Lifeforce

Rating:
Summary: Ewwwww!
Review: Oh Lord, is this movie ever foul! Everyone emotes like they're doing a road company version of Hamlet, the dialogue is stilted and the special effects are only special in the sense of "special education." Truly, awesomely bad. If they were still on the air, this movie would be fodder for "Mystery Science Theater 3000." The only positive thing I can say about this foul bird (get it?) is that it affords one the opportunity to watch Patrick Stewart (Captain Picard of Star Trek: The Next Generation) throw off his ACTING mantle and scream like a little girl. God! I will never get back the time I wasted on this piece of...

Rating:
Summary: Should be a cult classic
Review: When Tobe Hooper released "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre" in 1974, people went wild over this up and coming horror film director. That movie, sporting a chainsaw wielding lunatic clad in human pelts and oppressive atmosphere so thick you could cut it with a...well, a chainsaw, proved to be effective on so many levels that it takes multiple viewings just to absorb the whole thing. That final dinner scene, with its hallucinatory flavor and seedy set pieces, still sets my teeth on edge. Yet I continue to see reviews about this movie raving about the heavy gore content, which is hilarious because Hooper's psychological thriller is bloodless. People THINK they saw buckets of gore because the disturbing and ultra sordid feel of the picture encourages a false memory that surely a film this twisted must contain gallons of sauce. When the time came to follow up this winner with another stellar contribution to the horror genre, Tobe bequeathed "Eaten Alive" to the cinematic world. The result was a resounding thud. "Eaten Alive" is an abomination; it is a flaccid, wretched attempt to recreate the magic Hooper reaped from that family of lively cannibals in Texas. Fortunately, "Lifeforce" arrived on the scene in the mid 1980s, a movie that, while completely different from "Massacre," at least moves just as far away from the train wreck that is "Eaten Alive."

A group of astronauts on a mission to explore Halley's comet discovers more than they bargained for when they notice a most unusual object located in the tail of the celestial object. Intrigued, several of the crewmembers don space suits and enter what turns out to be an enormous space ship. Once inside, the astronauts find strange dried up corpses floating about along with three coffin like objects containing the perfectly preserved bodies of two men and a woman. The space walkers transport the three aliens back to the ship with the intention of returning to earth with their spectacular find. Unfortunately, the aliens, believed to be dead, are not. The crew finds out the hard way that messing around with beings from another planet can have devastating consequences, not the least of which could permanently damage our own planet. The aliens ravage the spacecraft and are consequently brought to earth by a rescue mission sent up to see what happened to the astronauts. All heck breaks lose when the creatures wake up in a British laboratory and proceed to systematically destroy everything in their path. The two male aliens die rather quickly, but the female manages to escape the confines of the lab and roams the English countryside. The government panics when they learn that these beings are most unusual vampires with the ability to hypnotize human beings, assume the shape of their prey, and transform their victims into raving vampires who then attack anyone around them.

The race is on to track down the female vampire and put a stop to her activities before she wipes out the human race. Along for the ride is an SAS colonel named Colin Caine (Peter Firth going for and easily achieving over the top), the only surviving astronaut from the original mission, Colonel Tom Carlson (Steve Railsback looking as weird as ever), who now has an unusual link to the female alien, and a scientist, Dr. Hans Fallada (Frank Finlay), who must figure out how to kill the vampire. The team keeps encountering the alien only to lose sight of her again as she changes form or thwarts them in some clever way. As she stays one step ahead of her pursuers, the alien infects more and more human beings. This starts a horrific chain reaction that soon turns London into a swarming mass of vampires killing everyone in their path. Things get so bad that NATO quarantines the area and threatens to drop an atomic device on the city in order to prevent the spread of what they think is some type of super plague. It will be a tall order to prevent the annihilation of London, but the team in pursuit of the alien must attempt to do so anyway. The conclusion of the movie is quite colorful and energetic as the Colonel Carlson faces down the space vampire.

What surprises me the most about Hooper's "Lifeforce" is that many people dislike it. A story about space vampires discovered in a massive ship floating in the tail of Halley's comet is certainly different from anything this director did before, but that provides little reason to bash the film. I suspect that most people who lambasted "Lifeforce" never saw "Eaten Alive" because if they had they would rapidly change their tune. I for one am thankful Hooper decided to go in a different direction. C'mon, how can you not like a film that has the lead villain parading around the country, played by the gorgeous and frequently nude Mathilda May, feeding off human beings at random? Or a movie that has a young, pre-Star Trek Patrick Stewart channeling the vampire while every object in the room spins through the air as though caught in a psychic tornado? Even some of the lines in the film are classic: Soldier trying to keep people out of London: "You don't want to go in there! Colonel Colin Caine, who must get in to track down the vampire: "I know I don't!"

"Lifeforce," while occasionally overdoing it in grand style, is still infinitely more watchable than a lot of the pap passed off on the viewing public. The DVD edition works well: a trailer, a nice widescreen picture transfer, and some additional footage not seen in theaters (I was too young to see this in the theaters when it came out, unfortunately). Hooper has had more downs than ups in his lengthy career, but "Lifeforce" should definitely be classified as a minor success.

Rating:
Summary: imaginative vampire twist
Review: This movie has a very original twist on the old standard vampire tale, with the horror Cult King director - Tobe Hooper at the helm. It is taut pace movie scripted by Dan O'Bannon (Blue Thunder) from a Colin Wilson (Max Headroom) book. The casts is a powerhouse, Frank Finlay as Dr. Hanns Fallada, Peter Firth Brit Colonel Colin Caine, the always bizarrely brilliant Steve Railsback, Mathilda May as the female Space Vampire (not many lines but she does make an "impression"), Patrick Stewart (pre Jean Luc) as Dr. Armstrong, John Hallam (The Mummy) as Lamson and Chris Jagger as a guard (Yeppers, that is the brother of Mick!). Add in some nifty Special Effects for the vampire victims and you have one really great time!

The vampire tale is rather worn, but they manage to give a fresh take on it. Instead of fangs and sucking neck, they suck the "lifeforce" from humans, leaving the body robbed of everything and looking like a "tube of toothpaste all squished out". Worse, in short order we see that it spreads like a plague with the rapidness of dominoes.

The movie opens with the return of the multi-national spaceshuttle The Church to earth. It's overdue and they anticipate something is wrong. When the board it, they find the spaceship had been set to flame, the crew supposedly all dead, and three perfect bodies in glass coffins. They haul them back, quarantine them, but they don't stay that way for long. They soon find out they are space vampires and are now a loose on earth. Enter Railsback as the US army Colonel, the only survivor from the Churchill who escaped in a pod. He tells how they found a strange spaceship hidden in Hailey's Comet. When they boarded the found the glass coffins and lots of weird dead bats-type things. He describes how after bringing the coffins back to the Churchill his crew fell under the vampire's control. In an effort to stop them from returning to Earth, he tried to destroy the ship and escaped. His efforts failed and now these vampires are a loose and must "feed" off energy of a human every few hours.

When the vampires break loose it's up to Railsback and Firth to save Britain and the Earth.

The pace is a roller-coaster ride, the premise is very fresh and original, good effects and bang on acting. So end result is really good film that stands multiple viewings without losing impact. So pop the popcorn, turn out the lights and enjoy a fun time. I mean where else where you see Steve Railsback making smoochies with Jean Luc Piccard?? It's Cult Classic heaven!

Rating:
Summary: This Could Have Been a Great Sci-Fi Movie
Review: "Lifeforce" (1985) follows "Poltergeist" (1982) in the Tobe Hooper canon, but it is a largely forgetable film of space vampires coming to Earth and, like space invaders everywhere, wreaking havoc before inevitably being destroyed by the hero. What distinguishes "Lifeforce" is that the only space vampire of interest, ably portrayed by French actress Mathilda May, is young, beautiful, endowed with an astonishing superstructure, and totally naked in virtually all of her scenes. These are the only really interesting parts of the film, which come at the beginning and the very end. In between is tedium.

The cast featured good if not great screen actors. Steve Railsback gained momentary celebrity in "The Stunt Man" (1980). Peter Firth is best known as the disturbed callow stable hand who, after literally rolling in the hay with the lovely Jenny Agutter, engaged in creative horseblinding in "Equus" (1977). Frank Finlay played Iago opposite Lord Olivier in Stuart Burge's "Othello" (1965) but is otherwise mostly a TV actor. The pulchritudinous Miss May essentially began her screen career with "Lifeforce." Patrick Stewart is the only distinguished actor of the bunch, although hardly lionized by film critics for his screen roles (his best screen roles are probably the disembodied ones) and is given only a campy cameo role.

The film had very good financing from the Canon Group, known chiefly for action films, whose execs (the savvy cousins Golan and Globus) probably admired "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre" (1977) (so do I) and thought that Hooper had learned more from Spielberg during the shooting of "Poltergeist" than was the case. The production designer and cinematographer did their jobs very well, and the special effects were excellent for their time and very good even now. That's apparently where the money went. Not enough went for the screenplay, which is silly and talky. The film suffers not only from ho-hum dialogue and too much of it, but from generally bloated scenes which simply drag on for too long and fairly colorless performances from the cast (except Miss May and the delightfully campy Patrick Stewart). The central half of the film, which is not futuristic, is banal in the extreme and no more engrossing than the typical TV movie. Blame for these faults can only belong to the director.

The most accomplished performance in "Lifeforce" is certainly that of Miss May, perhaps because she hardly speaks a word. Her fame, such as it is, rests on this film and not on later starring vehicles like "Naked Tango" and "Crocodile Farm" or on the rather sophomoric art film she did for Chabrol. For years after "Lifeforce" Playboy's annual review of "Sex and the Cinema" always featured a still of her from the film. Such was her impact. Her scenes are unquestionably its highlights. If the director had been willing to take liberties with the original story and make the undecked Miss May a more persistant presence in the film, he might have done better at holding our interest. Despite Miss May's nudity, "Lifeforce" is hardly a sex film. She is, nonetheless, an important visual asset, although not enough to rescue this film from its director.

My DVD showed very bad artifacting in the trailer, sometimes causing it to freeze.

Rating:
Summary: Tobe Hooper takes a stab at Hammer Horror movies
Review: A team of Astronauts intercepting Halley's comet during its near Earth flyby, discover a monstrously huge alien spaceship hiding in its tail. Apparently derelict, (sound familiar?) the ship is found to contain hundreds of seemingly dead aliens resembling large bats, and three humans sleeping inside of crystal shafts. Having no choice (for astronauts that is; while the rest of us would have at least considered the idea of taking a really long video and leaving it at that), the crew of the spaceship Churchill recover the three bodies and head home. A strange epidemic breaks out on the Churchill, slowly but surely draining the life of its crew, except for Commander Carlson (Steve Railsback) who ironically enough, made the call to enter the derelict in the first place. Flash-forward a few weeks when the Churchill returns to Earth. Astronauts rendezvousing in orbit with Churchill find the ship gutted completely - everything inside completely burned except for the three aliens. (No, I don't know how the Churchill managed to settle into orbit from deep-space transit when it's completely dead). Being astronauts as much as those on Churchill, the latter astronauts return to Earth, and bring with them the three aliens (doesn't anybody pack a camcorder on these trips? The Churchill astronauts had only one chance to decide whether or not to bring their souvenirs back before the alien ship returned with Halley into the void. But the latter astronauts - ironically flying on the Columbia - could have left its three hitchhikers in orbit indefinitely). Back on terra-firms, the aliens come alive and are revealed to be vampires - sucking out souls instead of blood - from their victims. The victims in turn, become shriveled up zombies who are forced to steal the life-force of others or die a gruesome death, creating an ever widening chain of destruction. Using their powers, the alien trio - led by the beautiful, but evil (and gratuitously nude) Mathilda May - kick off a vampire epidemic. Suspecting that the alien trio has more than a coincidental resemblance to the vampires of legend, Dr. Hans Fallada (Frank Finlay) and British SAS Colonel Caine (Peter Firth) search for clues to end the epidemic and save the world. soon, they get a boost when Churchill's escape pod lands on Earth carrying the very live (but messed up) Col. Carlsen. Carlsen's survival, we soon learn, is no coincidence. Though having the power to invade the bodies of some victims, a mental link between Carlsen and the vampire queen helps clue our heroes into her whereabouts. Torn between his feelings for the "space girl" (that's what the credits call her, I didn't make that up!) and the rest of humanity, Carlsen remains barely able to resist her. Tracking the alien across the English countryside, Carlsen and Caine return to London to find the city gripped by an outbreak of soul-vampirism, and rotting zombies. In the depths of the city, with mankind on the edge of annihilation, Carlsen confronts the vampire queen (that's a lot better than "space girl", right?) and his own feelings, and reconciles his dilemma in time for the climax.

So, why doesn't this movie rock? Based on the cult novel "Space Vampires" by Colin Wilson, the film doesn't exactly give the devil its due. The first hour manages to sustain a lot of tension, despite how obvious it riffs on "Alien" (astronauts find the seeds of doom in a huge derelict alien ship), making the decline that much worse in the rest of the film. Most of the terror stems from not being sure at first just what sort of movie "Lifeforce" is. Getting to Earth, we soon learn exactly what kind of movie it is - with its aloof British characters and Mathilda May's flesh, "Lifeforce" is revealed as a modern-day version of the Hammer Studios' movies of the 1960's and early 1970's. (This flick could have appeared in 1972, with John Phillip Law as Carlsen, Ingrid Pitt in Mathilda May's role, Christopher Lee as Fallada, and Peter Cushing as Dr. Armstrong, the role played by Patrick Stewart). The characters seem one-note - Caine is too much a take-charge guy to realize that his 9mm won't help him; Carlsen is just nuts. The effects are actually good for the story, but they highlight what a simple story it is. There are some other plausibility and continuity problems - the research center where the aliens are brought, is smack inside of London, and not miles away from nowhere like Area-51, or at least inside of a city that the world cares less for than London. The aliens have been here before, Carlsen tells Caine without elaboration. This hint of a past presence on Earth clues us in that there's more to the story than we're seeing. Whether it's a better story is debatable, but it couldn't be less interesting. And what's the deal with Carlsen and Queen Vamp? A link that strong has to have a story behind it, but the script takes it as a given. (Railsback is actually a subtly powerful presence, but it's hard to see the attraction - maybe the space girl should have waited a few years to catch him starring in that bio-pic about serial grave robber Ed Gein). Lastly, the film wastes what should be some incredibly comic moments, like having Caine trying to brief the Prime Minister while he turns into a vampire, or having Carlsen bond with the space girl - while she inhabits the body of Patrick Stewart (see why Cushing would have been cool?). One scene, in which it develops that Dr. Fallada has become a vampire, actually deserves a chuckle. When I first caught this flick at the multiplex in the summer of '85, the wit-starved audience instead whooped it up. The film never loses its spookiness, but Tobe Hooper was shooting for something higher. Still fresh off "Poltergeist" Hooper never sustains the horror because he never fleshes out the underlying evil of the story nor creates any real characters for it to sink its fangs into.

Rating:
Summary: This is unforgettable...A sensual work art !
Review: Mann, Mathida May was perfect for this movie no mistakes in that decision. If you were going to make it believable that she was perfect and men couldn't help their desire she was it. I probably would have been a fool and fell apart myself. I mean how can you resist such a perfect specimen evil or alien? Gee wizz and when she looks at the guys with that sensual look to lure them into her arms Mann! There is one scene when she is completley nude and she looks at this guy and says "use my Body" I'm like goodness this is too much to watch alone. But anyway on the real this is a well put together movie and timeless. Mathilda was a Timeless beauty, the script is unlike anything else ever done. The special effects were well done and Timeless! But that Mathilda May mann,was extremley sexy in this movie and unbearable to watch. She had a sensual voice the way she moved the expressions on her face would drive you insane! The only Seduction that is even remotley measurable to this performance in Physical attraction and attitude was Jaime Pressly's 1997 film "Poison Ivy 3 The New Seduction". I don't know what to characterize this film because it is very sensual. But if you want to know who Mathilda May was? She was a vampire from space that took on the appearance of the perfect woman in the main characters head. And boy, does he have a great idea of what the perfect woman is suppose to look like. She in so many words read his mind and they had some type of exotic connection. And boy, Was he having a hard time with the fact she was evil. She loved him but will he be sucked in, or will he save england?

Rating:
Summary: PAJ from LA
Review: I don't know what's gotten into the lady from the "Lonley Hearts Club," but Mathilda May is as beautiful in the 1997 film "The Jackal" as she was in the 1985 film "Lifeforce." Sure, she is 12 years older--so what. And not only is she strikingly beautiful, but her performance in The Jackal was outstanding. Any man would be honored to have Mathilda at his side, today or yesteryear.

I saw Lifeforce back in 1985 when it first hit the big screen and I rather enjoyed it, not to mention Mathilda's lovely figure. I also thought the movie had a good script and was quite entertaining. Is it a materpice? No. But it is a good movie. In fact, I just rented the DVD version a couple of days ago and watched it again. I gave the movie a three star rating, but in truth it probably is somewhere between a 3 and a 4. I honestly like the script, and had the producer been more interested in fine tuning the script and movie instead of displaying the incredibly beautiful figure of Mathilda May, the movie might have been great. In saying this, I want to clarify that Mathilda's performance was well done, as was many of the other actors, it was the script that needed to be improved, expanded, and fine tuned.

Rating:
Summary: Is 12 years THAT long a time?
Review: Those who fall in love with Mathilda May after her rocket-launching "performance" in the 1985 film LIFEFORCE should see the actress in the 1997 flick THE JACKAL (with Richard Gere and Bruce Willis). Let me put it this way: You will be glad Ms. May kept her clothes on in the latter film.

Imagine marrying a woman as perfect as Mathilda May looks in LIFEFORCE and, just twelve years later, waking up to her weathered JACKAL look? She must have aged in dog years, and I don't mean anything disrespectful by that.

Guys, before you think getting a knockout girl is the answer to your prayers, do a double feature of LIFEFORCE and THE JACKAL.

Rating:
Summary: Ages well
Review: After the vapidity of the Hollywood cinema of the last 5 years it is hard to find why critics thought this film empty and dull. The imagery and fairy tale like story that gives some good scares along the way has held up well since this film was released.
Tobe Hoopers career has since gone downhill but with films like "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre" and this one under your belt you should be well set with stories to tell your grandchildren.

A mysterious object is discovered in the Coma of Haley' comet. Three bodies are recovered from a gigantic spaceship among them a beautiful female. Earthmen beware! It turns out these are predatory aliens who gave birth to stories of the original Vampires. The grand scenes of London overrun by Vampires and their zombified victims are memorable.

Mathilda May playing the seductive ailen vampire went on to minor stardom in native france with a string of roles after this film.

Recommended for viewing and collecting.

Rating:
Summary: Wild romp
Review: This is a film that begged to be seen on DVD. It now is on DVD! A sci-fi/fantasy/horror near-masterpiece that comes up a little short at the end, but otherwise lives up to its cult reputation. It starts out as a CONTACT/SPHERE-type plot then segues into a RETURN OF THE LIVING DEAD knockoff (same writer) and finally transforms into a QUATERMASS AND THE PIT finale (it is a British-shot film, after all). Nothing can beat those aliens, however. One is a hot, nekkid French babe and the other two -- well, you will have to see them to believe them. You get to see Steve Railsback and Jean-Luc Picard way overact, too!