Lifeforce [Blu-ray]

::contains spoilers::::This Review is of the Shout Factory/Scream Factory Blu-Ray Version Only::I remember seeing LIFEFORCE with friends in a New York City movie theatre, and then we spent most of our time hooting at the screen over the gobs of gratuitous-seeming nudity, some laughably unconvincing effects (especially of a then-unknown to the US Patrick Stewart, whose death is meant to be horrifying - but is hilarious thanks to him suddenly turning into a literally-bloody THUNDERBIRDS puppet version of himself!), and Steve Railsback's unhinged performance as the lead. Even so, the story, which connects human energy-draining aliens with our vampire mythology, suggested there might be a better film in there someplace - and here it is on the Blu-Ray, in Tobe Hooper's Director's Cut!Cut from 128 minutes (Hooper's first assembly, still unavailable) to 116 minutes (the Director's Cut here, shown theatrically in Europe), then hacked by US distributor TriStar to 101 minutes (the US version I saw originally), this version of LIFEFORCE is a much more coherent and suspenseful film, reminiscent of Hammer's brilliant adaptation of Nigel Kneale's QUATERMASS AND THE PIT, only on a bigger budget...and, yes, with much more nudity. It's still a crazy-trashy horror film about Naked Space Vampires kissing/sexing the life right out of British men and women, thus turning them into energy-crazed zombies, but with the Director's Cut the craziness feels more the result of Hooper's fevered talent, and the trashiness has a richness and depth it didn't have before.This is the movie I'd hoped to see when I plunked down my then-expensive $5 for a first-run movie ticket in New York City, so it's worth every penny of the $16.79 plus tax (free shipping via Amazon Prime) I paid for it. There's also a raft of Special Features, some made at the time of production (this had a blockbuster budget by Canon standards) and some created years later by Shout Factory. I haven't had a chance to dig into them yet so I can't judge how good they are, though other reviewers have praised their depth and breadth.The US version is available on the DVD disc (and if you buy the DVD only, I gather that's the version you get) - so it's there, if you want to compare the two...

Have seen both versions, ~ 2 hr(bluray) and shorter (dvd). The shorter version was shown in US theatres while longer version was shown in UK, etc.If the bluray/dvd is produced by "Shout Factory" then you get:Bonus FeaturesAudio Commentary with Director Tobe HooperAudio Commentary with Makeup Effects artist Nick MaleyNew interviews with Mathilda May, Steve Railsback and Director Tobe HooperTheatrical TrailersTV SpotStill GalleryProduct InformationDISCS 2 - bluray/dvdRUN-TIME 116 minASPECT RATIO 2.35:1LANGUAGE EnglishREGION A/1RATING RPRODUCTION DATE 1985CLOSED-CAPTIONED NoSUBTITLES English11/1/2017The special effects still stand up to CGI films made today. It was made by experts in their field. The acting and actors are A film quality. The "Making of..." extra tells how film was made and how it came to fruition which is posted on youtube. Looking forward to seeing other commentaries and Maltilda May's interview. It's too bad the studio butchered the release shown in the US by cutting 20 minutes and then deleting the opening film score to post text in place of the scenes that were cut.11/11/2017The bluray and DVD appear to have same extras. This is one of the best scifi flicks. And the price is very reasonable.

People often discuss this epic film for its nudity (and not much else) and I consider that a shame. It’s excellent, features strong acting and an elaborate story, and including great concepts and special effects. I’d recommend it to all horror fans, new and old, critical and horror-hound alike.Director Tobe Hooper (The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, TCM Part 2, Poltergeist, Funhouse) is a horror master! Many know of Steven Spielberg’s heavy-handed involvement in Poltergeist and thus question Hooper’s contribution as a director. True. Spielberg is awesome and the family-urgency was likely a product of his influence. But have these Poltergeist nay-sayers even seen Lifeforce!?!?! Get ready for an AMAZING experience!An investigative space mission is graced with the discovery of the millennium! The astronauts unexpectedly encounter a 150-mile-long space vessel during an exploratory mission of Hailey’s Comet. The influence of H. R. Giger is undeniable as the vessel’s interior has an organic motif, as if the explorers were entering the anatomy (even the womb) of a leviathan being—much as in Poltergeist (1982; late in the film) or Alien/Aliens (1979, 1986). The spaceship’s inhabitants are all deceased, and they resemble bat people. You may be thinking “Are we really only 6 minutes into the running time?” The answer is YES. This film has a LOT to offer and it wastes none of your time!While most of the bat-like inhabitants are long dead, the explorers find three preserved, naked, uncannily human lifeforms in stasis chambers—two men, and a woman. Then…something mysterious happens and the mission returns home with zero contact for thirty days. So what happened on that ship that returned with no living crew members? It’s not as obvious as you may think.It’s not until mid-story that Colonel Tom Carlsen (Steve Railsback; Alligator II: The Mutation, Barb Wire, Ed Gein), who was on the original exploratory mission, is recovered as the sole mission survivor in an escape pod to inform the military that an alien vessel was encountered...and what happened on that ship. He comes back a changed man, and the only hope of hunting down the escaped female who is now wandering the streets of London and draining its inhabitants.Our interstellar succubus (Mathilda May; The Jackal) is beyond stunning, supernaturally manipulative, and clearly is on some sort of life-draining mission of her own. Her abilities infect our sexual weaknesses as well as our subconscious desires. So much so that a grown man might feel compelled to kiss Patrick Stewart (Green Room, Dune).For 1985 the special effects are fantastic!!! Utilizing Star Wars-like rotoscoping for space scenes and Ghostbusters-style ectoplasm for supernatural life-sucking effects, you almost forget this film is over 30 years old. The life-drained bodies are desiccated husks and the zombie-esque animatronics of their movement is impressive.Not only are the effects genuinely fantastic, but the concepts are as well. Classical vampire notions like the charming gaze, life-draining, telepathic links, and shapeshifting are clearly present, although cleverly modified. When the astronauts first enter the alien spaceship, it feels “strangely familiar” and when Tom sees the preserved female (Mathilda May) he seems to be entranced. And one can’t argue here, Mathilda May has entrancing boobs and a serious enthusiasm for kissing. Most men would be powerless.The first 20 minutes of this film are more substantial than most entire horror films. I know…you’re thinking “really, John, but all the nudity.” But you’d be wrong. This film remains something special even if there was not a nipple to be seen.Most interesting to me is how this 1985 movie, in the early HIV/AIDS era, captured the raw pansexuality of the vampire. Much as Anne Rice’s Lestat, even a withered male husk can allure another man to his charm. Although the “kiss” is admittedly more distant when male-to-male than when Mathilda tongue-wrangles her drained prey, infectious male-male kissing (or, at least, its implication) is quite frequent. It seems that Hellraiser (1987) and Hellbound (1988) were influenced by the exquisite life-draining effects, which set the bar high.The final segment erupts into an epidemic owing much to Dawn of the Dead (1978), with London immersed in a contagious essence-feeding maelstrom. The effects are consistently high quality and the bat monster is awesome, but the gore doesn’t properly kick in until this third act.Is this movie a work of film art? No. Is it an amazing horror film? YES! Does it have its fair share of heavy exposition? Sure. Do I care? Not at all! They deliver it well and in plausible context.This excellent horror film has my 100% backing. I may have fallen in love with it as a teenager (understandably for the boobs, at that age), but now I would love it if there were not a single nipple to boast. This film is smart, oddly elaborate without getting carried away with itself, and 96% serious in its delivery. Unusual in many respects, and noteworthy in more, this is not the film to miss.

How much you are likely to enjoy Tobe Hooper’s Lifeforce depends on how you approach it. If you’re expecting a slick, stylish sci-fi horror blockbuster with top notch performances, sharp dialogue and cutting edge visual effects, you’re likely to be disappointed. If however you sit down expecting an extravagant homage to horror flicks of yesteryear with slightly dodgy acting and hit-and-miss effects, then you won’t be disappointed.Based on Colin Wilson’s novel Space Vampires, Lifeforce sees a shuttle mission to Halley’s Comet stumble upon a giant alien ship in the coma which contains some giant dead bats and three naked bodies, one played by the exquisite Mathilda May. Naturally the astronauts decide to bring the bodies back to Earth, whereupon all hell breaks loose. It turns out that that they’re actually alien vampires who drain ‘life energy’ from their victims instead of blood. Shuttle commander Steve Railsback, who has a psychic link with May’s space vampire, and po-faced SAS man Peter Firth team up to track May down.The story is fundamentally sound, but while Lifeforce is visually impressive the whole thing feels like something made in the 70s. Hooper has said that his intention was to make an expensive Hammer movie, and that’s probably a good way to describe Lifeforce, though personally I don’t think that was the best approach. What could have been a classic 80s sci-fi horror flick instead descends into an absurd zombie movie with scenes which look like outtakes from Michael Jackson’s Thriller video.Performances are variable to say the least. While the supporting cast is very good (including the likes of Frank Finlay, Aubrey Morris and a pre-Picard Patrick Stewart), the two leads are a bit of a liability. Peter Firth is a great actor, but here he’s so stiff and humourless that you don’t really give two hoots whether he lives or dies, and Steve Railsback is woefully wooden throughout. Of course when most people think about Lifeforce the first thing that springs to mind is Mathilda May who spends most of the film in the buff. May’s space lady doesn’t have much to say, but she certainly makes an indelible impression.The visual effects, supervised by the legendary John Dykstra, are generally very good, though even for 1985 they sometimes seem a little antiquated. The make-up and creature effects are rather more variable though – while the animatronic zombies are effective given how old this movie is, the bat creatures are pretty rubbish. One indisputable triumph is Henry Mancini’s energetic score, which for some peculiar reason was largely replaced for the US release.Arrow’s high definition presentation is generally good, though does seem quite grainy at times (the clips in the bonus material seem sharper than the movie itself, though I believe these have a different aspect ratio so a comparison probably isn’t valid). Arrow have also carried over most of the special features from the earlier US Shout Factory release, with the exception of a vintage ‘making of’ featurette. So you get interviews with Hooper, Railsback and May and two trailers which amount to around 30mins, plus commentaries. However Arrow have also included a new 70min ‘making of’ documentary with contributions from many of the behind-the-scenes personnel. This is pretty good, though Hooper only makes a few appearances, and Railsback and May don’t appear at all. Shockingly none of the bonus features have subtitles, which really is not acceptable.There is no doubt that Lifeforce is very watchable and pretty entertaining, but there is undoubtedly a ‘so bad it’s good’ element to it at times. Underneath the ludicrous zombie antics, dodgy lead performances and iffy effects there is a good movie trying to break out which could have been realised with a different approach. But then maybe with a different director at the helm we wouldn’t been treated to the sight of a naked space vampire lady. The film itself is really only worthy of 3/5, but with a decent HD transfer and a good selection of bonus features I’ll give the overall package four stars.***** 2019 Update. Arrow have released a "remastered in 4k" version and I've had the opportunity to watch a few scenes. Others may disagree but I can't really see there is much improvement over the older version. There might be a little less grain, but there are also noticeable white speckles which aren't present in the previous version. Also I believe the image is slightly cropped, meaning some of the picture is lost around the edges. I'm sticking with the existing version.

The BLURAY is a good transfer, clear picture colour, sound and subtitles. I watched the "International Version" on disc One. Disc 2 has the "theatrical" version which is some 6/7 minutes shorter, (though that is a guess on my part as the info on the box isn't that clear!!!). Over the years I must have watched this 3/4 times and still can't quite decide what to make of it. It looks good SFX/CGI wise, but the plot is bonkers and you have to accept it is or you may be disapointed. Also the casting and acting is pretty poor. Why Steve Railsback? Not a "hero" in my eyes. In fact he is pretty awful. As for Firth...someone wind him up and let him act! The bottom line is the fact that this film is quite a lot of fun, even if the version I saw is a bit too long. There is sciFi, horror and thriller elements which mostly work, and you have Finlay and Stewart going full blast. Everyone seems to rave about Matilda May. Apart from the fact she is tastefully naked she didn't work for me at all. Plenty of extras if they interest you. Enjoyable, but not a 5 star for this horse.

Alien invasion films present one particular difficulty for any director - character development. What character does an alien have, aside from being an alien, for goodness' sake? One way of avoiding the problem altogether might be to make the alien attractive..Nothing if not entertaining, this is an average genre film enlivened by some unusual sci-fi moments and the admittedly delectable involvement of Mathilda May, who wears nothing throughout. The weakest technical moments are towards the end, featuring some rather unrealistic, in fact lame destruction scenes, supposedly set in London; the better are those involving the revival of the alien life-forms from their cryogenic state. It's all watchably exciting but, despite the head start that Miss May's involvement (and, indeed, that of Sir Patrick Stewart, who is wasted) should be providing, "Lifeforce" generates insufficient human interest to place it to the fore, as a film of its type. Special effects that turn human beings into exploding dustbins are just not sufficient on their own.For a better demonstration of Mathilda May's feisty acting ability, I should recommend "Trois places pour le 26", a engaging comedy-romance by Jacques Demy, in which she stars with Yves Montand.

As a Sci-fi fan born in the early 90s I know the charms of Silent Running, the influential magnitude of Mertroplis and I even know how Soylent Green is made. These are great science fiction films that even if you weren't born when they were released all sci-fi fans know of them because they are cult classics and will always have an active fanbase. So how come so many people including myself have never heard of Lifeforce. Perhaps it's the crappy title (though it's an improvement over the original source called Space Vampires) which sounds like a Yoga instruction video but this film is a classic. It's well made with some astounding practical special effects which I would say are as good as Carpenter's 'The Thing' (and that is very high praise indeed). It is simply so much fun, it starts off like Alien with the investigation of a derelict space craft, then turns into a hunt for the killer alien on Earth before turning all apocalyptic with panic on the streets of London and the end of the world insight. The alien woman is naked all the time and although it sounds exploitative it's actually a very clever part of the plot and the lack of shame at being nude and stared at makes it feel even more alien. This film is on quite a large scale for it's time and it's interesting seeing such an epic story filled with British actors and settings. This British-ness combined with the nudity and horror special effects create the feeling of the most epic Hammer Horror production ever. This is a great film which deserves to be viewed by a modern audience, it's well made, well acted and it is fun to see a film that is British but has no restraint, it is aiming to be as epic as possible and it achieves this in a really great opening and climax.

"Lifeforce" is an oddball of a film. While it will undoubtedly take me a couple of more viewings to fully appreciate it I did find it very entertaining at the very least.It seems every conceivable idea was thrown in as the film details the coming of Space Vampires who make a big mess of things in London. That's a short summary but I've just got to watch the film at least once more to fully digest it as there were some things here that I just didn't get.The film is part of Tobe Hooper's "no-holds-barred" deal with Cannon Pictures where he could completely let loose with a big budget and "Lifeforce" is that creation. The history behind the film is as interesting as the flick itself and it's well detailed in an accompanying documentary. Every penny went into the film and it shows as it's quite the spectacle (for 1985 at least) and the on-screen mayhem is very big scale and impressive.If ever a "cult film" deserved red carpet treatment it's this one. Arrow doesn't disappoint with an impressive hi-def transfer of no less than two versions of the film (I've only watched the longer cut - am assuming the shorter one looks the same) and the roster of supplements is plentiful.Recommended for those interested.