Lifeforce Review

MPAA Rating: R
Released: 1985

Lifeforce is a unique sci-fi horror film that tells the story of a joint American-British space expedition that stumbles across a lifeless space shuttle within Halley's Comet. Three survivors that appear to be human are found within the shuttle, so the expedition brings them back to their mother ship. Unbeknownst to the crew, the three individuals they just rescued are space vampires… and they are hungry.

Attempting to pigeonhole director Tobe Hooper's (Poltergeist, Texas Chainsaw Massacre) Lifeforce into a specific genre is a difficult task. At its heart it is a hybrid of horror and science fiction, but towards the latter half of the film it also adopts elements of the "end of the world disaster" style of flick. All in all Lifeforce ends up being a sometimes awkward, but always fun, blend of multiple genres.

A joint British and American space expedition to study Halley's Comet is underway, and during the investigation a lifeless space ship is found within its midst. The expedition decides to investigate the ship and while doing so they discover three perfectly preserved humanoids encased within crystalline containers.

It doesn't take long before the male members of the expedition become enthralled with a beautiful woman (Mathilda May), one of the three dormant humanoids retrieved. Does the woman possess some unseen powers that lure men to her? Or is her unclad state and perfect body enough to do the job? I'll let you be the judge.

Fast forward a bit to London, where British space officials detect the British-American space shuttle lying dormant around Earth. Unable to communicate with the shuttle crew, they send a rescue crew to the shuttle and find all but four individuals to be dead: the three crystal-encased humanoids and the only surviving American member of the expedition. With haste they bring the survivor and the three humanoid-aliens back to their complex for observation.

Soon the horrible truth of the original expeditions fate becomes known: the three mysterious humanoids were actually space vampires, and the naked woman (sorry, she isn't given a name in the movie) is their leader. The lead vampire escapes the facility and sets forth to London, but not before draining the life from a victim or two. To make matters worse, anyone that becomes subject to the life draining becomes a zombie of sorts that in turn tries to drain the lives of other live individuals, lest they permanently die.

Now it's up to Colonel Colin Caine (Peter Firth), a member of British special forces, and Tom Carlsen (Steve Railsback), the American survivor of the original expedition, to retrieve her before the world is destroyed by a mass of zombies.

Lifeforce is by no means high art, but it does bring some interesting ideas to the table. Vampires themselves are nothing new, but it was a nice twist to make these space vampires suck the life force from their victims rather than settle for the cliché neck biting. The movie also takes on a rich atmosphere towards the latter half as we witness London in ruins. Zombies run amuck desperately trying to feed their thirst for life force lest they desiccate and perish, and all the while the lead space vampire observes her successful plot of drawing all the released souls/life force to the vampire's mother ship in space.

If you don't actively set forth to try and discover plot holes you will be able to buy into the film and enjoy it. All sci-fi movies have plot holes – they're fantasy after all – but Lifeforce is remarkably successful about gathering so many plot threads and genres and blending them into one coherent flow.

The acting is acceptable – it didn't knock my socks off for certain, but most performed respectably. As a side note you'll even see an appearance from Patrick Stewart, one that's decidedly hammier than what one comes to expect from this distinguished actor. The only serious disappointment in the acting category was Steve Railsback – he overacted painfully, but perhaps it lends to the camp appeal of this film.

Special effects in Lifeforce are very impressive for 80's standards and still hold up fairly well for the most part. They won't knock your socks off, but they do successfully capture the feeling of space exploration during the first half and a world on the brink of destruction in the second half.

One of the major draws for most of the male audience will be Mathilda May. The shapely French actress spends 90% of her onscreen time completely in the buff. Yes… completely. There's something about a naked knockout walking around a complex flicking pursuers away as if they were simply flies that's inherently satisfying. Women are offered some skin too in the form of the two other buff space vampires. Although all the nudity clearly makes the film unsuitable for younger children while offering some eye candy for the rest of us, it doesn't drag the film into the lame soft-core porn levels of late-night movie channel faire.

There will undoubtedly be those who do not appreciate the film's campy nature, but for the most part the movie succeeds in achieving what it set out to accomplish. If you're in the mood for a sci-fi horror film that offers more tense fun than actual scares, Tobe Hooper's Lifeforce is for you.

Movie rating: 7 stars

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