Lifeforce

[Andrew]

Bill Adams reviews Tobe Hooper's unfortunate failure.  Space vampires destroying London just sounds like a great film.  A unique alien ship and Mathilda May as the completely naked female vampire are icing on the cake.

Click here to go to the Review

[Torgo]

I just picked this up on DVD after Christmas as part of a Circuit City gift card I was given. 

I realize that this movie gets trashed a lot and it is a mess in a narrative sense at times, but it's just so damn bizarre and entertaining that I have to recommend it to people.  Never been another movie like it before or sense IMO.

[Andrew]

I like this movie.  It is a shame that it bombed so badly when it was released, though it seems to have a small cult following these days.  Showed it to a friend of mine and he liked it enough to buy the DVD.

The alien spacecraft and the setting are well done.  Scenes inside the alien ship are great, with a feeling for these huge open chambers filled with floating batlike monsters.  And the three naked figures the astronauts find inside of the crystal structure is striking.

Mathilda May is stunning, especially when she is walking around naked and causing all the security guards to wet their pants.  Not only attractive in the nude, but she has PRESENCE. 

People sucked dry of lifeforce by the space vampires are gruesome, dessicated corpses that come alive and grasp after the uninfected!  While the budget didn't allow for dozens of them, we do get to see a handful and those are memorable.  Especially the glassy eyes rolling around.

The low point of the film is definitely Carlsen's moaning to the Space Girl, "You're draining me. You're taking too much of me."  That was pretty horrible.

See this and compare it to Tobe Hooper's "Invaders from Mars."  "Lifeforce" is a much, much better film from every standpoint.

[soylentgreen]

I've always wondered if they had left the title as Colin Wilson's book had it, SPACE VAMPIRES, and embraced the unavoidable b-movieness of it all, would it have worked out better in the long run.  Patrick Stewart's scenes immediately spring to mind with this.

They changed a bit from the book, but I really dug connecting it to Comet Halley.  It gave it a kind of an immediacy and one more human folklore element to ride on.  The film also seems to be hyper aware of it's kinship with QUATERMASS AND THE PIT.

Everytime I pop the movie in, it's Peter Firth's supernaturally unflappable Colonel Caine that really does it for me.  Talk about stiff upper lip!  This guy makes Kenneth More look like Rod Steiger.

Now...Imagine...  Apparently, Klaus Kinski was supposed to play Dr. Fallada!  Though, I think I'd still prefer the nea-equally-creepy Finlay.

[Torgo]

The last American film that Mathilda May was in was that god awful (IMO) remake of The Jackal (starring Bruce Willis).

I checked her filmography on IMDb and she's stayed pretty busy doing mostly foreign films. BTW, she's turning 43 this year!   

[Jack]

Haven't seen this movie in years but I really liked it.  Reading Andrew's description made me remember some scenes that were cool.  The whole thing at the beginning was done in in an extremely suspenseful way, got me hooked good. 

[Rev. Powell]

This is a fantastic B-movie that just forges ahead, giving the audience what it wants (= more Mathilda May!), regardless of logic.  But I could swear I already read this review before it's publication date of  1/17/08.  Has it been reposted? 

[Andrew]

This is a fantastic B-movie that just forges ahead, giving the audience what it wants (= more Mathilda May!), regardless of logic.  But I could swear I already read this review before it's publication date of  1/17/08.  Has it been reposted? 

This is a reader review, so it was first posted to the forum by Bill Adams in the section for reader reviews: 

http://www.badmovies.org/forum/index.php/board,23.0.html

[indianasmith]

This came out when I was serving in the Navy in Japan; all the sailors naturally loved it.  I have  a copy taped off a Japanese rental with Japanese subtitles that is over 25 years old; I would love to see it on DVD.  What other films has Matilda May done?

[BoyScoutKevin]

She seems to have worked fairly steadily, even if most of her acting has been in European films, since "Lifeforce." Her latest film is "Tu peux garder un secret?" which is in post-production and should be out sometime this year. Her last completed film was last year's "A Girl Cut in Two" to give it its English title.

[Patient7]

I watched this movie on that on demand cable thing and loved it!!!  However, the ending made little to know sense, but we're watching a movie about vampires from space so I guess it's allright.   

[Patient7]

I watched this movie on that on demand cable thing and loved it!!!  However, the ending made little to know sense, but we're watching a movie about vampires from space so I guess it's allright.   

It's on there again!  HOORAY

[AllisonSNLKid]

I found a preview for this movie last summer on an old tape my parents made from HBO sometime in 1986, when the HBO special for Robin Williams at the Met aired.  Check it out:

http://www.dailymotion.com/allisonsnlkid/lifeforce/video/x29g6v_hbo-promos_shortfilms

After seeing this preview, I figured out the bizarre nature of this film...and am not surprised it has some sort of a cult following.

[Torgo]

It's well worth it watching this flick on DVD as it's the uncut intermational version. It makes a lot more sense than the truncated theatrical cut.

[Psycho Circus]

Had this on VHS from years ago, I really found this movie boring. Seems I'm the only one here who thinks that.