Lifeforce

Rating:
Summary: Sci-Fi camp classic
Review: Tobe Hooper's "Lifeforce" takes the premise from Colin Wilson's novel and, although imaginative, becomes something of a camp classic. The international crew of the space shuttle "Churchill" are sent to explore Haley's comet. Ground control loses contact with the ship and when the ship returns they find all the crew members but Colonel Carlsen (Steve Railsback from the cult classic "The Stunt Man"). There's also three humans in a comatose state discovered in a spacecraft hidden by the trail of Haley's comet. Carlsen's memory is shakey as to what happened.

When the 3 human bodies come to life all heck breaks loose. It seems this alien race can drain the lifeforce from other creatures creating. In doing so, however, the victim becomes a similar vampire-like creature. Colonel Colin Caine (Peter Firth) becomes involved in an effort to try and stop the naked woman (Mathilda May)that stalks innocents draining them of their lives. Carlsen, Caine and Dr. Hans Fallada (the hammy Frank Finlay who clearly recognized this would become a fun cult classic) become the last hope to stop all of London from becoming soul vampires.

Well directed by Hooper, "Lifeforce" is larger than life and writ twice as large as that. It's a bit of a cult classic with it's histronic tone. Railsback, Firth, Finlay, May and Patrick Stewart are perfect choices for the film. They all ham it up quite a bit adding to the cult allure of "Lifeforce". The visuals by John Dykstra ("Star Wars", "Spider-Man", "Spider-Man 2", "Battlestar Galactica")are pretty good considering the budget and time constraints in shooting the film. Dan O'Bannon ("Alien", "Total Recall", "Return of the Living Dead")and Dan Jacoby ("The Philadelphia Experiment", "Blue Thunder" and "John Carpenter's Vampires")both scripted the film and took Wilson's basic premise constructing an unusual screenplay to say the least.

The main attraction for guys is actress/model May who parades around nude for the length of the feature sucking the life out of everyone around. Hooper's direction sets an almost operatic tone to the proceedings complimenting Railsback's crazed performance.

The DVD sports a nice widescreen transfer but lacks significant extras. There's no commentary track or featurettes although that isn't a surprise given how poorly this was received both by audiences and critics. The original trailer and an eight page booklet with trivia about the film are included. Why would anyone expect anything conventional from the director of "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre" and the co-screenwriter of "Dark Star" and "Alien"? It's not to everyone's taste but it is a guilty pleasure of mine. If you enjoyed the over-the-top style of "Excalibur" you may enjoy "Lifeforce" although, admittedly, there's nothing else quite like this movie.