There sure were some crazy science fiction films in the 80s. One of these was Lifeforce, which featured England going up against alien zombie vampires.
In the (then) near future of 1986 a mission to explore Halley’s Comet finds some sort of structure with, among other things, 3 humanoid bodies in some sort of suspended animation. A month later the expedition’s ship is found entering Earth’s orbit, the crew dead but the aliens somehow intact. Upon returning to earth, the female somehow awakens and sucks the life force out of a guard, then escapes. Eventually a survivor of the initial space arrives in an escape pod, filling in some of the gaps as well as offering hope as to how to deal with the menace.
Rated “R” because it’s a sort of horror film, I think the rating has more to do with the gratuitous nudity. There are some decent special effects as well by John Dykstra (Star Wars, Battlestar Galactica, etc.) and a score by Henry Mancini. The script, co-written by Dan O’Bannon based on the book The Space Vampires by Colin Wilson offers up some interesting twists to the general alien and vampire menaces. There’s a lot here to like – but it gets sort of hampered by the overuse of nudity.
The cast is solid, if largely unfamiliar to “mainstream” American audiences. Sure, there’s Patrick Stewart, but we also get Peter Firth, Michael Gothard, Aubrey Morris, and Frank Finlay. These names may not mean much to you, but if you’ve seen a number of English productions you’ll certainly recognize the faces.
Shout Factory brings this film to home video in a Blu-ray/DVD combo pack. Not only does the film look and sound great, there’s a massive set of special features. There’s two audio commentaries, one with director Tobe Hooper and another with make-up effects designer Nick Maley. I sampled both and when I have more time I might check them out further as they seemed interesting. There are some featurettes, starting off with a 15 minute interview with Mathilda May, the primary female in the film. Then we get 10 minutes with director Tobe Hooper, 7 minutes with lead Steve Railsback, and a vintage making of featurette. Of course trailers and a still gallery.
On the Blu-ray the default is for the longer initial cut, but in the special features if you want the shorter U.S. theatrical version it is there. And of course the DVD version on a separate disc as well.
But is the film itself any good? Other than the overuse of nudity, actually, it is pretty good. There’s some solid tension and an interesting antagonist. It may not offer as many twists and turns as one might hope for, but it certainly does offer a couple of curve balls. Maybe you’ll see the stuff coming, and maybe not. Either way, the film is enjoyable if you’re looking for a science fiction film to while away the time. It doesn’t offer the grandiose space battles of some films, but instead an Earth-bound story that brings a very other-worldly aspect to the story.
I liked Lifeforce, but then again, I have a penchant for weird science fiction movies.