imaginative vampire twist
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...
An underrated Sci/Fi epic
Though director Tobe Hoooper has had more downs than ups in his career, his film Lifeforce comes out being one of his best, following only Texas Chainsaw Massacre adn Poltergeist. Though initially a box-office failure, I found Lifeforce to be a refreshing story in the otherwise repetitive Science Fiction genre. That's whats sad about the genre; when filmmakers come out with somehting new and different, it flops, but if it's another ALien rip-off, box-office hit. This "vampire" story takes a new turn on the vampire myth, with aliens arriving on Earth that drain people of "lifeforce," the essence of life. I found most of the performances to be great, espiceally Peter Firth as British Agaent Kane. He makes this film totally believable. Steve Railsback is actually the weakest in the cast, but I have to hand it to him, he had a difficult role to play and he did a credible job at it. The effects are also very good for the time and the filmmakers use their fairly high budget to their...
3 1/2 stars for a pretty good vampires-from-space flick
I'm chuckling with myself at my over-the-top rating for this over-the-top movie. I stumbled upon this movie years ago and had it on VHS tape copied from somewhere. I then found a DVD version with an upgraded soundtrack (Henry Mancini!!) and bought it. I think that is the first time I'd seen it on DVD. It looks good except the widescreen isn't upgraded to anamorphic. That's all fixed with this new Blu ray version. Transferred with a 1080p resolution and a 2.40:1 aspect ratio, this is a big improvement over the old DVD. A DVD is included in this package properly formatted.
"Lifeforce" is a sci-fi horror film ala "Alien" (same screenwriter, Dan O'Bannon along with Don Jakoby) with a bigger budget and with extra nudity. Directed by "Texas Chainsaw Massacre" & "Poltergeist" filmmake Tobe Hooper, the movie is pretty good, even without the nudity.
While on a mission to hunt down Halley's Comet, Col. Carlsen (Steve Railsback) and his crew encounter a space craft...
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