what happened here. You have well known director Tobe Hooper and a good supporting cast including Patrick Stewart and Peter Firth. But then I saw that it was produced by the Cannon Group at a time when they had received an infusion of cash by Michael Milken. This caused them to go on a spending spree for special effects and big names and neglect screenplay, ultimately imploding about five years after this film was made.

I'd say that it would be easy for this to become a guilty pleasure of mine and I would recommend it just on the weirdness factor alone.

Totally Berserk Melding Of Sci-Fi And Horror That Somehow Works

[virek213 · 7/10 · 19 December 2001]

Though it hardly compares to other sci-fi film giants like 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY or CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE THIRD KIND, LIFEFORCE does work as a totally berserk and bizarre melding of science fiction and horror elements. Somehow, despite dialogue that approaches the ridiculous and acting that does the same, it manages to work because of a few highly different elements.

Loosely based on Colin Wilson's 1976 novel "The Space Vampires", this film from director Tobe Hooper (POLTERGEIST; THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE) focuses on a joint US-British mission aboard the British space shuttle Churchill to study Halley's Comet. Led by an American commander (Steve Railsback), they discover an alien spacecraft in the comet's coma. And when they investigate the interior of the spacecraft, they find alien occupants that look like giant bats. Later on, the Churchill reaches Earth's orbit, but no response is given from radio calls issued from the mission's home base, the Space Research Center in London. Columbia is launched to rendezvous with Churchill, but they find the entire ship gutted by fire--all except for the alien beings encased in glass who, far from being untouched by the fire, look absolutely perfect. The aliens are bought back to Earth...and that's where the incredible happens.

These space vampires escape from the Space Research Center and, instead of draining their victims of blood via bite wounds, suck their victims' lifeforce totally out of them. One of them is the Space Girl, a thoroughly nude vampiress played by Mathilda May. Railsback, the only actual survivor from Churchill, is bought in by the SRC's chief (Frank Finlay) and a British special agent (Peter Firth) to track May, who is in telepathic contact with him. Pretty soon, however, the vampires have turned London into a scene of pure holocaust; people are either being dessicated or turning into zombies, and the threat by NATO to sterilize the city with thermonuclear radiation looms large. Railsback finally catches up with May, and sacrifices himself by impaling her with a large metal sabre.

Undoubtedly disjointed, unquestionably uneven, but nevertheless worth watching, LIFEFORCE, despite the frequent incoherency of its script and its acting, benefits from some drop-dead excellent special effects work by John Dykstra (STAR WARS), some of the best ever seen. The other working element, and a surprise one it is, is the incredible orchestral score by Henry Mancini, almost Wagnerian in the same way John Williams' score for STAR WARS was--and Mancini, like Williams before him, uses the London Symphony Orchestra, to boot!

Largely forgotten these days, and a critical and box office disaster in 1985, LIFEFORCE, if for no other reason, should still be seen for anyone with a taste for the bizarre. There had never been a film quite like it before, and there will certainly not be anything like it again.

***an underrated gem

[vhsiv · 7/10 · 3 February 2004]

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

Glorious, demented, insane, has to be seen to be believed. Humankind's greatest achievement?

[ametaphysicalshark · 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):

• Mathilda May is nude for the entirety of the film, and she is "the most overwhelmingly feminine presence" you will ever see. Yes, that is a quote from the film.

• Steve Railsback gives one of the most gloriously, hilariously over-the-top performances in the history of film.

• It is, to quote a fellow IMDb member, 'the greatest naked space vampire zombies from Halley's Comet running amok in London end-of-the-world movie ever made'. Yes, that is actually the plot.

• Frank Finlay, Peter Firth, and Patrick Stewart embarrass themselves.

• Special effects and design that are actually good, adding to the suggestion that someone somewhere actually took this thing seriously, which is quite a disturbing thought.

• Unbelievably stilted delivery of some of the finest dialogue known to man, examples of which include:

"She looks perfect. I've been in space six months and she looks perfect to me."

""Don't worry, a naked woman is not going to get out of this complex."

"Despite appearances this woman is a masochist, an extreme masochist."

"He too needs feeding."

"She's totally alien to this planet and our life form... and totally dangerous."

"I'm Colonel Cane." "From the SAS?"

"It was two hours ago that the guard was attacked. I wouldn't be at all surprised if we're seeing a pattern here."

"Colonel, take it from the beginning. Assume we know nothing... which is understating the matter."

Colonel Cane looks at a shriveled corpse, then asks: "and this was murder, you say? "

"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.

Strange charm

[BandSAboutMovies · 6/10 · 11 September 2017]

By 1985, Hooper's career was in limbo. Sure, he'd tasted box office success with 1982's Poltergeist, but he'd also be dogged with rumors — or truths — that he'd not really directed the film. Toss in a bad experience on 1981's Venom, a film that he was replaced on ten days into shooting (Klaus Kinski claimed that the cast and crew ganged up on Hooper in an effort to have him replaced), as well as being replaced as the director of The Dark and a rumored nervous breakdown.

A three picture deal with Cannon Films and the promise of no interference would be the panacea that would soothe Hooper's pain. Or so he thought.

The first film in the three picture deal was Lifeforce. Based on Colin Wilson's 1976 novel The Space Vampires and scripted by Dan O'Bannon (Alien, Return of the Living Dead) and Don Jakoby, the film was originally going to use the original title. After spending $25 million to make it, Cannon decided that they wanted a blockbuster instead of their normal exploitation films, hence the change to Lifeforce.

Once Hooper had his money and freedom, he was beyond excited, seeing the film as his chance to remake Quatermass and the Pit. In fact, he said, "I thought I'd go back to my roots and make a 70 mm Hammer film."

Hopper turned in an initial film that was 128 minutes long, starting with 12 minutes of near silence in space aboard a space shuttle. This is 12 minutes longer than the final version which had several scenes cut, most of them taking place on the space shuttle Churchill. Three actors — John Woodnutt, John Forbes-Robertson and Russell Sommers — ended up completely cut from the final film, as was some of Henry Mancini's score.

Even worse — the film went way over schedule and cost so much that the film was shut down when the studio ran out of money, leaving some of the most important scenes unshot.

Look — it could have been worse. Michael Winner was the original choice to direct.

So what's it all about? Good question.

The crew of the Churchill discovers a massive spaceship — nearly 150 miles long and shaped like an artichoke (no, really) — inside Halley's Comey. Hundreds of dead bat creatures surround the ship and inside, two perfect males and one perfect female sleep in suspended animation. They take the aliens and come back to Earth, because there are no protocols or rules about that kind of thing. I mean, I can't even fly back from Japan with fruit and these dudes take aliens directly to London.

Tragedy strikes — a fire consumes the ship, destroying everything and everyone except for the aliens. The aliens turn out to be vampires that can shape shift and suck out the life force of everyone they meet.

In Texas, a survivor is found — Colonel Tom Carlsen (Steve Railsback, Manson from Helter Skelter!). He explains how the crew's life force was taken and why he set the shuttle on fire. He also has a psychic link to the female alien (the constantly naked Mathilda May). Patrick Stewart also shows up as Dr. Armstrong here — who has the female vampire inside him. They take her/him back to London, but the plan backfires when she/he escapes.

Read more at www.bandsaboutmovies.com/2017/09/11/tobe-hooper-week- lifeforce-1985/

Great Fun Without Being A Great Film

[Theo Robertson · 7/10 · 16 June 2002]

LIFEFORCE is an extremely schizophrenic movie, based on Colin Wilson`s novel The Space Vampires the script ignores most of the novel`s concepts and structure ( Indeed it owes more to the QUATERMASS serials than the novel ) but the scenes it does leave in from the novel are nearly identical to those in the film . And talking of the script it must be one of the most uneven in cinema history , it`s though it was written in chapters by several different people. Take for instance Carlson , he disappears after the early shuttle scenes which led me to believe he was dead then he turns up again halfway through the film in order to explain the plot to the beleaguered Brits and it`s this lack of attention by the screenwriters that spoils the film . And there`s plenty of other clumsy scripting such as the heroes returning to London in a helicopter and not realising it has been over run by zombies untill they`re flying over it .

I could go on at great length about these plot holes but LIFEFORCE is actually enjoyable to watch as long as you don`t use your brain . It`s good to see a sci-fi horror film from an era when aliens were portrayed as being cute creatures that children hid in their bedrooms so that nasty human adults wouldn`t get their hands on them . The special effects and pyrotechnics are very very good , there`s lots of action and stunts and LIFEFORCE features one of the most memorable aliens in the form of the space girl . When mentioning LIFEFORCE in conversation with males it`s always a race to say " Seen the alien in LIFEFORCE? She can suck the lifeforce out of me anytime " Hardly surprising looking at the demographics of the votes that this film is more popular with males than females

" Don`t worry . A naked girl can`t escape from here " Can`t she ? Pity

Actually gets better on subsequent viewings (and when you know what to expect)

[Aylmer · 7/10 · 10 February 2010]

I first watched this film as part of my big "zombie kick" started by DAWN OF THE DEAD when I was a teenager maybe 12 years ago and didn't much care for it. As a zombie film I found LIFEFORCE to be immensely disappointing with very little of what I considered real zombie action. Don't get me wrong, there's lots of mayhem and chaos in the final reel, but the zombies run around fast and are in the gray area where they're almost more vampires than zombies. It's just too bizarre and sloppy if you go in expecting a Romero-style straight-forward action horror romp.

Seeing the film as an adult, I can find a lot of new things to appreciate. For one, the cast is fantastic with Steve Railsback in full-on goofball mode only hinted at in his earlier starring roles in STUNT MAN and TURKEY SHOOT. Solid British performers Patrick Stewart, Peter Firth, Frank Finlay, and John Hallam all pop by in strong supporting roles, with relative unknown Firth pretty much replacing Railsback as hero slowly but surely as the film progresses. The special effects are excellent beyond their years and should be in bold font on John Dykstra's CV. Add to that it's got a lot of imagination and energy which you just don't see in too many scifi/horror movies... and there's just the right balance with gore and unpleasantness to keep it shocking yet not grating.

LIFEFORCE is not necessarily a good film, but at least it stays entertaining. What it fails to do is really present a narrative in a way that feels like it makes proper sense. For one thing, the movie makes the odd decision about halfway through to send the two protagonists to an insane asylum where they inexplicably spend the next 20 minutes of movie. Suddenly out of nowhere we're plunged back into our main plot with London being overrun with zombies. It's like the movie just took a time-out to up the weirdness factor rather than sticking to its guns.

Of the Cannon Group's many offerings this really sticks out like a sore thumb - a film of such ambition never to be attempted by them again.

On a final note - LIFEFORCE is well worth watching if nothing else for the excellent use of late 70's / early 80's British "Lightning Strike" sound effects as heard in the pilot for "Space: 1999" and FLASH GORDON. ZZZ-ZZZ-Zakorr!!

So bad that it almost becomes great.

[keenan-1 · 5/10 · 20 March 2004]

I hate to admit it, but I really love this movie, although on every level it really is horrible! The moments of incredibly bad acting (does Steve Railsback HAVE to scream like a maniac in every part he plays? Is it a part of his contract?), cheesy effects (oh, yeah, gotta love those animated corpses...), completely senseless "scientific" explanations and gratuitous nudity... Okay, so the last point is a plus rather than a minus, because Mathilda May has to have been the most beautiful-looking woman on the planet when this film was made, but it's just a little bit obvious that she's serving as a distraction from the rest of the movie rather than an enhancement to it.

You know what? I really don't care. I've watched this movie repeatedly, especially when I've had a few, and I never fail to enjoy it thoroughly, although not perhaps in the way its creators intended. I mean, where else can you see Frank Finlay pontificate in such a wonderful take-off of the original mad scientist? And for screaming, Patrick Stewart sure gives Steve Railsback a run for his money. (That's saying a great deal, believe me!) Let us not forget some other fantastically talented actors whose facial expressions seem to indicate that they can't believe they've been trapped in this low-budget purgatory--Aubrey Morris, Michael Gothard, Jerome Willis, and, of course, the incredible Peter Firth. Oh, Lord, how I love it!

If you're after a movie that doesn't make you think at all but has wonderful eye-candy value (if you appreciate female beauty, anyway), this is the one for you. Slightly better now that all of the original scenes have been re-instated--so many more opportunities for howling with laughter. It just screams "B movie!" but somehow it is so much more fun. Oh, dear, now I have to go and watch it again!

Brilliantly demented

[squeezebox · 8/10 · 25 October 2005]

LIFEFORCE was one of Cannon Films' biggest flops. It received mostly bad reviews and did nothing to help director Tobe Hooper's career in the wake of the Spielberg/POLTERGEIST controversy. All of this is unfortunate, because LIFEFORCE is actually a really great movie. It is supremely entertaining, moves along at a fast pace and features some of the most outrageously over-the-top direction, production, performances and special effects ever to explode across the screen! It must have looked bizarre on paper: the producers of THE DELTA FORCE, the screenwriter of ALIEN, the director of THE Texas CHAINSAW MASSACRE, the composer of BREAKFAST AT TIFFANY'S, the special effects wizards of STAR WARS... Audiences were not ready for this demented exercise in weirdness.

What more do you want??? We got an alien spaceship full of giant bats! We got a sexy, naked space vampiress sucking out people's souls! We got exploding bodies! We got zombies! We got possession! We got an S&M interrogation! We got the entire city of London on fire! It's Dracula meets NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD meets QUARTERMASS AND THE PIT meets EARTHQUAKE. It's quite possibly the single most outrageous horror/sci-fi/comedy/action/disaster/erotic/apocalyptic epic ever unleashed, that is, if there are any other ones out there.

Try watching this movie while chemically altered. Perhaps then you'll understand. A genuinely f***ed up experience, and one of director Tobe Hooper's most underrated movies. Maybe one day, it will find its audience.

How can anyone not like this Lifeforce?

[poolandrews · 7/10 · 13 December 2007]

Lifeforce starts in outer space where the HMS Churchill tracks Haley's Comet & it's equipment detects a 150 mile long alien spaceship in the head of the comet, unable to contact Earth because of interference Colonel Tom Carlsen (Steve Railsback) decides this is the one & only chance to investigate it. Going outside in spacesuits Carlsen & some of his crew enter the mysterious spaceship & find the remains of a bat like race of creatures & three perfect looking humanoids, two men (Chris Jagger & Bill Malin) & a beautiful woman (Mathilda May) all of whom they take aboard the Churchill. Thirty days later & back on Earth the Churchill is detected on radar, a rescue mission is sent up only to discover the spaceship is burnt out & all the crew supposedly dead. The rescue team do find the three humanoid aliens though & take them back to Earth where in a space research center in London they come back to life & start to literally suck the lifeforce out of human victims who then in turn need to do the same to stop themselves turning into dust, things look grim as the epidemic spreads throughout London...

This English production was produced by the notorious Menahem Golan & Yoram Globus who during the early 80's were responsible for lots of cheap low budget action flicks under their production company Cannon usually starring Chuck Norris & they wanted to move into the big time & signed director Tobe Hooper up on a three film deal (which were this Lifeforce, the Invaders from Mars (1986) remake & The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 (1986) a sequel to Hooper's own classic) all of which flopped & basically bankrupt both Golan & Globus & Cannon was no more. Anyway, despite being a commercial flop at the box-office I have to say I think Lifeforce is a highly enjoyable, if rather silly sci-fi horror. When originally released into theatres back in '85 Lifefore was cut down to 101 minutes by Golan & Globus but over the past few years the longer 116 minute cut has all but replaced it on DVD, VHS, Laserdisc & TV although apparently Hooper's original cut of the film ran for 128 minutes so there's even more footage out there somewhere. I will be basing my comments on the longer 116 minute cut, the script by Dan O'Bannon, Don Jakoby & uncredited rewrites by Michael Armstrong & Olaf Pooley was based on the 1976 novel 'The Space Vampires' by Colin Wilson & has many extraordinary ideas, it's scope is truly ambitious & one felt that it ends up being a bit of a mess but a hell of an entertaining one. It moves along like a rocket & at heart there's a really interesting story here although the film gets itself into a tangle. There are also some hilarious moments in Lifeforce, the scene when the security guard tries to convince the naked female Vampire to surrender by offering her a half eaten biscuit is a true camp classic, the horribly overwrought hypnosis scenes including the one where Railsback ends up kissing Patrick Stewart & many, many more besides. I don't know, call me weird but I just thought Lifeforce was tremendous fun & highly entertaining in just about every way, from silly character's, odd dialogue, strange ideas that never quite come together & some terrific visuals Lifeforce certainly isn't a film that will bore you.

Director Hooper had just about more money here to play around with than he ever has (double what he had for Poltergeist (1982) even) & he uses every bit of it to bring this spectacular film to the big screen, John Dykstra the guy responsible for Star Wars (1977), Star Trek: The Motion Picture (1979) & more recently Spider-Man (2002) was brought in to handle the visual effects & generally speaking they look fabulous. The sequences set in outer space with spaceships in particular look great, there's also some really good visual effects back on Earth including the destruction of London as 100's of blue souls fly around everywhere. There's some nudity but not much gore, there are some withered corpses, a few gunshot wounds, the skin on someones hand peels off, blood spurts from someones eyes, nose & ears & there's a severed arm as well as some zombies. The special make-up effects are also generally very good. I wouldn't say Lifeforce is scary as such as it's more of a sci-fi film than horror, I loved the way Hooper shoots the outer space sequences as he keeps rotating his camera to effectively capture the feeling of weightlessness & that there is no 'solid' floor as it were.

With a supposed budget of about $25,000,000 it made less than half that in it's theatrical run & hasn't set the world alight on video or DVD either which is a shame because although it's a bit of a mess it's very enjoyable to watch. Shot on location in England. Well filmed in 2:35:1 widescreen, the 4:3 cropped image is horrible & cuts huge chunks of information from both sides of the screen, this is most noticeable during the opening scenes set in outer space where sometimes it's hard to make out what's going on & the sense of the vastness of space & the alien spaceship is lost. The acting is OK in a very silly film, Patrick Stewart replaced Sir John Gielgud, Nancy Paul replaced Olivia Hussey, Frank Finlay replaced Klaus Kinski while Anthony Hopkins turned the role of Caine down.

Lifeforce is a bizarre film, no two ways about it really & anyone looking for something simple & straight forward should look elsewhere. Anyone looking for something a bit different in the sci-fi genre than give Lifeforce a go as it's one of those so bad it's good films with some impressive effects & it isn't your average run of the mill film by any means.

schizophrenic mess

[redtiago · 5/10 · 26 July 2022]

Tobe Hooper made his masterpiece, although not consensual, in his first work "The Texas chain saw massacre" in 1974, he became popular and recognized in the great success "Poltergheist" in 1982, made in partnership with Steven Spielberg (producer and screenwriter). In between, he directed, among others, the successful TV series "Salem's Lot" in 1979, based on the homonymous work by Stephen King.

The reason why he was invited to make this "Lifeforce". In both a femme fatale fights telepathically in a web of sexual seduction with a male character, in both evil is weaved in the web of carnal desire in which man is the most weak.

With a screenplay by Don O'Bannon (writer of the masterpiece "Alien") and Don Jakoby based on the book "The Space Vampires" by Colin Wilson.

It starts with a space science fiction environment where cosmonauts discover an unknown ship with three human-looking beings or I would even say supra-human two "Adonis" and a "goddess" of blinding beauty.

Obviously they can't resist taking her, oh and the other two as well, to planet Earth. All this in the first minutes of the film without suspense and tension as in "Alien".

The flesh is weak and misogyny was not only allowed but current in the 80s. (Nowadays it is inconceivable with the dictatorship of political correctness, but anyway, let's get back to the subject.) On Earth, the stunning beauty and her muchachos try to destroy it all by vampirizing not the blood, but the life force of humans. Causing chaos in London.

Perhaps because it has a big budget, Tobe Hooper bets on too many fronts making a schizophrenic and confusing film between science fiction, vampires and hordes of zombies!?

Resulting in a mediocre film that sank in the boxoffice and was devastated by critics, it was the beginning of Tobe's decline. But as they say that time heals everything, today it is seen with some nostalgia and an absurd comic pleasure.

And the truth is that horror movie fans (me!) were always waiting with great curiosity and enthusiasm for his next film, until the moment of his death. (in 2017, RIP)

A force to be reckoned with

[Renaldo Matlin · 9/10 · 3 December 2002]

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 :)

It's a movie of pros and cons.

[deccrhxt · 7/10 · 22 July 2023]

If one were to review this movie on an unsympathetic, unemotional view and rate it on its pros and cons, I think the only possible result would be 5.

The special effects are good and even great in some places - given the age and budget. Production values seem high in general.

Acting, and most significantly, directing, is pretty bad. Continuity is almost nonexistent. Is there gravity in space, or just skateboards. The only truly gravity defying objects are the sexy space vampire's boobs.

I enjoyed it though. I wanted to watch a silly 80s exploitation movie and it delivered on every level. So, emotionally I give it 7.

Intelligently, though, I would give it 5.

I would have expected better from Dan O' Bannon...

[Aphex97 · 5/10 · 18 June 2001]

It's a shame that this movie moved so quickly through the opening space sequence because it was the most interesting aspect this film had to offer. In fact, I would even go as far as to say if they had made the entire film about the astronauts finding and exploring the alien vessel, then bringing the lifeforms onboard to study and examine, the concluding results would have been ten fold more effective and a hundred fold more intriguing.

However, the film is actually about space vampires wreaking havoc on London. After the disappointingly brief opening space sequence, in which space vampires are brought back to Earth, the film centers on the efforts of British military and scientific intelligence trying to track and contain the vampires. The film reminded me of John Carpenter's masterpiece "The Thing" because the soul of the Vampires can transfer into different bodies and assume the identity of the host body, so there is an element of paranoia (though not nearly as effective as "The Thing") about who exactly is who.

The film's merits include the very attractive lead vampriess (Matilda May), who is effectively spooky (despite having has practically no lines) as she struts around nude sucking the life out of those who may attempt to stand in her way. Special effects are decent and interesting throughout. Patrick Stewart also turns in a gruesome performance.

The movie's downfall comes from its poor pacing and incorrect focus. It should have been focusing more on the adventures of the space vampires and their connection to mythological vampires. This would be fresh and exciting. Instead the film focuses on the investigation of officials, which is drab and pretty standard. Also, the rules are annoyingly never made clear as to exactly how a vampire can possess someone, what happens to the vampire's body, and what happens to the victim exactly...seems they turn to dust sometimes and others times not...

This film just didn't know what to do with itself or its premise.

Not the worst sci-fi movie I've ever seen, but definitely nowhere near the best. The story could have been much, much better. I expected more from a screenplay written by Dan 'O Bannon (Alien, Total Recall). My imdb rating - 5/10 For hardcore fans of the genre only.

Noob Aalox

Calm down,people!

[bob dove · 12 March 2003]

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!

A rather strange, but interesting movie...

[tom_koopa · 7/10 · 24 December 2009]

I really had no idea what to expect from this movie. I didn't even know it existed until I found it on IMDb by accident. After acquiring it recently, I finally was able to watch it.

What an interesting film...

It's hard to explain the story in short, because for one thing this movie is just over 2 hours long. And the story is rather complex, but here goes: Crew from a space shuttle find a strange alien derelict in the tail of a comet somewhere in outer space. Once they board the ship, they find strange, bat-like creatures who seem to have been dead for thousands of years. They also find coffin-like crystals that contain three bodies of humanoids. The crew takes back the bodies to their ship. Weeks later, the shuttle reaches Earth. However, none of the crew survived at first glance. Something awful happened on that ship...

I could go on, but it's just too much to type it all out here. Like I said, the story is very complex. The funny thing is that the movie starts out very eerie and tense. It's a giant mystery that slowly reveals itself until it bursts in a crazy finale. The ending is just weird, sadly.

Still, Lifeforce is a good watch for fans of sci-fi mysteries. I must also note that the effects are good for the time.

7 out of 10 stars.

An eccentric science-fiction horror hybrid that needs to be seen to be believed

[vampire_hounddog · 6/10 · 20 October 2020]

An international space mission finds a strange apparently abandoned 150 mile long spacecraft hidden in the tail of Hailey's Comet. On board are some desecated large bats and some perfectly preserved beautiful bodies in a coma in glass caskets. The bodies are later brought back to Earth, but they turn out they are powerful vampires who are set to destroy the Earth.

An ambitious film from Cannon that begins as sci-fi before becoming a vampire horror film and then turns into an end of the world disaster sci-fi QUATERMASS like film.

An odd and eccentric film based off Colin Wilson's 'Space Vampires' that should be admired for its eccentric story arc alone. Some of the acting is over the top, especially by Peter Firth as the investigating SAS officer while Frank Finlay makes for an interesting Doctor Who type of scientist and Patrick Stewart has an amusing cameo as a mad doctor. Co-written by Dan O'Bannen.

Good Try.

[Bad PR · 6/10 · 1 June 2000]

Lifeforce is one of those movies that you really, really want to like, but it just isn't quite good enough to let you. It's a shame too, 'cause this flick had a lot of potential, and could've been an outstanding movie if the writing had been a little better and the acting not so lame. But in all fairness I have to say that the first 30 or 40 minutes were actually quite good. At first I really thought this was gonna turn out to be a cool movie, what with the voluptuous space vampiress and exploding zombies and such; but, sadly, after Space Girl escaped from the SRC building, everything slowed down to a snail's pace. There were a couple times during the middle of the movie where I kinda felt like turning it off and doing something else. The special effects were excellent, though... They get a 10. The first half hour of the movie gets an 8, and the rest gets a 4 or so.

Magnificent stars on full view!

[martwar-91769 · 2/10 · 23 September 2023]

Saw this for the first time.....and the last....on talking pictures channel last night. To be frank, the only thing watching this tripe for are the magnificent breasts of the attractive young French lead. Amazed that so many well known actors agreed to make this rubbish. But then again, I too would have jumped at the chance to stand alongside such a great pair of rising stars and get paid for the privilege as well. The film mean well, sets out to entertain. But its complete rubbish if truth be told. The acting is bad. The script is bad. The SFX are dated and bad. But the breasts are Magnificent!

A movie that truly does have to be seen to be believed.

[jiangliqings · 8/10 · 14 November 2000]

** and 1/2 stars out of **** Lifeforce is one of the strangest films I've ever seen, so ridiculous, yet at the time it's strangely compelling and never the least bit dull. Whether it's due to the nonstop nudity, the large amount of violence and action, it all comes together to make an entertaining 2 hours of cinema.

The spaceshuttle Churchill has been sent to investigate Halley's Comet when they detect something hiding inside the coma of the giant rock. A small team, led by Colonel Carlsen (Steve Railsback), has been sent to search the area. What they discover includes hundreds of frozen bat-like creatures and three nude and seemingly unconscious humanoid beings inside strange crystalline containers, two male and one female (Mathilda May). They decide to take all three back with them, which results in a catastrophe.

When London receives no response from the crew, another crew is sent to find out what's going on. When they dock with the Churchill, they find the remains of the crew, all dessicated beyond recognition. The humanoids are still in perfect condition, and they take them back to London.

After various tests, the scientists still don't know what these beings really are. Then, late one night, a security guard in the compound feels compelled to enter the room the female is being held. He touches her shoulder, and she awakens, stands up, and smiles at him in a seductive and wicked manner. She approaches him, and begins to kiss him, when it becomes clear that she's actually taking his lifeforce, sucking him of all of his energy (the effect is slightly cheesy).

She escapes from the compound and begins to leave a trail behind. Another man, Colonel Caine (Peter Firth), is brought in to track her down. Then the men discover that there is a pattern to the lifeforce process. The corpse of the security guard awakens in 2 hours, and takes the lifeforce of a doctor. It seems in every 2 hours, this process is repeated by a victim. With the help of the Churchill's sole survivor, Carlsen, they attempt to track the girl down before it's too late.

Lifeforce is pretty good late night entertainment. It has all the elements one could look for in such a movie, loads of nudity, blood/gore, and plenty of special effects. This is certainly better than a similarly plotted film, Species, thanks in large part to a more riveting finale.

The performances range from decent to terrible. Faring the worst is easily Steve Railsback, who overacts to no end. Much better are Peter Firth, who comes through and convincingly, and the gorgeous Mathilda May (she's as beautiful as French actresses Sophie Marceau and Emmanuelle Seigner). May does go through virtually the whole role without wearing clothing, and there were reports that it was hard on her while filming, so the fact that she is able to go through every scene without fidgeting and looking uncomfortable is impressive. There are times when she can be quite creepy, being simply seductive. Most of the film manages to work because of her.

The Ultimate Cheesefest.

[peterlane5 · 7/10 · 3 November 2010]

From the director of Poltergeist and Salem's Lot, comes one of the best cheesefests ever. Plot: Astronauts aboard the shuttle Churchill, who are studying Haley's Comet discover a massive alien ship spanning over 150 miles long concealed in the comet's tail. The astronauts board the ship and find thousands of dead giant bat like creatu...res and three nude alien humans(two men and one woman) in suspended animation. They take all three humans and one of the bat creatures back with them. A month later the Churchill arrives back at Earth with nearly all of it's crew dead and one person missing. A man comes to examine the girl but she wakes up and begins draining the "lifeforce" out of him. He later turns into a zombie who also needs "lifeforce" to survive. The alien girl and men go on a rampage across London feeding off peoples' lifeforce and turning them into zombies. It's up to the sole survivor of the Churchill to stop the aliens and save the planet. The movie itself is extremely cheesy. Co-written by Dan O'Bannon who is famous for writing the original screenplay and being one of the creative forces of Alien. He also wrote Total Recall. I found the overall plot to be good but the film's pacing is awful. It starts out explaining just about everything in the first 20 mins and after that it just sort of drags on. The acting is so bad it's funny. The dialogue is hilarious. Patrick Stewart has a role in this and I couldn't help laughing at his line; "He's in solitary confinement. He's been....naughty." Mathilda May who plays the space vampire girl is extremely beautiful but it seems like the casting director found the hottest girl he could find and asked; Do you want to be in a movie? But the catch is you have to be completely naked throughout the movie." If you are the ultimate but good cheesefest, this is it.

Scenes of Mathilda May naked are the only good parts of this movie.

[brotherthor · 1/10 · 27 August 2003]

Mathilda May was in her early twenties when she made the movie Lifeforce. Placing her in the role of a vampire was not a very good use of her acting talents. Her 'best' lines were "Use my body"(many males in the viewing audience already were thinking about this, no doubt) and "Come closer to me(or "be with me", I can't remember which).

Mathilda May is stunningly beautiful naked and I hope to have a close encounter of my own with her one day. Basically, the film Lifeforce was confusing and made little sense. I would say that the film Lifeforce was in a horror film genre with a bit of "Playboy After Dark" mixed in. Mathilda May is in her late thirties at the time of this writing(2003). I'm sure many of us hope that the years have been kind to her physical beauty. Naked Mathilda May in another film - bien sur. Mathilda in a mindless movie like Lifeforce - non. She deserves better.

A Nugget From The Golden Age Of Special FX

[meddlecore · 8/10 · 1 October 2018]

Based on the novel "Space Vampires", by Colin Wilson, Tobe Hooper's Lifeforce is an intriguing blend of sci-i, horror, and action, with particularly masterful special fx.

As far as vampire films go, it's really quite original, in that it attempts to explain the origin of the vampire legends on Earth, as intervention from an extraterrestrial race of beings that traverse the universe- riding the wave of haley's comet- and leaving destruction in their wake (Von Daniken would be proud).

Everything begins when a mission is sent to study and observe Haley's Comet up close- using the new minerva engine, which allows them to travel with gravity for the first time (which is convenient for production purposes)- during which they discover this mysterious alien craft.

Knowing this is a once-in-a-lifetime oppourtunity...they send a team to enter the ship via an "artery"...only to discover the desiccated corpses of a thousand bat like creatures.

Upon further investigation they find 3 humanoid figures perfectly preserved in what appear to be crystalline obelisks of some sort.

The commander immediately falls in love with the female of the species, and orders the three humanoids and one desiccated bat corpse be taken back to the ship so they can be studied.

However, this unleashes something that kills everyone on the ship.

And by the time the ship gets back to Earth's orbit, there is nothing left...except the three humanoid creatures (who are the only things left inside the vessel that haven't been scorched).

The space agency then brings the specimens back to Earth, only to discover for themselves, exactly what they are dealing with- body snatching vampires that require human lifeforce as nourishment.

Unknowingly, they have just unleashed this plague- which spreads like zombies and vampires- upon the Earth...and they cannot contain it.

Shortly after making this discovery, the escape pod- from the ship that originally scavenged the three entities from the alien craft that now sits in orbit over London- returns carrying the sole survivor from that fateful mission.

But it's too late...the plague is spreading like wildfire across London, and NATO plans to nuke the area to contain the threat.

So our returned man (who is both the original cause of the plague and only hope for stopping it)- alongside his earthly counterpart- must find a way to kill the three entities before the plague obliterates all life on Earth.

And the only way for our out of this world protagonist to redeem his sins- and save what is left to be saved- is to form the ultimate union; and become himself, like a God (providing mercy for mankind).

Story aside, the special effects in this film are among the best I've ever seen.

The animatronic puppets used for the bodies drained of their life's essence are absolutely incredible (and something we rarely get in today's cop out age of cgi). So animated and lifelike!

The transformation sequences (a blend of real fx, cell animation and cinematic techniques) are also top notch...up there alongside the scene from American Werewolf in London...maybe even better!

It''s no Star Wars, or anything...but this film is a nugget from the Golden Age of Special Effects, which has since been heavily diluted, if not abandoned altogether.

They just don't make films like this anymore, and that's a real tragedy.

Worth watching on that note alone.

7.5 out of 10.

May the force be with you...Whoops, wrong movie

[paul_johnr · 7/10 · 17 September 2005]

Inspired by 'The Space Vampires,' a novel by Colin Wilson, this was the Cannon Group's make-or-break attempt to overcome its status as a leading independent film company and join the elite ranks of Paramount, MGM, and Columbia Pictures. As it turned out, Cannon's $22 million investment was not money well spent, the firm subsequently releasing one low-budget bomb after another until on the verge of collapse by 1990.

It is unfortunate that 'Lifeforce' had such limited success, because its themes are so far-out, its acting so over-the-top, its effects so well-done for 1985 that it could have gone down as a classic if more professionally handled on the editing floor. Nowadays, the 'Lifeforce' viewing public has cult status and breaks into two opposing groups: those who find it a campy, shod attempt at major sci-fi and those who take it for what it probably is, an over-funded 'B' picture that is still endlessly entertaining.

Even with their differences, both sides always remember one thing about this film: Mathilda May as a lady alien, walking around buck naked for most of the time she is on-screen. But in truth, May is not on screen for very long and there is much more to this film than just eye candy. This is perhaps the last notable film directed by Tobe Hooper, who teamed with 'Star Wars' effects coordinator John Dykstra in making Lifeforce's expensive spectacle. It is one of the first films to employ laser light in movie visuals and even today, 'Lifeforce' has some impressive moments.

'Lifeforce' opens with a joint US-British crew aboard the HMS Churchill, a satellite that is the first to employ simulated gravity. The Churchill staff is planning an intense look at Halley's Comet, which is passing Earth for the first time in decades. A foreign body 150 miles long is spotted in its coma, however, and Tom Carlsen (Steve Railsback), commander of the mission, decides to inspect it.

The crew members find remains of bat-like creatures and three intact, human-like aliens, two men and one woman, held motionless in crystal tombs. Carlsen and his staff take these quasi-humans onto the Churchill for later analysis. Soon afterward, the Space Research Center in London loses contact with the Churchill and it drifts into Earth's orbit off-course. NASA sends the space shuttle Columbia on an emergency flight to recover the satellite, which had caught fire, killing its crew and wiping out everything but the three entombed bodies.

The female alien (Mathilda May) is readied for an autopsy, awakens, and busts (no pun intended) out of the SRC's labs. She has the ability to suck life out of humans, leaving her victims in a zombie-like state. This starts a chain reaction of lost energy amongst those in London, which is transported through Mathilda to the alien ship, reinvigorating her otherwise dead alien colony. Carlsen, who survived the Churchill fire, has meanwhile been recovered from an escape pod and joins with Colonel Caine (Peter Firth) of the Special Aerial Forces and Doctor Fallada (Frank Finlay) of the SRC, a vampire expert, to end the madness. Having fallen in love with the alien girl, Carlsen's mind is actually linked to hers, which allows him to communicate telepathically.

What I find charming about 'Lifeforce' is that it is so overblown, yet never takes itself very seriously. Steve Railsback and Peter Firth ('Equus,' 'Mighty Joe Young') really ham up their parts, but it is reminiscent of those sci-fi movies from the 1950s and 60s, all of that laughable pomp. Considering that Tobe Hooper used such an approach in 'Invaders From Mars' one year later, I don't think it was unintentional. Also check out Patrick Stewart's short but weird appearance as Dr. Armstrong, an insane asylum director who becomes infected.

Of course, we return to Mathilda May. The Paris-born actress, who was 20 when this film came out, doesn't speak very much but has an exotic look that fits her role perfectly. Points should also be given to her on courage. The original score was written for full orchestra and conducted by Henry Mancini, one of his last efforts before dying in 1994. John Dykstra's effects, after twenty years, look sharp as a tack, but there seems to be corner-cutting in the wardrobe department. There is one episode where a nurse (Nancy Paul) is shown walking through an open field in vampire-style vestment. On first sight, it looks as if she's wearing a trash bag. When Carlsen is driving through London in the movie's climax, he is gripped by a hand that is supposed to be losing skin but clearly sliding off a white rubber glove. It's a Cannon film, so we'll let it go.

'Lifeforce' is available on DVD through MGM Home Entertainment in letterbox format only with three-language subtitles. Beware of the movie's differing versions: Cannon Films panicked when 'Lifeforce' was in the editing phase, making substantial cuts, overdoing sound effects, and replacing Mancini's score with synthesized music. A version for American and Canadian release, with much of the nudity and zombie gore taken out, has been distributed on VHS tape and is sometimes aired on cable TV stateside. The DVD version, which includes a special booklet on the film's production, restores 15 minutes of footage not seen anywhere in cinemas and uses the Mancini score that was unceremoniously dropped. 'Lifeforce' could have been the greatest B movie of all time, but it's getting some respect twenty years too late.

*** out of 4

GASP at the sigh of old British men in rooms! THRILL as they talk about things!

[uselesswarrior · 1/10 · 29 July 2006]

I'll make this brief. Director of Texas CHAINSAW MASSACRE, writer of ALIEN and RETURN OF THE LIVING DEAD, combing forces and make a movie about SPACE VAMPIRES, this must be a classic right? Wrong.

The best thing about this about this film is watching Mathilda May walking around naked for a few scenes at the beginning. By this comment I'm not trying to come off as exploitive or macho, just stating a fact, it really is the best thing about this movie. For some reason Tobe Hooper thought it would be cooler to not watch events happen but instead watch a bunch of prim British men sit in a room and talk about the events that are happening, for …. two … hours. Seriously, this movie will bore you to tears. When you finally trudge through a film containing people talking about stuff and a few poorly made scene where you actually get the treat of seeing things happen (most of which feel like they are clips from bad British television shows), you are rewarded with an extremely underwhelming finale, that at least has some brief footage of space zombies savaging London. Tobe Hooper spells space vampires, B-O-R-I-N-G. Just stay away.