Search - Lifeforce on DVD

Keith A. (Keefer522)
Reviewed on 8/25/2013...

This big budget sci-fi/horror flick from Tobe ("Texas Chainsaw Massacre," "Poltergeist") Hooper definitely ranks as one of the most batsh*t insane movies to come out of the 1980s. A space shuttle studying Halley's Comet discovers an alien craft hidden in the comet's tail, and brings three humanoid creatures that they find inside the craft back to Earth. Unfortunately the three creatures happen to be Space Vampires (yikes!) who are soon causing mass chaos as they begin "draining" the population of London.

"Lifeforce" has decent special effects and plenty of gratuitious female nudity, but the movie stops making a lick of sense about 30 minutes in and simply keeps getting more and more ridiculous from then on. This movie doesn't just go "off the rails," it goes completely over the cliff.

For maximum enjoyment, turn your brain off and simply enjoy it for the carnage and the overacting.

1 of 1 member(s) found this review helpful.

Jason C. (JJC) from NEWARK, NJ
Reviewed on 1/19/2010...

"Lifeforce" was a sci-fi horror flick that was released in the summer of 1985, that failed to reach a captivated audience. I think it is a totally underrated gem that takes a whole new interesting approach to the vampire element; having them come from space.

The Space Shuttle Churchill is missioned to explore Hailey's Comet. However, they discover that a huge alien spacecraft is lingering in the Comet's tail. The Churchill team investigates the craft to find the alien crew dead and three humans on board in cryogenic-freeze. The team takes the three humans on board. A few months later, England's mission control has had no contact with the Churchill, so they send a rescue team up to find that the entire inside of the ship has been incinerated and the three humans still frozen untouched and the escape pod ejected. A few days later, Colonel Tom Carlsen (Steve Railsback, who surperbly played Charles Manson in "Helter Skelter") returns to Earth in the escape pod, telling the story of what happened to the Churchill, and what humanity is up against.

So, what does this have to do with vampires? Well watch the movie and find out. It is based on the book "Space Vampires" by Colin Wilson, adapted for the screen by the great Dan O'Bannon ("Alien") and Don Jakoby ("Blue Thunder", "Evolution") and directed by one of horror's finest directors, Tobe Hooper ("The Texas Chainsaw Massacre", "Poltergeist"). The film starts off like "Alien" and then goes into "Dawn of the Dead", pretty good stuff.

The film has aged a bit, but all in all it's still a great sci-fi cult classic with a very good story. Look for a pre-"Star Trek" Patrick Stewart as a doctor of a psycho-ward.

Check it out!

1 of 1 member(s) found this review helpful.

Spaced Out Hooper

Stanley Runk | Camp North Pines | 07/20/2010

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Lifeforce is what happens when you let Tobe Hooper loose with a fairly large budget. No, Poltergeist really doesn't count coz Hooper was on Spielberg's leash for that one. This is Hooper being Hooper, and armed with a Dan O'Bannon screenplay! We all recognize Hooper's stroke of genius when he made TCM, but you take a look at most of his body of work and we all know(yet might not care to fully admit) that he's a total schlockmeister. I don't mean that in a negative way myself because I love schlockmeisterism. In Lifeforce we get to see some big budget schlockmeisterism.
As you may or may not know or remember, it deals with a space exploration of Haley's comet that results in the bodies of three "space vampires" being brought back to London. One of them of course is a drop dead gorgeous woman who isn't afraid to parade around nude. She literally sucks people dry as she steals their lifeforce to survive. The movie is pretty much a big chase film as astronaut Railsback and other government officials try to track the naked chick down. Throw in a poised to attack spacecraft above the earth and a zombie plague in the last quarter of the film, and you have a fun and entertaining slice of sci-fi/horror nonsense that only the 80s could have given us.
This is one of three films Hooper did for Cannon, and probably the most ambitious, though I like Texas Chainsaw 2 more."

Classic Vampire Movie

bz | USA | 06/01/2010

(4 out of 5 stars)

"This is a vampire movie with classic vampires who are driven by the need. There is no reason and there is no definition. It is all driven by the animal instinct. A vampire with a PhD is not a vampire. Com'on give me a break! This makes this movie quite scary. At the same time, this movie is very sexy, seductive, and very very bloody. The performance from the actors is not that good but the story itself is excellent. The mix of sci-fi and traditional Gothic elements are very well done in this movie.

4 stars. Must see."